VP Of Meta: Running A Trillion Dollar Business With An Incurable Illness: Nicola Mendelsohn

The Diary Of A CEO with Steven Bartlett

FlightStory

Society & Culture, Business, Education

4.6 • 13.2K Ratings

🗓️ 15 August 2022

⏱️ 111 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Nicola Mendelsohn is Meta’s (formerly Facebook) global head of advertising and routinely tops lists “most powerful person in UK tech. She’s juggled her high flying career with having a rare type of blood cancer since 2016. That cancer is just one of the things that has held Nicola back, but, like her struggle against racial prejudice in her early years, she hasn’t let it define her. No one is ever going to get to define Nicola except her. In this candid chat about how she’s seen her role and her company change as it’s come under increasing criticism in the last few years, Nicola holds nothing back on her critics, her fears, her highs, her lows, and what she still wants herself and the company to achieve. Follow Nicola: Twitter - https://g2ul0.app.link/t9DYxjBKqsb Instagram - https://g2ul0.app.link/xf4gYKzsvsb Follow me: https://beacons.ai/diaryofaceo Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	Zach was 11, he's our youngest. He asked me if I was going to die.
0:07.2	Finish me off.
0:12.0	As Facebook's Vice President for Europe, the Middle East and Africa,
0:15.4	nuclear is one of the most powerful women working in tech.
0:18.0	Facebook is this huge company, the prospect of leading so many regions.
0:22.0	Is there any element of... What the fuck am I doing you?
0:24.7	You don't climb Everest, get to base camp one and that's your thing.
0:28.3	Certainly in chaotic moments it's like what are the things you can control in order to either get out of the chaos or to hit the North Star.
0:35.0	So this meta shift, people are understandably scared.
0:39.0	Do you have any concerns that we're taking away what it is to be a human?
0:42.0	I think it's an important question. that we're taking away what it is to be a human.
0:42.5	I think it's an important question.
0:44.0	I think...
0:45.0	Three years into your career at Facebook and then you get some awful news.
0:50.0	I got the diagnosis that I had follicular lymphoma which is an incurable
0:55.9	blood cancer so we gathered the kids on the Sunday morning I couldn't I just
1:01.2	couldn't get the words out.
1:06.0	When I told my story on on World Cancer Day,
1:08.0	so many people sharing having a similar disease
1:11.0	but we're scared to show that because it was a sign of weakness.
1:14.8	I mean it sounds ridiculous but there are still companies where that sort of
1:18.4	behavior is happening. We often don't put the discipline into our personal lives that we do in our work lives and often our work lives are dictated by others.
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from FlightStory, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of FlightStory and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.