Careless People: A Cautionary Tale of Power, Greed, and Lost Idealism

by Sarah Wynn-Williams

Oh, I think to myself. I’m probably going to have to leave this job. Almost all policy at Facebook runs through Sheryl. If she writes me off, I won’t be able to get anything done. Problem is, I really can’t quit right now. I’m weeks away from giving birth. At this moment, it doesn’t seem like much of a choice. Alert to the new danger Sheryl poses, when she sends me an email thanking me for my work at Davos on Monday and Joel echoes it, I decide it’s best to tell him what happened in the plane. After I do, he simply instructs me not to tell that story to anyone. So I tell his boss, Elliot, who laughs nervously and then gives me essentially the same advice. I decide to confide in Debbie, who is underwhelmed by my fears, telling me that “half the department” has been in Sheryl’s bed by now. She is joking, like, hey, this is less of a big deal than you think (and you’re less of a big deal than you think—classic Debbie) and trying to reassure me. But it doesn’t help. I start to notice Sheryl icing me out.