A lot of these companies are filled with young "fresh meat" that just don't know any better. If you're just out of college and get hired at one of these places

A lot of these companies are filled with young "fresh meat" that just don't know any better. If you're just out of college and get hired at one of these places, why wouldn't you believe the spin? Everything is validating it. The media, the good salaries, the parties, the money is flowing, and your stock options are theoretically making you wealthy... But there are also people that see through it all, but just don't stay long. This leaves only the people being fooled. A lot of the Theranos book involved people like Tyler Shultz, who saw through the Theranos mess and he left with a lot of drama that included his freaking former secretary of state grandfather trying to convince him otherwise. As for the "higher ups", they just find people who want to drink the kool-aid and are willing to take a salary doing it.