Black Jeans and Turtlenecks

[…] Compare and contrast authenticity with the example of Elizabeth Holmes, the founder of Theranos, a company that promised to revolutionize healthcare. Holmes dropped out of Stanford at age nineteen to work on a blood-testing technology that she imagined could diagnose chronic diseases such as diabetes and cancer with just one drop of blood.

In a famous TED Talk, she announced, “If I had one wish, standing here with all of you, it would be that today, just for a minute, you think about the fact that we have this right, a human right, to engage with information about ourselves, about our bodies, and for those that we love to engage with information about themselves. And when we do that, we will change our lives, and the lives of those we love will change.” She often claimed that her uncle’s death from cancer was the reason she founded her company—she wanted to create a “world in which no one ever has to say goodbye too soon.” She presented herself as the benevolent founder who just wanted to help others.

As it turns out, it was all lies and deceit. Holmes was just chasing money and fame, and Theranos never really had a working product. She lied to board members and investors, raising $400 million in total while leading doctors and patients to believe that her technology actually worked. She even convinced Walgreens to put the devices in its stores by falsely claiming that they had been comprehensively tested by large pharmaceutical companies. When Theranos started testing patient blood at the Walgreens locations in Arizona, the unreliable results put numerous patients’ lives at risk. But Holmes didn’t care.

One of the major flaws in Elizabeth Holmes’s leadership was her lack of authenticity. She worshipped Steve Jobs and believed herself to be his heir in Silicon Valley. She called her product the iPod of healthcare and predicted that it would be in every household, just like Apple products are. Someone once told her that if she wanted to be like Steve Jobs, she had to look the part. So she replaced her baggy clothes with black jeans and turtlenecks, to mimic how the Apple founder dressed. She also spoke with a fake deep voice, though occasionally, when she got really excited, she inadvertently reverted to her normal voice—to the surprise of the people who were around her.

Holmes was finally exposed by a Wall Street Journal investigation and is awaiting trial. At the time of writing, Theranos, the company that promised to change the world, does not exist anymore. If convicted, Holmes could face up to twenty years in prison.

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Amer Kaissi is a Professional Speaker, Executive Coach, and Professor at the Department of Healthcare Administration at Trinity University. Check it out his new book “Humbitious: The power of Low-Ego, High-Drive Leadership.” This article is an excerpt from the book.?