Sheryl Sandberg - Pay Attention To The Moments Of Joy

Successful in life and work, Facebook executive Sheryl Sandberg had to face the devastating loss of her beloved husband. She tells Celina Edmonds how her experience of grief has shaped who she is now, and of the value of reaching out to others who face adversity.

- Celina Edmonds

Sheryl Sandberg is mid-sentence when her phone begins to vibrate. “Give me one second,” she says. “My daughter is FaceTiming me ... I always take these – so sorry.” The second-in-charge of Facebook explains –“That’s one change after my husband died, I always take my kids’ calls.”

It’s one of many changes Sheryl has had to make since “the unimaginable” happened. In May 2015, her husband of 11 years Dave Goldberg – whom she describes as her “rock” – died suddenly at just 47. The couple was attending a friend’s 50th birthday celebration in Mexico.

A former Vice-President at Google and once Chief of Staffat the US Department of Treasury, Sheryl is hot property. Last year, US business bible Fortune magazine ranked the 47-yearold number six in its list of “50 Most Powerful Women in Business”.

Sheryl’s first book, Lean In: Women, Work, and the Will to Lead, published in 2013, catapulted the Chief Operating Officer of Facebook to a new level, as she amassed a Facebook following of close to 2 million people. Four years on and she’s has a second book, Option B: Facing Adversity, Building Resilience and Finding Joy, which has just been released in Australia.

Promoting books is nothing new for Sheryl, but this latest offering is different, because it’s deeply personal.

“I mean, in a million years you never would have expected what was a special and celebratory day for a close friend to turn into what is one of the worst moments of my life,” she says.