Bad Blood was so good, and so batshit! I also usually find it annoying in non-fiction when the author/journalist brings themself into the story, but Carreyrou more than earned the pass (I'm thinking of that scene in the Theranos cafe when they started mass chanting "Fuck you Carreyrou!" like some kind of cult).
Did this girl just roll a nat 20 on every charisma roll in her whole life, or... That was certainly the impression I came away with, given Holmes' demonstrated incredible streak of convincing people who really, really should have known better (the standouts being convincing the board to not kick her out, and managing to turn Schultz so firmly against his own grandson). I remember reading this Twitter thread by someone who decided to interview at Theranos basically just for fun after the whole scandal came out, and for the last round he got to talk with Elizabeth Holmes herself, and she was just so utterly certain that this was all just a speed bump she needed to push through to ultimately succeed that even though he intellectually knew it was all a scam part of him was shaken. Her charisma or whatever it was doesn't seem to work on anyone with actual biotech knowledge though, like that Stanford prof who instantly knew the tech wouldn't work, and how no serious biotech angel investor firm ended up giving her money.
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Date: 2023-08-17 10:55 pm (UTC)Did this girl just roll a nat 20 on every charisma roll in her whole life, or... That was certainly the impression I came away with, given Holmes' demonstrated incredible streak of convincing people who really, really should have known better (the standouts being convincing the board to not kick her out, and managing to turn Schultz so firmly against his own grandson). I remember reading this Twitter thread by someone who decided to interview at Theranos basically just for fun after the whole scandal came out, and for the last round he got to talk with Elizabeth Holmes herself, and she was just so utterly certain that this was all just a speed bump she needed to push through to ultimately succeed that even though he intellectually knew it was all a scam part of him was shaken. Her charisma or whatever it was doesn't seem to work on anyone with actual biotech knowledge though, like that Stanford prof who instantly knew the tech wouldn't work, and how no serious biotech angel investor firm ended up giving her money.