Amazon, from FREE to $22.03, depending on format
Why did I read this? “Careless People” is Sarah Wynn-Williams’ account of her years working at Facebook very near the top brass like Zuck and Sheryl Sandberg. You get the inside scoop on how clueless and awkward Mark Zuckerberg truly was (and maybe still is), and what an abominable human being Sheryl Sandberg is. I loved it for the detailed, behind-the-scenes look at Facebook. I almost always enjoy behind-the-scenes books about enterprises, places or environments that I’m never going to see firsthand because such paintstaking care is taken to hide the reality from the world.
An interesting idea: Wynn-Williams is the hero of her own story, for sure — the one who’s trying to use the power of Facebook to do good works for people across the world. You can decide for yourself whether she was as pure-white-snow as she claims, although the only thing I found difficult to believe was how naive she was about what happens in billion-dollar companies (short version: they’ll slit your throat to keep making more billions). Then again, she’s from New Zealand, so she grew up and was educated far, from the world epicenter of cutthroat capitalism. (Lots of throat-cutting references here, I’m done now. I think.)
In a nutshell: Mark and Sheryl didn’t give two fucks about using the power of Facebook for good, even as they were doing a bang-up job of doing it to make money. Zuckerberg is a weird dork who whined like a bitch when he had to (sigh) meet and speak to foreign heads of state. If rioting in Indonesia helped Facebook grow, then woo-hoo! Let’s do it. When they go on leadership retreats, Zuck’s halo of sycophants lets him win games so he doesn’t get mad. Sheryl is a frosty witch who casually tells admirers that they’ll never be able to afford the shoes she’s wearing today, and has no clue why having a newborn child would make an employee ask for time off. Sheryl, also, had to be lied to and stroked constantly because the truth might make her angry. Corporate America is full of these special snowflakes, apparently.
It was a great read, I couldn’t put it down (or, ok, press pause…I’m an audiobook guy, as you know). Highly, highly recommended.
