Every Monday a bit before 10 a.m., Sheryl Sandberg, Facebook's chief operating officer, dashes off a quick e-mail to her boss, Mark Zuckerberg. "We have a routine," Ms. Sandberg says. "I e-mail, 'Coming in?' He replies, 'On my way."'

A few minutes later, on one such Monday, Mr. Zuckerberg, Facebook's co-founder and chief executive, walked into the company's headquarters, said a few hellos and headed to a conference room, where he and Ms. Sandberg huddled for an hour.

The two executives end the week the same way, with a closed-door meeting Friday afternoon. They discuss products, strategy, deals, personnel -- and each other.

"We agreed that we would give each other feedback every Friday," Ms. Sandberg said. "We are constantly flagging things. Nothing ever builds up." At a recent meeting, for instance, they ironed out a disagreement between them over the details of Mr. Zuckerberg's pledge to give $100 million to schools in Newark, New Jersey.

If all of that sounds a bit touchy-feely, well, it is. Ms. Sandberg, a well-regarded Internet executive, is known for her interpersonal skills as much as for her sharp intellect. And her regular meetings with the introverted Mr. Zuckerberg have helped to keep one of Silicon Valley's most unusual business partnerships working wonders for Facebook.

Indeed, for a variety of reasons, Ms. Sandberg may well have become Mr. Zuckerberg's most valuable friend.

Since Ms. Sandberg joined the company about two years ago, Facebook has successfully navigated one of the more perilous stages in a start-up's life: a period of hypergrowth. Facebook's work force has expanded sixfold, to nearly 1,800, and its global audience has multiplied by more than seven, to half a billion. Revenue, once little more than an afterthought, is expected to balloon to about $1.6 billion this year, according to estimates from Wedbush Securities.

(Facebook, a private company, does...

2010-10-08 00:20:09