The Acceptable Face of Facebook

脸书中一个可亲的面孔

Social skills for a social network

一个社交网站所需的社交能力

Few corporate types can charm hardened hacks so effectively. Sheryl Sandberg, the number two at Facebook, the world’s biggest social network, has been glad-handing reporters with spectacular results. The New Yorker says she may “upend Silicon Valley’s male-dominated culture”. New York magazine puts her in line for Secretary of the Treasury. Bloomberg Businessweek speculates that she might one day be the president of the United States.

很少有商界人士能像谢勒尔·桑德伯格似地懂得讨老油条似的媒体的欢心。身为最大社交网络——脸书的二当家的谢勒尔·桑德伯格最近一直忙着亲切会见记者们。这些记者都对她赞不绝口：纽约客称她可能会改变硅谷男性主导的风气，纽约周刊将她与财务部长相提并论，彭博商业周刊推测她可能有一天会成为美国总统。

Her sudden lionisation is well-timed. Facebook is expected to go public soon, perhaps this year. It may be the biggest internet flotation ever, with a market capitalisation of more than $100 billion. Investors might be less bullish if the 27-year-old Mark Zuckerberg, the founder, were in sole charge. Many consider him somewhat socially awkward.

她的突然成名来的恰是时候。因为脸书很可能会在本年很快上市。脸书拥有超过一千亿的市值，届时可能成为迄今为止最大的上市互联网公司。而如果27岁的脸书的创始人马克·扎克伯格独挑大梁的话，投资者可能不这么看涨。因为很多人认为他有些欠缺社交能力。

Ms Sandberg, a 42-year-old former Google executive, joined Facebook in 2008; without her, insiders say, it would not have grown from a cash-bleeding start-up to a titan with estimated sales of $2 billion last year. She complements Mr Zuckerberg well. He is technologically brilliant and knows it. She is a good listener with a keen financial brain (she was once an aide to Larry Summers, the then treasury secretary). She provides adult supervision and a professional face to a firm growing so powerful and so quickly that it is bound to clash with governments. Were Mr Zuckerberg to be grilled by senators who have not yet grasped the concept of e-mail, he might let his irritation show. Ms Sandberg would not have that problem.

现年42岁的前谷歌经理人，桑德伯格，是在2008年加入脸书的。很多业内人士说，如果没有她，脸书不可能会从一个亏损的新企业成长为一个去年预计销售额达20亿美元的巨人。她和扎克伯格可谓是珠联璧合。他，技术精湛，而且其也心知肚明；而她，作为一个优秀的倾听者，还兼备着敏锐的财务头脑（她曾是时任财务部长拉里萨默特的助理）。她为一个成长地如此有力且迅速的公司提供了成熟的监管和专业化的方向。试想一下，如果让一群还没明白什么是电子邮件的参议员来拷问扎克伯格，扎克伯格可能会让他们看看什么是扎克伯格的愤怒。但是桑德伯格小姐就不存在这样的问题。

Since Carly Fiorina and Meg Whitman left HP and eBay, female bosses of big Silicon Valley firms have been rare. Ms Sandberg is doing her part to change this by encouraging women to be more assertive and by building an “old girls’ network”. Thanks to her efforts Facebook has more female executives than the average technology firm. (Strangely, though, she does not sit on its board.)

自从卡莉·费奥莉娜和梅格·惠特曼离开惠普和易趣之后，硅谷的大型公司的女性老板变得稀少了。而桑德伯格在尽量改变这种状况。她建立了一个老女孩社区来鼓励妇女们变得更坚定而自信。多亏了她的努力，脸书比一般科技公司拥有更多的女性经理人。但是，很奇怪，她并不是董事会成员。

Speculation about her future is inevitable. But for now she is unlikely to move. Facebook has far to go before it fulfils its founder’s mission to become the “social utility” of the online world and Google has launched a rival service. It may take a Google veteran to fight back.

对她的未来进行预测是难免的。但是目前她不太可能跳槽。要实现它的创立者的梦想，即成为网络世界的社交公共设施。尤其是在谷歌推出一个类似的服务之后，脸书还有很长的路要走。要想反击成功，一个熟悉谷歌的老手必不可少。

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