Lean In: Women, Work, and the Will to Lead
You can't discuss Sheryl Sandberg without discussing Lean In. Published in 2013, this book became a cultural phenomenon, sparking a global movement and a nonprofit organization. The core message is a call to action for women to pursue their ambitions
with more vigor. Sandberg combines personal anecdotes from her time at Google and Facebook with data to argue that women often hold themselves back by internalizing societal barriers. She encourages women to "sit at the table," take risks, and negotiate for themselves. While praised by many for its empowering message, it also faced significant criticism for focusing on what individual women should do rather than addressing the systemic and structural biases that hold them back, with some arguing its advice is most applicable to already privileged women. Reading it is essential to grasp the idea that made Sandberg a household name.
Option B: Facing Adversity, Building Resilience, and Finding Joy
If Lean In is about professional ambition, Option B reveals a profoundly different and more personal side of Sandberg. Co-authored with psychologist Adam Grant, the book was written after the sudden death of her husband, Dave Goldberg. It’s a raw and vulnerable exploration of grief, resilience, and finding a way forward when your ideal life plan—Option A—is no longer possible. Sandberg shares her own intense sorrow and combines it with Grant's research on how people can overcome trauma and hardship. The book offers practical advice for building resilience in families, communities, and workplaces. It also provides guidance on how to support others who are facing immense challenges, moving beyond the awkward silence that often surrounds tragedy. This book adds a crucial layer of humanity to Sandberg’s public persona, showing her grappling with a universal experience far from the corporate boardroom.
Careless People by Sarah Wynn-Williams
For a critical, unvarnished look at Sandberg's leadership style and her tenure at Meta, Careless People is a must-read. Written by Sarah Wynn-Williams, a former Director of Global Public Policy at Facebook, this 2025 memoir provides a damning insider account of the company's leadership. Wynn-Williams portrays the executive team, including Sandberg, as being callously indifferent to the real-world harm the platform caused, from fueling genocide to enabling political manipulation. The book alleges a toxic internal culture and describes Sandberg as a hypocritical and ruthless leader, a stark contrast to her public image as a champion for women. The book became a bestseller, partly due to Meta's attempts to legally block its promotion, and offers a crucial counter-narrative to the carefully crafted one presented in Sandberg's own writing. It contextualizes her power not just as an author, but as a key architect of one of the most powerful and controversial companies in modern history.
An Ugly Truth by Sheera Frenkel and Cecilia Kang
While not exclusively about Sandberg, An Ugly Truth: Inside Facebook's Battle for Domination is an essential piece of context for her career. Written by two New York Times reporters, the book is a deeply researched investigation into Facebook's various crises, from the Cambridge Analytica scandal to its handling of hate speech and disinformation. Frenkel and Kang place Sandberg right at the center of the company’s decision-making, showing how her role as COO was pivotal to the company's relentless pursuit of growth. The book details the internal power dynamics between Sandberg and CEO Mark Zuckerberg and holds both accountable for the platform's societal failures. It also highlights some of the double standards Sandberg faced as a powerful woman in tech, noting that certain criticisms leveled against her were often gendered. This book is less a personal biography and more of a corporate one, but it's indispensable for understanding the environment in which Sandberg operated and the consequences of her leadership.
