“Like many things at Facebook, it didn’t matter what the policy team debated or decided; it mattered what Sheryl thought. In this case, she had run into one of her Harvard friends, a surgical director of liver transplantation, at a Harvard reunion and offered to help him source donors.” This is one of the many eye-opening passages from the book, “Careless People: A Cautionary Tale of Power, Greed, and Lost Idealism.” If you thought Facebook and Meta were bad, this book would open your eyes to their evil.
“Careless People: A Cautionary Tale of Power, Greed, and Lost Idealism” is a memoir by Sarah Wynn-Williams, draws from her tenure at Facebook (now Meta) from 2011 to 2018; Wynn-Williams provides an insider’s perspective on the company’s internal dynamics and its influence on global events.
The narrative delves into the evolution of Facebook’s corporate culture, highlighting ethical lapses and leadership challenges. Wynn-Williams recounts CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s often clumsy interactions with world leaders, his involvement with political campaigns, and his aspirations beyond the tech industry. The memoir also critiques COO Sheryl Sandberg’s “Lean In” philosophy, juxtaposing it against Wynn-Williams’ personal experiences, including workplace challenges during her pregnancies.
She claims that CEO Mark Zuckerberg looked for a strategy that would allow the company to operate in China even if it meant allowing Beijing to censor content on the site and that managers ignored her complaints about sexual harassment by Joel Kaplan, a high-profile leader, and current chief global affairs officer. It also details alleged abusive and bizarre behavior by former Meta COO Sheryl Sandberg.
“There is no grand ideology here. No theory about what Facebook should be in the world. The company is just responding to stuff as it happens. We’re managers, not world-builders. “
I’ve often wondered how much money it took for people at Facebook to sell their souls working for a tyrant who believes the world revolves around him. Of course, none of this is new. Most famously, Frances Haugan, a Facebook civic integrity team product manager, leaked thousands of documents to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and the media. Haugan claimed in testimony before the U.S. Senate Committee that the files showed the company amplified hate speech and misinformation and that it was aware of the negative impact it had on young users but did not take measures to protect them.
Sarah Wynn-Williams says in the book that she faced retaliation from the company after she reported sexual harassment by her boss, Joel Kaplan, who at the time was a vice president for global public policy. Kaplan has since become chief global affairs officer, serving as the company’s public face in Washington and other world capitals.
Wynn-Williams was fired and said she believed the decision was retaliation after complaining about Kaplan. Meta says she was fired for “poor performance and toxic behavior.” Elliot Schrage, one of Wynn-Williams’ supervisors, said he fired her “based on her repeated failures” to address performance concerns such as “indecision, shifting focus, and failure to execute on hiring” on the policy leadership team.
“We’re in a moment now where technology CEOs and political leaders around the world are joining forces and compounding their influence, compounding their power, and that’s got consequences for everybody,” she said. “People need to understand what has gone on.”
Careless People is a deeply personal account of why and how things have gone so wrong in the past decade—told in a sharp, candid, and utterly disarming voice. A deep, unflinching look at the role that social media has assumed in our lives, Careless People reveals the truth about Facebook’s leaders: how the more power they grasp, the less responsible they become, and the consequences this has for all of us. However, it doesn’t mean that too many Facebook employees sold their souls for price insensibility (they make so much money that they don’t care how much things cost).
Zuck’s latest antic is firing people and telling the media that these people are “low performers” when managers were forced to fire employees who did outstanding work. He went so low that he listed this person in a “do not hire” book, which most HR managers say is absurd. Now Zuck will fire programmers who, he believes, can be replaced by AI.
At some point in your career, you will face a decision between doing what is morally right and doing what is necessary to keep your job and salary. Obviously, too many Facebook employees are addicted to their paychecks.
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