A Most Poignant Board Appointment

In her book ‘Lean In,’ Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg implores young women to “make [their] partner a real partner” or, to make your spouse someone with a vested interest in your success.

Sandberg called picking the right significant other the “most important career choice you could make”, and she was right: After all it is much easier to rebound from a stressful work day when someone has picked up some of the slack, for starters.

Sandberg’s husband, SurveyMonkey CEO Dave Goldberg, was this kind of real partner. Through ‘Lean In,’ he inspired even those who never knew him directly to make better partner choices — because he lived his life in full support of Sandberg.

Sadly, he passed away this past May, after an accident in Mexico. 

That has not kept Sandberg from doubling down on his memory and continued success. Today she announced that she is joining the board of SurveyMonkey along with her former Facebook colleague David Ebersman, guiding the company Goldberg helmed as it nudges towards IPO. Along with Sandberg and Ebersman, the SurveyMonkey board now has seven members, two of them women.

While spouses serving on the same board is not uncommon, it’s rarer when those spouses are not co-founders of the same company, like in the case of Houzz or Eventbrite. (Check out this special situation.) 

One could also argue that significant others are always on each other’s board: Which means that Sandberg leads once again in making that official.

https://twitter.com/ashleymayer/status/618220356268986368

Image via Sheryl Sandberg