I just came across something about Mark Zuckerburg on my Facebook news feed (irony). It was about he and his wife Priscilla expecting a baby and how she had had multiple miscarriages. The article was about a post Zuckerburg shared on (again, irony) Facebook which detailed the struggle they went through as a result. The post was an uplifting one, encouraging others not to be discouraged if faced with a similar situation, as it is a very common experience and doesn’t have anything to do with the woman’s fertility.
As this rosy picture of Zuckerburg was painted for sharing something so deeply personal, I couldn’t help but think back to Jessie Eisennerg’s version of Zuckerburg in the social network, you know, the movie about his Ivy League trials and tribulations (there was a lawsuit).
It struck me as funny. I never believed that Zuckerburg was as much of a douche as his character, or that he was a full on sociopath. Rather, I think he’s somewhere in the middle. Clearly, there’s a darker, more aggressive side of him that’s allowed him to be so successful in the business world. As they say, you have to step on a few (heads, shoulders, people?) to get to the top.
But by the same token he’s (probably?) a good guy. I actually have no idea, never met the guy, but his public persona is kind of a Steve Jobs. Not going to win you over with kindness and gratitude but just wants to put out the best product possible. And as far as I know he’s charitable? Again, I need to start actually doing my research but until someone funds this operation here I answer to no one. But no, I definitely saw somewhere that he gave $1 billion to charity.
So, there’s never an easy way, or any way for that matter, to know if someone is more like their public image or a movie depiction but that’s not important. All we can do is look at the facts before us. Involved in a class action lawsuit with virtually everyone he interacted with in his time at Harvard (introvert); billionaire founder of a company who’s also intent on making the world a better place. Who am I to judge?
While we’re on the subject…. Two scenes I wish actually happened in real life although I know they never did:
1. Eduardo shows up at Facebook’s headquarters and after finding out his shares are diluted says “Oh, he’s plugged in?” And proceeds to pick up Mark’s laptop and smash it on the ground. He then delivers an epic rant, finishing with one of my favorite lines in recent cinematographic history “You better lawyer up asshole, because I’m not coming back for 30%, I’m coming back for everything.” Gives ominous look. Drops mic. End scene.
2. Eduardo is being interviewed in the room with all of the lawyer types and the lawyer asks a stupid question because lawyers have to ask stupid clarifying questions that they know the answers to.
Lawyer: $18,000?
Eduardo: Yes.
Lawyer: In addition to the $1,000 you’d already put up?
Eduardo: Yes
At this point Mark can’t help but interject and says “Hang on. I’m just checking your math on that. Yes, I got the same thing.”
Can’t say I’d be mad if that was the real Zuck.