At Facebook Meta we celebrate everyone’s FaceMetaversary, the day they joined Facebook Meta. On my 1st Faceversary I posted the 10 things I learned during my first year at Facebook. For my 2nd Faceversary I posted about the 10 things I unlearned. On my 3rd year I posted about the 3 things that defined my 3rd year.
As this is now somewhat of a tradition, I’ve decided to wrote another post in the series, despite being on a long vacation, and this time – the 4 things that I took away from year 4 at Meta:
1. It’s all about people: working at a fast-paced, always-changing, highly-demanding work environment might sound intimidating to some, challenging to others. But this is what I love about the profession I’ve chosen and the types of companies I chose to work at. To be not only successful, but also happy, at such a work environment, and for a long time, you need great people around you. I’ve built teams before, in some cases from zero; I’ve joined teams that were already established; I had to layoff people and replace them – I’ve been around the block a few times. The one thing that stands out at Meta is a truly unique collection of great people that I’ve had the privilege to work with and have around me. People you can count on. People who have your back. People to take on great challenges with. People to celebrate wins with. People to fail with. And if you are fortunate enough to have great people around you most of the time, then time does fly, and you can practically achieve anything you set your mind, and your team, to do.
2. Hard work, consistently, for a long time, pays off: In one of the early Q&A sessions that Mark holds for the entire company he was asked what it would take for the company to be successful. In hard times, for the industry, the company, my team and myself, I’m often reminded about his answer – it takes hard work, done consistently, over a long period of time. After 20 years of career, I can testify that – sadly maybe for some – this is indeed the secret for success. Yes, you can be successful taking some shortcuts, gaining some quick wins, but in the long run you realize that like everything in life this not a sprint, but a marathon. And the way to win is through hard work, day in day out, for a long time. After which you start to reap the fruits, to enjoy the success. Especially in an environment which appreciates impact, and acts accordingly when it comes to compensation and promotion. An environment I’m privileged to work in.
3.Work hard, play hard: Working hard consistently is not simple. This is why playing (hard) is as important. Celebrating wins, enjoying time spent together socially, being able to enjoy the fruits of success, having fun together as a team – all of those are critical to sustain a consistent level of effort, of dedication, of teamwork. And it’s not just the investment in the events themselves. It’s the acknowledgement that it’s OK to stop from time to time and smell the flowers. I’m thankful that I had a lot of such opportunities this year, some great events and some awesome parties, to enjoy with my team.
4.Embrace change: In this day and age, and definitely in the industry I work in, nothing is certain and nothing is fixed. Change is happening, and it’s happening a lot. In some cases faster than one would imagine. You fail fast, and you try something new just as fast. Which means you need to adapt to change, embrace it. A change doesn’t have to pull the rug under your feet. It usually means that a lot of possibilities are now open, a lot of opportunities to chase, a lot ways you can improve.It’s been a year filled with changes, and I’m happy to say things turned out for the best in the end of the day. Maybe not the way we (or I) originally planned, but most of the time you don’t really know what’s at the end of the road. You just need to learn to stop being afraid.
This has been another great year I will always look back to with pride and a smile. And I continue to be grateful to the people who help me in my journey, as I’m headed for another year at Meta, filled with new challenges, and as this also marks a new Jewish new year, I wish everyone – myself included – Shana Tova, a good year.