Francoise Brougher (A)

Francoise Brougher was a high-powered technology executive in Silicon Valley. After successful stints at Google (where she rose to lead a $16 billion ad sales business) and Square (which she helped take public), she joined Pinterest as its first Chief Operating Officer in March 2018. As COO, Brougher increased the advertiser base eight-fold, expanded operations to 20 countries, and more than doubled Pinterest’s revenue to $1.1 billion in less than two years. These achievements, among others, set Pinterest up for its successful IPO in April 2019. In the year after the IPO, however, Brougher was increasingly cut out of meetings with other leaders in the company and given little voice in critical decisions. When Pinterest’s CEO and founder, Ben Silbermann, asked Brougher if they could connect, Brougher was ready to share her latest thoughts on the actions Pinterest could take to further grow and optimize its business. Ten minutes into their video call, however, Brougher realized she was being fired. Brougher pondered how her status as an outsider—a French woman—played into her treatment in the firm. Silbermann offered a severance package of six months’ salary, suggested she tell her team she had decided to leave the company, and asked her to sign a non-disclosure agreement. What could Brougher do in response?