When her husband Dave Goldberg died suddenly during a family vacation in Mexico, Facebook COO and Lean In founder Sheryl Sandberg lost her bearings, she says—and her confidence in her ability to do the things she found easy before.
As she struggled to establish whatever the new normal was going to be for her life and her two kids, she realized her vulnerability could be a great strength. A brutally honest and open Facebook post about the new challenges before her made her realize that the cultural conversation — or lack thereof — around personal adversity needed to change. And she decided to be the person to do just that.
Sandberg has written a memoir, Option B, about her journey with psychologist Adam Grant, and is launching OptionB.org, with the goal of helping others through loss of every kind.
In the new issue of TIME, the executive talks to Belinda Luscombe about life after death. Read the full story here.
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