It’s no question that old and fledgling businesses alike, when under the wrong leadership, may never reach their full potential. That is true even when success is simmering just under the surface. In the hands of the right executives, however, businesses can achieve astounding results that exceed even the loftiest of expectations. Many Private Equity firms have this philosophy and explain it as “betting on the jockey and not the horse.”
Take, for example, Facebook’s meteoric rise.
When Sheryl Sandberg, Facebook’s COO, joined the company’s leadership in 2008, the company had 70 million users and no business model.
Sandberg, a graduate of Harvard Business School, brought to the company her experience working for McKinsey & Company as management consultant and Google as VP of global online sales & operations. More importantly, she understood social media, and had proven that she could monetize information. Over a courting period of many months, she also built a very strong relationship with Mark Zuckerberg.
Since she joined and began guiding the Facebook team, the company has expanded to 845 million monthly active users with profits reaching $1 billion on $3.7 billion in revenue in just four years, according to The New York Times. Now, with Sandberg at the helm, the company has filed an initial public offering. According to The Huffington Post, “Facebook seeks to raise $5 billion in an IPO that looks likely to be the largest by a web company since Google in 2004 and could place the social network’s value as high as $75 billion to $100 billion.”
In picking Sandberg as an executive, the Board of Directors at Facebook chose wisely.
With the cutting-edge candidate assessment process from Lantern Partners, we can help your business choose wisely, too. Our comprehensive assessment process includes extensive sourcing and research, experience validation, role-specific competency assessment, leadership competency assessment, and in-depth referencing for competency validation and professional development opportunities.
By taking these steps, we aim to help you find the right person for executive leadership that, like Sandberg, can help your company make achievements that defy all expectations.
Still want more? Here you can watch Sandberg talk about why she thinks we have too few women leaders at the TED conference:
