“Let’s be straight with each other,” Systrom told Cox, with Krieger in the room, once he was back from paternity leave. “I need independence. I need resources. And when something happens, I know I’m not always going to agree with it, but I need honesty. That’s what’s going to keep me here.” Cox said that he was committed to advocating for everyone under his leadership, including Systrom and the new leaders of WhatsApp, Messenger, and Facebook, to have the creative freedom they needed to do a good job. That year, he decided that keeping Systrom and Krieger from leaving would be his top
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