week I couldn’t give my opinion unless asked. It was one of the longest weeks of my
life. If I had bitten my tongue each time I started to express my opinion, I would have had no tongue
left.

Trying to overcorrect is a great way to find middle ground. In order for me to speak the right
amount in a meeting, I have to feel as if I am saying very little. People who are shy will have to feel
like they are saying way too much. I know a woman who naturally talks softly and forces herself to
“shout” in business meetings just to speak at an average volume. Overriding our natural tendencies is
very difficult. In all the years I’ve been trying, I can only think of a few times when someone said to
me, “Sheryl, I wish you had spoken up more in that meeting.” Omid did it once and I hugged him.

Eric turned out to be absolutely right about Google, and I will always be grateful to him and to
Larry Page and Sergey Brin for taking a chance on me. My eighteen-month plan at the company
extended into six and a half years, and I learned more than I ever could have hoped while working
with true visionaries. But eventually I felt that it was time to make a move on the jungle gym.

In my personal life, I am not someone who embraces uncertainty. I like things to be in order. I file
documents in colored folders (yes, still) and my enthusiasm for reorganizing my closet continually
baffles Dave. But in my professional life, I have learned to accept uncertainty and even embrace it.
Risk—and a great deal of luck—landed me at Google. That worked out so well that I decided to
embrace risk again, which led me to Facebook. At the time, other companies were willing to hire me
as CEO, but I joined Facebook as COO. At first, people questioned why I would take a “lower level”
job working for a twenty -three-year-old. No one asks me that anymore. As I did when I joined
Google, I prioritized potential for fast growth and the mission of the company above title.

I have seen both men and women miss out on great opportunities by focusing too much on career
levels. A friend of mine had been working as a lawyer for four years when she realized that instead of

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shooting for partner, she’d rather join a company in a sales or marketing role. One of her clients was
willing to hire her in this new capacity but wanted her to start at the ground level. Since she could
afford the temporary pay cut, I urged her to make the jump, but she decided against taking a job that
put her “back four years.” I understood how painful it was for her to lose hard-earned ground. Still, ．本．作．品．由．．網．友．整．理．上．傳．
my argument was that if she was going to work for the next thirty years, what difference does going
“back” four years really make? If the other path made her happier and offered her a chance to learn
new skills, that meant she was actually moving forward.

2
In many cases, women need to be more open to taking risks in their careers. When I left Google to
join Facebook, as a percentage of my team, fewer women tried to follow me. As they had been all
along, the men were more interested in new and, as we say in tech, higher beta opportunities—where
the risks were great but the potential rewards even greater. Many of the women on my team eventually
showed interest in joining Facebook, but not until a few years later, when the company was more
established. The cost of stability is often diminished opportunities for growth.

Of course, there are times in life when being risk averse is a good thing; adolescent and adult males