Mark Zuckerberg is a ‘ruthless execution machine,’ ex-Twitter CEO says

Mark Zuckerberg.
Charles
Platiau/Reuters

• Facebook
  CEO Mark
  Zuckerberg is at the center of a debate about the role of
  social media in a democracy.
• Silicon Valley executives shared their opinions of Zuckerberg
  in an article in The New Yorker on Wednesday.
• Former Twitter CEO Dick Costolo called Zuckerberg a “ruthless
  execution machine,” but other executives described him more
  sympathetically. 

As Facebook
finds itself at the center of a global debate about free speech,
fake news, and the role of social media in a democracy, much of
the attention has been focused on the company’s tight-lipped CEO
Mark Zuckerberg.

An
article in The New Yorker published on Wednesday details
Zuckerberg’s efforts to reform Facebook, and it painted him as
someone who would do anything to win. The article gave executives
across Silicon Valley a chance to share their opinions on the
controversial CEO.

“He’s a ruthless execution machine, and if he has decided to come
after you, you’re going to take a beating,” Dick Costolo, the
former CEO of Twitter, told Evan Osnos for The New Yorker.

Costolo isn’t the only one who feels that way. LinkedIn CEO Reid
Hoffman acknowledged that’s a common perception and that he
initially felt similarly about Zuckerberg, although he said the
two are now close.

“There are a number of people in the Valley who have a perception
of Mark that he’s really aggressive and competitive. I think some
people are a little hesitant about him from that perspective,”
Hoffman told The New Yorker.

“For many years, it was, like, ‘Your LinkedIn thing is going to
be crushed, so even though we’re friendly, I don’t want to get
too close to you personally, because I’m going to crush you.’
Now, of course, that’s behind us and we’re good friends.”

The way Hoffman sees it, he told Business Insider
last year, although early interactions with Zuckerberg were
painfully awkward — “there was a lot of staring at the desk and
not saying anything” — he has since matured into an “articulate”
and “highly capable” leader.

Yet negative perceptions of Zuckerberg persist, even if they are
far from universal in Silicon Valley. Bill Gates, the founder of
Microsoft and an early hero of Zuckerberg’s, pushed back on the
idea that Zuckerberg was arrogant.

“Somebody who is smart, and rich, and ends up not acknowledging
problems as quickly as they should will be attacked as arrogant.
That comes with the territory,” he said. “I wouldn’t say that
Mark’s an arrogant individual.”

The public impression of Zuckerberg has been partially shaped by
the 2010 film “The Social Network,” which detailed the company’s
early years, and portrayed Zuckerberg as cold, calculating, and
driven mainly by a desire to meet women.

Neither Zuckerberg nor Facebook chose to be involved in the film,
and many at Facebook disagreed with the unflattering depiction of
their leader.

“From its facts to its essence to its portrayal, I think that was
a very unfair picture. I still think it forms the basis of a lot
of what people believe about Mark,” Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg
told The New Yorker.

As for what Zuckerberg himself thought of the movie?

“First impressions matter a lot, and for a lot of people that was
their introduction to me,” Zuckerberg told The New Yorker. 

Although Zuckerberg said he’s not “insulted” by his public
reputation, he did acknowledge there is a “natural zero-sumness”
to the social media industry that influences the way he leads
Facebook.

“I care about succeeding,” he said. “And, yes, sometimes you have
to beat someone to something, in order to get to the next thing.
But that’s not primarily the way that I think I roll.”