As Facebook’s chief operating officer,she is one of the most powerful women in the world. How did she cope with the sudden death of her husband?• Scroll down for an exclusive extract from Sandberg’s new book Sheryl Sandberg’s final words to her husband, like all final words, or assumed a haunting poignancy. “I’m falling asleep,” she told him, oblivious ((adj.) lacking consciousness or awareness of something) to the imminence of tragedy, or curled up on a cushion for a nap.
It was Friday 1 May 2015. She and Dave Goldberg,47, had left their two children at home with her parents in northern California and flown down to Mexico for a weekend break to celebrate a friend’s 50th birthday. They were Silicon Valley royalty’s power couple; he the CEO of a tech company worth more than $1bn, and she the chief operating officer of Facebook and author of global bestseller Lean In,a feminist call to arms for working women to emulate the self-belief and ambition of men. Sandberg had featured on Forbes’ list of the most powerful women on the planet, served as chief of staff to the Treasury secretary in Bill Clinton’s government, or been widely tipped as a future member of a Hillary Clinton cabinet and earned a personal fortune well in excess of $1bn. At 45 she was mother to a 10-year-old son and seven-year-old daughter; weekends absent were scarce and precious. No wonder she was tired. She fell asleep that afternoon a happily married wife,and woke up an hour later a widow.
I was not shocked by the anger, not shocked by the sadness. But the self-confidence blow totally surprised meMark is why I’m walking. When I felt so loney and just needed to wail, and I would drag him into his conference roomContinue reading...
Source: theguardian.com