Careless People

Sarah Wynn-Williams used to be the head of international policy at Facebook. Describing how difficult it was to impress the importance of this role on Mark Zuckerberg, she notes his aversion to politics.

She recounts an experience in 2015 at the Summit of the Americas, a meeting of world leaders. After obtaining an invitation for him, she convinced Zuckerberg to attend. Once there, he and the entourage from Facebook were ignored. Wynn-Williams attempted to obtain a better seat assignment for Zuckerberg but failed. As a result, the group decided to make an early exit and startled horses that were about to perform for the group. This experience, per Wynn-Williams, was typical of her early years at Facebook when things “did not quite work out like [they] expected” (5).

She continued to advise Zuckerberg and Sandberg as they charted how the company would deal with foreign governments. Ultimately, Wynn-Williams “watched hopelessly as they sucked up to authoritarian regimes like China’s and casually misled the public” (5).

The oldest in a family of four children, Wynn-Williams grew up in Christchurch, New Zealand. She recounts a formative experience from her childhood. At the age of 13, she was attacked by a shark and had to fight hard to get it to release her.