If you were anywhere near a computer between 2008 and 2022, you felt the influence of Sheryl Sandberg. She wasn't just another executive in a suit. As the Facebook COO, she was the "adult in the room," the person who took Mark Zuckerberg’s dorm-room project and turned it into a $100 billion advertising juggernaut.
Honestly, it’s hard to overstate how much she changed the internet.
But then, she vanished. Well, not vanished exactly, but the "Lean In" era ended with a quiet exit from the Meta board in May 2024. Now, in 2026, the dust has settled enough to see what actually happened. Was she pushed out? Did the "Lean In" philosophy fail? Or did the world just move on?
The Architect of the Money Machine
When Sandberg arrived at Facebook from Google in 2008, the company had plenty of users but basically zero idea how to make money. Mark was 23. Sheryl was 38. She had already helped build Google’s AdWords and AdSense. She knew where the gold was buried: targeted data.
She didn't just tweak the business model; she invented it.
Under her watch, revenue didn't just grow. It exploded. We’re talking about a jump from $150 million in 2008 to over $110 billion by the time she left. She was the one who convinced brands that Facebook wasn't just for college kids—it was the most powerful surveillance-style advertising tool ever created.
Why the Partnership Worked (Until It Didn't)
For a decade, Zuckerberg and Sandberg were the "gold standard" of tech partnerships. He did the product and the "move fast and break things" stuff. She handled the "grown-up" responsibilities: sales, policy, legal, and HR.
But things got messy.
The 2016 election happened. Then Cambridge Analytica happened. Suddenly, the very tools Sandberg built to sell soap were being used to manipulate voters. Critics started pointing fingers. While Zuckerberg often took the public heat, insiders knew Sandberg was the one managing the policy teams that missed the warning signs.
The "Lean In" Backlash
In 2013, Sandberg released Lean In. It was a sensation. Basically, she told women to sit at the table, raise their hands, and demand more.
It worked for a while.
Then the vibe shifted. People started realized that "leaning in" is a lot easier when you have a net worth of over $1.5 billion and a fleet of assistants. By 2026, the conversation has moved toward systemic change rather than individual "grit."
Even Sandberg seems to have acknowledged this shift. Her more recent work with LeanIn.Org and OptionB.Org (focused on grief and resilience after the tragic death of her husband, Dave Goldberg) feels more human. It's less about "climbing the ladder" and more about surviving the "Option B" when life falls apart.
What’s She Up to Now? (2026 Update)
If you're looking for her in the Meta hallways, you won't find her. She officially left the board in early 2024.
These days, she’s leaned—wait for it—into philanthropy. She’s heavily involved in the Sandberg Goldberg Bernthal Family Foundation. She also got remarried to Tom Bernthal in 2022, and by all accounts, she’s focused on her five children and her venture capital work.
Sandberg Bernthal Venture Partners (SBVP) is her latest playground. She’s putting money into:
- Climate technology
- Healthcare innovation
- Enterprise software
She isn't retired. She’s just playing a different game.
The Delaware Legal Headache
It hasn't been all sunshine and venture capital, though. Just recently, in early 2025, a Delaware judge sanctioned her. Why? Apparently, there were issues with deleted emails related to the Cambridge Analytica mess. The court wasn't happy that she used a personal Gmail account for sensitive business and then failed to preserve the records. It's a reminder that even when you "exit" a giant like Meta, the ghosts of the past can still come knocking.
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Was She "Ditched" by Zuckerberg?
There’s a lot of gossip about whether Mark Zuckerberg pushed her out. The truth is probably more boring: the company changed.
Meta became about the "Metaverse" and AI. Sandberg’s expertise was in ad-based social media. When the focus shifted to VR headsets and hardware, her "Super COO" powers weren't as central to the mission. Zuckerberg started taking back more direct control of the product groups.
She saw the writing on the wall. She left on her own terms, but the "Era of Sheryl" was definitely over long before the formal announcement.
3 Lessons Every Leader Can Take from Sandberg
Regardless of how you feel about her, the Facebook COO era taught us a lot about modern business. Here is what actually matters for your own career:
- Complementary Skillsets are Vital: You don't need a clone of yourself. You need someone who loves the stuff you hate doing. Zuckerberg hated the business side; Sandberg lived for it.
- Reputation is a Second Job: Sandberg was a master of PR until she wasn't. She spent years building a brand as a champion for women, which gave her a "shield" during the early Facebook scandals. But once that shield cracked, the fall was harder.
- The Pivot is Personal: You aren't your job title. Sandberg’s move into "resilience" through Option B gave her a second act that felt more authentic than her first.
If you’re looking to apply the "Sandberg Method" to your own life, start by identifying the "Operations" gap in your business. Are you all vision and no revenue? Or are you all revenue with no long-term vision? Finding that balance—or that partner—is the real secret to scaling.
Take a look at your current team. If everyone looks and thinks like you, you're missing your "Sheryl" (or your "Mark"). Fix that first.
Next Steps for Leaders
To truly understand the operational scale Sandberg achieved, you should audit your current revenue systems. Are you relying on "accidental" growth, or have you built a machine that can scale without you? Map out your "revenue architecture" this week. If you can't explain how $1 becomes $10 in your business, you haven't built a machine yet.