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I don't know - I can agree that the "pretty young woman" effect may have gotten the ball rolling down this path, but saying it's the "underlying problem" kind o

I don't know - I can agree that the "pretty young woman" effect may have gotten the ball rolling down this path, but saying it's the "underlying problem" kind of minimizes the agency she had in creating this situation, which was already enormous many years ago, before it was too late. And some men, like the late Ian Gibbons, did try to engage her with legitimate feedback. I think the bigger underlying problem was her managerial style - demanding utter secrecy so as to maintain her own omniscience. I don't know why it works so well for Apple, but it seems like the silo-ing of Theranos prevented any kind of intra-organizational regulation, so business pushed ahead full steam even as the product failed to materialize.

Mz 10y ago
That is an excellent comment (I upvoted it), but I feel like saying it may have gotten the ball rolling but is not the underlying problem is -- semantics? Once the ball is rolling, it tends to keep rolling that way. Once you have the likes of Henry Kissinger making you feel like you are Wile E. Coyote, Super Genius, why on earth would you listen to some lesser known punk telling you "You think you're all that, but you're not!"?
- refulgentis 10y ago
  You sound unfamiliar with Ian Gibbons' role in the situation. He was Therano's chief scientist for 8 years. It's hard to envision how Holmes could have ignored his concerns simply because the rest of her echo chamber was positive, short of God herself fêting Holmes. For more info on Ian: http://www.vanityfair.com/news/2016/09/elizabeth-holmes-theranos-exclusive http://www.vanityfair.com/news/2016/09/elizabeth-holmes-ther...
  - Mz 10y ago
    It's hard to envision how Holmes could have ignored his concerns Yet, it appears that she successfully did exactly that: Ignored his concerns. And your article says so, from the very top: In a searing investigation into the once lauded biotech start-up Theranos, Nick Bilton discovers that its precocious founder defied medical experts—even her own chief scientist—about the veracity of its now discredited blood-testing technology.
    - refulgentis 10y ago
      The quote is irrelevant, we certainly know she didn't listen to concerns! :) The thread you started is about the thesis that she was in an echo chamber of positive thinking due to her being "pretty", and I'm specifically addressing your attempt to defend it by noting that once Kissinger made Holmes feel like Wile E. Coyote, she wouldn't listen to some punk. All the reporting indicates Kissinger wasn't involved, and that she ignored even her chief scientist's grave concerns. It wasn't just "some punk", and she wasn't getting a pass from everyone because she was pretty.
- existencebox 10y ago
  Having been alternatingly over-praised and ripped apart by people I look up to, that's where the parents suggestion of agency comes in for me, to be able to step back and look at your situation analytically, to not believe your own hype, to have a clear enough understanding of the task "her life was built for" (taken from another quote elsewhere) to question once in a while if there is any meat to the opposition. These are all components of professional/adult responsibility; and with great power etc etc. (implied is the typical transitive money==power of our society) The thrust of this ramble; I do hold her to have a great deal of personal responsibility, and differentiate very little between any participants who had sufficient knowledge and did nothing.
deleted 10y ago
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Mz 10y ago

That is an excellent comment (I upvoted it), but I feel like saying it may have gotten the ball rolling but is not the underlying problem is -- semantics? Once the ball is rolling, it tends to keep rolling that way. Once you have the likes of Henry Kissinger making you feel like you are Wile E. Coyote, Super Genius, why on earth would you listen to some lesser known punk telling you "You think you're all that, but you're not!"?

refulgentis 10y ago
You sound unfamiliar with Ian Gibbons' role in the situation. He was Therano's chief scientist for 8 years. It's hard to envision how Holmes could have ignored his concerns simply because the rest of her echo chamber was positive, short of God herself fêting Holmes. For more info on Ian: http://www.vanityfair.com/news/2016/09/elizabeth-holmes-theranos-exclusive http://www.vanityfair.com/news/2016/09/elizabeth-holmes-ther...
- Mz 10y ago
  It's hard to envision how Holmes could have ignored his concerns Yet, it appears that she successfully did exactly that: Ignored his concerns. And your article says so, from the very top: In a searing investigation into the once lauded biotech start-up Theranos, Nick Bilton discovers that its precocious founder defied medical experts—even her own chief scientist—about the veracity of its now discredited blood-testing technology.
  - refulgentis 10y ago
    The quote is irrelevant, we certainly know she didn't listen to concerns! :) The thread you started is about the thesis that she was in an echo chamber of positive thinking due to her being "pretty", and I'm specifically addressing your attempt to defend it by noting that once Kissinger made Holmes feel like Wile E. Coyote, she wouldn't listen to some punk. All the reporting indicates Kissinger wasn't involved, and that she ignored even her chief scientist's grave concerns. It wasn't just "some punk", and she wasn't getting a pass from everyone because she was pretty.
existencebox 10y ago
Having been alternatingly over-praised and ripped apart by people I look up to, that's where the parents suggestion of agency comes in for me, to be able to step back and look at your situation analytically, to not believe your own hype, to have a clear enough understanding of the task "her life was built for" (taken from another quote elsewhere) to question once in a while if there is any meat to the opposition. These are all components of professional/adult responsibility; and with great power etc etc. (implied is the typical transitive money==power of our society) The thrust of this ramble; I do hold her to have a great deal of personal responsibility, and differentiate very little between any participants who had sufficient knowledge and did nothing.

deleted 10y ago

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