Facebook official urges equality
Sandberg avoids controversial IPO in speech to Harvard business graduates
BOSTON — Facebook chief operating officer Sheryl Sandberg this week urged students graduating from Harvard’s business school to work for fast- growing companies, communicate honestly and address inequality in the workplace.
In her first public appearance since the company’s disappointing initial public offering, Sandberg refrained from addressing the controversy around its messy, glitch- plagued debut.
Instead, she challenged graduates to change the system.
“We need to acknowledge openly that gender remains at issue at the highest levels,” she told a crowd of students and their families assembled on a lawn outside the business school library.
Only about 16 per cent of the highest corporate jobs are held by women, the same level as a decade ago, she noted.
After urging the graduates to use Facebook to stay in touch, Sandberg said: “We’re public now, so could you please click on an ad or two while you’re there.”
She told the crowd that she sometimes gets anxious. “When things are unresolved, I get a tad anxious,” said the 42- year- old who became one of Harvard’s wealthiest alumni after the IPO. “People have never accused me of being too calm.”
She chatted and posed for photos with dozens of students after the speech. Several said they had accepted jobs with Facebook. “I’ll see you over the summer,” she said to one of them.