Zuckerberg refused all meetings for 2 weeks and managed to change Facebook forever

A Meta executive has told in an interview on a podcast program that the turn that Facebook took in 2012, when it went from prioritizing its desktop version to its mobile app, was the first time CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s leadership strength was on display.

Nicola Mendelsohn, Meta Global Advertising Directorhas spoken in the latest episode of the podcast The Diary of a CEO about Zuckerberg’s leadership and what it’s like to work with his boss.

Mendelsohn calls Zuckerberg “bold,” “an extraordinary human being,” and says he finds him “inspiring.”

The first example of Zuckerberg’s strong conviction that she witnessed was the Switching Facebook from desktop to mobile.

“I think that Facebook’s commitment to the mobile app is the first time that this leadership force and this change of direction were reflected in the actions it carried out,” says the Meta executive.

In 2012, Zuckerberg set out to change the priorities of both Facebook users and the company’s design, moving from its desktop version designed for computers to its app developed for mobiles. Zuckerberg explained to his employees that Facebook “was built late,” “so it was built on the desktop.”

After this decision, the Facebook product team continued to work on its desktop version. At this time, according to Mendelsohn, Zuckerberg had no meetings for 2 weeks because no one on the product team had any mobile innovation to share with him.

“By being really clear as to what the expectations were, people were able to move very quickly on what they had to deliver, and we’ve seen it over and over since,” explains Mendelsohn, referring to Meta’s recent bet. for the video, the Stories and now the Reels on its platform.

The change of direction of Facebook towards the mobile had as protagonist Facebook Homewhich displayed post after post in real time, replicating the user experience on their computer from the phone screen.

Zuckerberg declared to New York Times in 2014 that 20% of the time people spent on their phones was on Facebook.

Apple vs. Meta: Rivalry no one would have seen coming 10 years ago is intensified by digital advertising and virtual reality

In the 2 and a half years after the change, the company’s advertising growth focused on mobile advertising, while in the rest it remained constant. During the same time period, Facebook’s mobile daily active users increased 34% each year and its mobile monthly active users grew 26% year over year.

Facebook is currently in the midst of another big turnaround, its biggest to date. Zuckerberg changed the name of his parent company from Facebook to Meta last year, a big gamble on the company’s aspirations in the metaverse.

“Very few leaders do something like that,” according to Mendelsohn. “One of the reasons why I like what I do is to be able to learn and be inspired by it“, adds the Meta executive.

As a leader, Mendelsohn believes that Zuckerberg sees things other people don’t and that he is “always right.”