Keynote: Sheryl Sandburg, Facebook
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Pre-Conference Notes
Keynote Speaker: Sheryl Sandberg, Chief Operating Officer, Facebook
Sheryl Sandberg is Chief Operating Officer at Facebook. She oversees the firm’s business operations including sales, marketing, business development, human resources, public policy and communications. Prior to Facebook, Sheryl was Vice President of Global Online Sales and Operations at Google, where she built and managed the online sales channels for advertising and publishing and operations for consumer products worldwide. She was also instrumental in launching Google.org, Google’s philanthropic arm. Before Google, Sheryl served as Chief of Staff for the United States Treasury Department under President Bill Clinton where she helped lead the Treasury’s work on forgiving debt in the developing world. Earlier, she was a management consultant with McKinsey & Company and an economist with the World Bank. Sheryl received a B.A. summa cum laude in Economics from Harvard University and was awarded the John H. Williams Prize for the top graduating student in economics. She received an MBA with highest distinction from the Harvard Business School. Sheryl serves on the boards of The Walt Disney Company, Starbucks, Women for Women International, Center for Global Development and V-Day. Sheryl was named as one of the 50 Most Powerful Women in Business by Fortune.
Blog Links
Valerie Fenwick's Blog: http://bubbva.blogspot.com/2011/11/ghc-thursday-keynote.html
Session Notes
Intro
It's great to be here in room of not just women, but technical women. With the inevitable women's revolution, any men that show up to events like this, you'll get a pass.
When she left government and wanted to work in technology she had list of criteria. Eric Schmidt made her offer to be Google's first general manager but there were no business units to manage so it was the biggest non-job. Eric said stop being idiot...all that matters is growth.
Growth of Tech
Nothing is growing as much as tech - more important than growth is the impact.
Technology powers who we are as individuals.
There's not just growth and impact in technology but also in economy. Some people say there are structural reasons why economy can't recover but that doesn't apply in technology. Technology is driving the efficiencies of non-tech businesses like retail.
Technology is the key to impact and a great career.
She can't code. For her 40th birthday, her husband gave her a lifetime subscription of tech support with no complaining. (Previously she had the support but it was "with" complaining). She had been asked in previous years to speak at this conference and didn't partially because of my schedule but partially because she didn't believe she should be on this stage when she doesn't have a computer science background. Then a man from her company presented at Grace Hopper and she re-thought: "I'm a woman, I'm gonna own this message".
She's not very technical but in the future, people who have her job will be more technical than she is.
Computer Science skills are among most valued in as shown by these facts:
- STEM fields pay 25% more
- CS fields pay 40-50% more
- still wage gap - .77 dollar, in tech lower .86 to dollar
Not Enough Women Leaders
If we don't have enough women in tech we won't have enough leaders: it's not just about us
- 13% of CS degrees, down from 37%
- attrition is double that of men
- in 5 years Harvey Mudd president Maria Klawe increased female CS students from 12% to over 40%
Women are lagging at top of every industry in every country. We are in the midst of a stalled revolution for women.
since 1981 - more women are not getting to top
- women recently lost seats in congress for the first time
- world is still run by men
- we should still be grateful to those who worked hard to help us be where we are. Anita Summers, one of very few women to get a PhD in economics, her boss said to her: "This is great, I'm getting the same brains for less money." This was in 1947 and she felt that was a compliment. At that time men would never admit women had the same brains as them. It never occurred to her to ask for the same money.
Warren Buffet has said he is so successful because he is only competing with only half the population
If more countries run by women there might be less war. This matters globally. In America, we have huge privilege - elsewhere 70% of world's poor are women. Women are sold in sex trade, they are legal property, they have no civil rights - read the book Half the Sky. In the 19th century slavery was the problem. In the 20th century it was totalitarianism. Now it is the plight of women.
What can we do to end mass war and mass rape? Have more women in power.
Lean Into Your Career
You need to be leaning into your career. It's true the sacrifices are much more real for women. It is hard to her and hard to be you. She stands in front of us with no judgement. Her kids want to know where she is. She takes her daughter to school but told her daughter someone else has to pick her up because she has to work. That worked until her daughter was 4. Then her daughter said "Mom you have a car, you can leave work."
Her Advice
1. Believe in yourself
She knows what it's like to feel like a fraud. She felt like that all day every day, felt like she was fooling them every step along the way. Data shows women underestimate and men overestimate abilities. Men say something was successful because of them. Women say something was successful because they worked hard, had help from others, or were just lucky. She doesn't think men are wrong to feel that way. It's okay to think you had something to do with something being successful.
We don't accomplish things we set out not to do.
Lean forward more and pretend if you have to. Raise your hand because there's a guy next to you who is sure he can and his hand is up.
Even if you don't want to be at the top, you want to be treated fairly and given great opportunities.
2. Dream big
There is an ambition gap driving the achievement gap. We won't close one without closing the other. The ambition gap caused by less self-confidence, more responsibilities at home. It's more than differences in style - success is positively correlated with likability for men and negatively correlated for women. Men get liked more the more successful they are, women get liked less. It's self-doubt as self-defense: everyone wants to be liked. She wishes she hadn't read some of the stuff written about her. It's easy to dislike the senior women when there are only a few but what if half senior executives were women - would we dislike all of them? The dearth is a self-fulfilling prophecy, if you believe in stereotype it will happen. More women in CS will lead to more women in CS.
3. Make your partner a real partner
In the past, women could only go into nursing and teaching as careers. We've made more progress but do this test at your next party: observe a heterosexual couple with kids...when the kids needs tending to, see who gets up to handle them, the man or woman. Women get up twice as much. In same sex relationships, that's not true so if you're at all considering that, go that way. [lots of laughter from audience!] And if that's not an option for you, it's not too early to think about it. She's dated several of the wrong guys, it was quite entertaining. You can do that, just don't marry them. Things that make them look cool when dating don't make good husbands. Women have to try harder.
It's a joke when a woman calls her husband at work to ask what to put in the kids lunches - it's not a joke when men do it, it's reality.
Ask men what doing with kids, give whatever they say a discount. Ask women and give them opposite discount
4. Don't leave before you leave
She's found that women make one decision to leave work to stay home with kids. They make a series of small decisions along the way before leaving. They may pick a slightly less interesting field. They may decide not to be partner in law firm in anticipation of leaving one day. She sees this with women who have no husband, no boyfriend but already trying to balance for work/life. If you do this you're going to feel undervalued making easier for you to leave your job to stay home.
You should keep your foot on gas pedal until you need to leave. That's the only way to have a real decision to make.
Doing more gives you more choices not less. When you are highly valued, people around you will do more to make it work. CS is most flexible industry
5. Talk about it
Women will try to fit in always and she knows what its like not to talk about.
The men are leaning in but women have to be talked into it. They're looking for balance they don't yet need. Want to be comfortable and feel ready first. She was told don't talk about being a woman, it will ruin your career. It hasn't. In fact, it has had side benefits: Facebook gets great female applicants now.
She is decades, not years, older than many people in the audience. Her generation is not going to increase the numbers of women in CS. It's up to you to change. She would like to see half of companies run by women and half of .homes run by men
Technology is improving human condition. Facebook believes in the power of individual - giving people voice. For a group that hasn't been empowered, this is the time for change.
This is on the walls at Facebook: What would you do if you weren't afraid? Ask yourselves and go do it.
Notes taken by Keita Del Valle, GHC 2011 Live Notetaker.
