Sheryl Sandberg is one of the most powerful women in business and one of the world’s richest self-made women. But even this “self-made woman” recognizes the importance of building good partnership with a man when it comes to her career advancement.

Judging by many of her photos on the Internet, I actually first thought of Sheryl Sandberg as another awkward geek from Facebook. She doesn’t have that “bold, sexy, and confident grin” that is so typical of socialites and Hollywood female celebrities. She doesn’t even have much of the self-assured pose of journalist Arianna Huffington. And I thought her modest smile was a little too unfortunate for someone who’s actually on the list of most powerful women.

But gUrlfriends, I was wrong. I always suck at first impressions. Beneath the modest smile and unassuming stance of Sheryl Sandberg, there is a fierce woman who runs the world.

Sheryl Sanberg is currently the Chief Operating Officer of Facebook. That being said, she is one of the most dominant woman in the Silicon Valley and her work in the company extends to running the ad business, acting as the adult supervision of the youth-oriented social networking site, and being the spokesperson who regularly face media interviews in behalf of the company’s CEO, Mark Zuckerberg. (Prior to Facebook, Sheryl Sandberg was Google’s Vice President of Global Online Sales and Operations. And prior to Google, she was the Chief of Staff of the United States Department of the Treasury.)

And now that Facebook is predicted to IPO at a valuation around $100 billion in the next few months, Sheryl Sandberg is likely to worth $1.25 billion. When this happens, she will be one of the world’s richest self-made women. Joining the ranks of Oprah Winfrey and J.K. Rowling, Sheryl Sandberg will prove to the world that women can actually make billions despite not being heiresses.

So now, how did she manage to get to the top of the corporate ladder?

As simple and straightforward as her public presentation is, Shery Sandberg’s career advice for women is pretty easy but way more practical and “strategic”.

Instead of forcefully telling women to be authoritative and independent to become successful in their careers, the American businesswoman simply tells women to find a supportive lifetime partner:

“The most important career choice you’ll make is who you marry. I have an awesome husband, and we’re 50/50.”

Not much has been documented of Sheryl Sandberg’s married life to Survey Monkey CEO David Goldberg. However, her wisdom tells us that while autonomy is essential to “making it big” in this world, relationship-building and choosing the right partner are also very significant.

Women do not need to sacrifice marriage just so they can become successful businesswomen or world leaders. Women do not also need to sacrifice their career in the corporate world just so they can become good wives and mothers.

We just need to find supportive husbands who see us as equal partners, who share responsibilities with us at home, who allow us to work and find fulfillment in our profession, and whose ego will not be bruised when we become more economically successful than them.

“Men always lean forward in their careers, no matter where they’re going, and women more often lean back. And that’s a huge mistake — because the person leaning in will one day be your boss,” Sheryl Sandberg adds.