Facebook divided by Mark Zuckerberg’s new wartime leadership style

Facebook CEO Mark
Zuckerberg.
Reuters

• Mark Zuckerberg is running Facebook like the company is
  at war, according to reports.
• He is being more aggressive in tackling existential
  threats and is quicker to call out mistakes and attach
  blame.
• But the new leadership style is creating unprecedented
  turmoil, The Wall Street Journal said.

Mark Zuckerberg is acting like Facebook is at war, but it’s
creating unprecedented turmoil within his own ranks.

According to two reports, the 34-year-old billionaire has changed
his leadership style to a battle footing after Facebook was
dragged into a sequence of scandals, including election meddling
and data breaches.

The Wall Street Journal said
Zuckerberg told a meeting of 50 top Facebook executives in June
that Facebook is under siege and he plans to run the company
accordingly.

Sources told the newspaper that he is pressing executives to
“make progress faster” on big issues, including securing the
company’s future growth and making Facebook safe for users.

Read more: Mark Zuckerberg’s spectacular
failure of leadership shows why some Facebook investors are
desperate to fire him

But the more aggressive style is proving unpopular, the Journal
said, and is partly to blame for a rash of senior departures in
recent months.

This includes Instagram founders Kevin Systrom and Mike Krieger,
who the Journal said were set against Zuckerberg’s plans to boost
ad targetting by sharing location data on Instagram users with
Facebook.

Zuckerberg’s change of tone has even created tensions with his
closest ally: COO Sheryl Sandberg. He blamed her for the
Cambridge Analytica debacle, leaving her rattled and fearing for
her job, the Journal said.

Zuckerberg throws press team under a bus

Now, members of Facebook’s press team feel like they have been
hit by the Zuckerberg express, according to NBC News media
reporter Dylan Byers.

During a call with journalists last week, Zuckerberg very publically blamed
the communications division for hiring PR firm Definers Public
Affairs to smear Facebook’s critics.

And according to Byers, Zuckerberg thinks there are bigger
problems with Facebook’s comms team. In his Byers Market
newsletter, he said Zuckerberg’s belief is that Facebook’s
bad publicity stems from a bungled press strategy and sensational
media coverage.

But the press team is shocked at being thrown under a bus. “It’s
total arrogance,” one of the sources told Byers. “Everyone is
pissed.”

Business Insider has contacted Facebook for comment. Both
Zuckerberg and Sandberg said they did not know about the Definers
deal, but the latter accepted responsibility for it.