Against the Mission Statement

And the case for a private manifesto. PLUS: The Heard playlist No. 3

DragonTiger / Getty Image

Jill Lepore, one of my favorite contemporary writers, recently assessed a new book about Facebook for The New Yorker, and early in the essay paused to skewer the company’s mission statement as “baloney.” Facebook, she wrote, is not about connecting the world; it is about making money from advertising. And in a very Jill Lepore m…