The Amazing Transformation of Mark Zuckerberg

I've never met the guy, but my mental construct of Facebook CEO Marker Zuckerberg (or "Zuck" as I call him for short in my imagination) has gone through some wild transformations over the past decade.

Back in Facebook's early days, I saw him as a hoodie-clad college dropout on a quest to conquer the newly minted "social media" world with his beautifully minimalistic, hand-coded platform. So, subsequently suffering through some of the young CEO'southward awkward early public appearances, my admiration faltered, and I began to wonder if this kid stumbled into excellence.

A little later, the stories arose about his sketchy-ish early business dealings (which were even portrayed in a major Hollywood film. Perchance you've seen it?). These tales, coupled with details of his (initial) devil-may-care arroyo to privacy, soured my portrait of Zuck. In my mind, he became just another ruthless Silicon Valley jerk driven by the pursuit of power. A niggling later, Facebook'southward IPO would finally transfer Zuck into the multi-billionaire he dreamed of condign, and every bit far as I could tell, he spent his costless fourth dimension and coin pursuing completely unnecessary rich guy challenges.

I promise he had fun with all that.

Just over the past yr or and then, my view of Zuck has taken yet some other turn. I've been particularly intrigued by the public conversations Zuck has initiated that eschew the normal don't-rock-the-boat public face up of nearly chief executives. Whether these proclamations of decency are calculated, 18-carat, or even self-initiated, my new view of Zuck is of a man who publicly advocates for human progress.

This advocacy streak was materialized most recently in Zuck's scolding of his overwhelmingly white staff most the repeated defacing of "Black Lives Matter" notes on a wall in the visitor'south headquarters with the all-too-oft spouted retort of "all lives matter."

In response, Zuck wrote an internal memo which stated, in part, how "I was very disappointed by this disrespectful behavior before, but subsequently my communication I now consider this malicious as well." He went on to say "'Black lives matter' doesn't mean other lives don't—it'due south merely asking that the black community as well achieves the justice they deserve."

Proficient on you, Zuck.

While this type of communication may, on its face, seem like a CEO attempting to save his company from potentially mucilaginous HR problem, it also shows a genuine appreciation for the greater issue. This idea is further reinforced when taken in context of other recent public stances. You lot can start to appreciate a pattern.

I missive that particularly caught my attention was a note from December of final year published in the wake of the terrorist attacks in Paris and the growing refugee crisis. The note was specifically targeted towards the Muslim customs, which was facing a rhetorical (and occasionally violent) blowback throughout the Westward.

In the post, he wrote:

After the Paris attacks and hate this week, I can but imagine the fearfulness Muslims feel that they volition be persecuted for the actions of others.

Every bit a Jew, my parents taught me that we must stand up up against attacks on all communities. Even if an attack isn't against you today, in time attacks on freedom for anyone will hurt everyone.

If you're a Muslim in this customs, as the leader of Facebook I want you to know that you are ever welcome hither and that we volition fight to protect your rights and create a peaceful and safe surroundings for yous.

Yet another recent Zuckism that caught my attention took place inside the confines of a Facebook postal service detailing his latest annual challenge: to build "a simple AI to run my home." While that goal is a cool piffling billionaire hobby, I was personally touched past the chat which occurred beneath the fold.

As he ofttimes does on his posts, Zuck takes a few minutes to respond to questions and comments in the reply department. One grandmother replied (sic) "I go on telling my one thousand daughters to Date the nerd in school, he may turn out to exist a Mark Zuckerberg!..." In response, Zuck wrote "Even ameliorate would be to encourage them to 'be' the nerd in their school so they tin can be the next successful inventor!" The response spawned the ensuing hashtag #BeTheNerd.

It could be that these recent positions are strictly calculated business decisions meant to raise the scope of a company that offers a production internationally. Profit by inclusion. I don't fifty-fifty know if these posts are penned by Zuckerberg himself or by a talented ghost writer he keeps on staff. For all I know, these positions could be the result of years of focus-grouping, designed to pinpoint things that will appeal to tech writers to inspire them to write positive stories.

Regardless of whether there'south whatsoever smoke and mirrors involved, the result has been an evolution in my own personal imagining of Zuck. And for the outset fourth dimension in a while, I've get very interested in where he'll go next.

This commodity originally appeared on PCMag.com.