Sheryl Sandberg’s life seemed ideal—she had a great job, an influential book, a loving family. But then, in the spring of 2015, her husband, Dave Goldberg, was felled by a cardiac condition while the couple was vacationing in Mexico. Sandberg suddenly had a new, unwanted identity: grieving widow.

A version of this article appeared in the May–June 2017 issue (pp.142–147) of Harvard Business Review.