Sarah Wynn-Williams talked her way into her dream job, working in international policy at Facebook. This award-winning book is about her time there, giving a brave and shocking insight to what goes on in the top levels of the company. I understand why she wanted to work there; it was obvious to her, if not to the managers, that Facebook was about to be a major revolution across the world, influencing politics in particular. Using her diplomatic skills, she wanted to help the company manage their responsibilities in an ethical way. It became clear that their decisions were causing a lot of damage and they did not seem to care. What I didn’t completely understand was why she stayed at Facebook for so long, once she discovered what kind of people she was working for and that she disagreed with the direction the company was going in. Perhaps she stayed that long to collect all the material for this book? She was sent into dangerous situations, in countries she couldn’t navigate, while pregnant. She was expected to work all hours. She organised meetings with heads of state, only for her bosses to be late, make faux pas, or not read the briefings. Her managers behaved inappropriately towards her and HR wouldn’t help. It was only when she became ill, that she says she considered leaving, but needed the health insurance.

I would have liked more about her early life. She’s from New Zealand and suffered a near-fatal shark attack aged 13. Aside from this chapter, the book focuses on her time at Facebook and not all of the content interested me, although I recognised its importance.

Published by Macmillan, 2025.