Sally Quirke - 121109282 Human Resource Management LEADERSHIP AND MANAGEMENT DEVELOPMENT MG6826 Elizabeth Holmes Introduction Elizabeth Holmes’ journey began with her start-up company Theranos, after she dropped out of Stanford University in 2003 after studying chemical engineering for a short time (Waikar, 2017). According to Holmes, the aim of the company was reinventing the medical testing technology market by having more efficient blood testing (Roper, 2014). To achieve her aim, Holmes raised millions of dollars from investors around the United States and stocked her board with powerful individuals in pursuit of her dream to create a portable blood testing machine. According to BBC News, the portable blood testing machine worked “with a few drops of blood, Theranos promised that its Edison testing device could detect conditions such as cancer and diabetes without the need for needles” (Thomas, 2022). As the CEO and founder of Theranos, Elizabeth became the youngest self-made female billionaire of her time. However, by 2015 things went down hill rapidly for Elizabeth Holmes and Theranos as an article was published in the Wall Street Journal from whistle-blowers and Holmes was exposed to be a fraud. The technology she developed did not work at all, and by 2018, Theranos had collapsed. Holmes possessed specific personality characteristics which allowed her to influence her followers (investors and employees) during her time with Theranos. These important characteristics include her narcissistic tendencies and her overall ethical orientation. Narcissism Elizabeth Holmes’ ability to influence her followers and to achieve what she did during her Theranos timeline were due to her narcissistic tendencies. Narcissism is defined as “selfishness, involving a sense of entitlement, a lack of empathy, and a need for admiration, as characterizing a personality type” (Perina, 2019). For Holmes, this need for admiration and sense of entitlement played a vital role in her story. Holmes has been described as having an “inflated sense of importance, extreme self-confidence, a willingness to exploit others for her own ends, and showing hostility toward those who challenged her” (Chatman, 2020). These would be considered textbook narcissistic tendencies Holmes was notorious for copying Steve Jobs’ attire and style. During promotional events for the “Edison” device, she used to wear the famous black turtleneck of Steve Jobs combined with the striking Blue Jeans that he used to wear during Promotion Events. She tried to convince the people that she was the next Steve Jobs and is a trustworthy personality. Holmes also changed her natural voice to a high baritone or a heavy voice. This is a very famous technique used by Salesmen to increase the value of their words or their content and make themselves more trustworthy (Hansen, 2019). Elizabeth gave off the impression that she was powerful and intelligent. This led her followers to believe she was trustworthy as she gave the impression that she was a competent leader. Through her false charisma and undying self-assurance, Holmes won over many successful investors to the idea that she would revolutionize health care. She convinced prominent figures such as George Shultz, Rupert Muroch, James Mattis and many others. At the same time, Barack Obama, Joe Biden and Hilary Clinton were collectively in awe of Holmes and her vision. She became the “darling of Silicon Valley and a role model for many who were tickled to see the first female billionaire whose wealthy derived from that a company that she herself started.” (Prentice, 2022) Holmes promised her followers that Theranos would deliver a fully functional Edison machine. Had it worked, it would have been a ground breaking advancement in medical technology. Holmes’ tactics not only inspires investors and public figures but also inspired potential employees to join her cause. Originally, Holmes incited her workforce with a clear vision and a passion for the company and its people, and she had the ability to inspire trust for a long time. When speaking with employees and investors, Holmes was able to have them buy into her vision and created a higher purpose for the company which initially made Theranos employees excited about working there. Ironically the very traits that drove her initial success came to work against Holmes in the longrun. According to Refinery 29, “when Holmes was upset with an employee, she would often give them the silent treatment, which is a defence mechanism narcissists use to punish people” (STIEG, 2019). These types of less subtle manipulation tactics typically will ignite negative feelings in the person on the receiving end and likely contributed to Holmes’ eventual downfall. In 2015, journalist John Carreyrou investigated the company for an article in The Wall Street Journal. He “disclosed problems in the company’s equipment and testing methods. He found that the company did not even use its own technology in tests and often relied on older technology from other companies” (Business, 2022). Holmes disagreed with the reporting and continued to push the company’s claims and her own narrative of personal success. Holmes’ put her excessive hunger for more success and admiration ahead of her own wellbeing as well as the wellbeing of her employees and perhaps most importantly her patients. Despite possessing the skillset to inspire and motivate people, her lack of self-awareness and use of childish manipulation tactics such as the aforementioned silent treatment were clear indicators that Holmes lacked the emotional intelligence to be a truly successful leader. For a person to be an effective leader, they must have values and a good temperament not just an ability to inspire and motivate in the short run. Holmes would go on to sacrifice many things in the aim of maintaining the image and reputation she had built for herself including crossing ethical boundaries, which leads onto the next segment. Ethical Orientation Elizabeth Holmes ethical orientation was based on deontology. “A deontologist acts on a set of personal beliefs about the world and is unwilling to compromise those beliefs. Thus, a deontologist will usually ignore situational factors when making decisions, and does not let the consequences of decisions get in the way of their actions no matter how risky the outcome” (Center, 2020).This is evident here as Elizabeth Holmes narcissistic tendencies affected her ability when making ethical decisions as her beliefs were based on falsities and superficial appearances. When Holmes lied about the effectiveness of her Edison device this grave ethical infringement resulted in huge losses running into millions of dollars. She chose to commit fraud rather than accept business failure as this would affect the public image she had spent so long to build. According to The United States Department of Justice, “Holmes was originally charged with two counts of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and nine counts of wire fraud” (Office, 2022). Since then, her charges have been dropped by the courts but nevertheless Holmes still fraudulently built an entire corporation off of false information and used it to create a billion dollar company unethically. Holmes managed to influence her employees originally by dazzling her investors and employees with her image she portrayed to the public and her drive for success. Ex- Theranos employees mentioned that they “wanted to see her become that billion-dollar leader, literally everybody wants to work for the next Steve Jobs” (Taylor Dunn, 2019). Holmes’ leadership style was effective in getting others to buy into her vision for improving the healthcare field. When she started Theranos she gave all stakeholders a clear vision and inspired others to buy into that vision, however her decision to not act ethically was the ultimately led to the downfall of her Theranos. Holmes unethically lied to her employees and investors knowingly about the capabilities of Theranos testing. Holmes exposed her employees risky working environments when handling blood and made them work long hours. She enforced secrecy tactics amongst her staff by enforcing them to sign non-disclosure agreements in order to ensure internal information was kept a secret in order to perpetrate her fraud scandal. Ex-Theranos employees described a culture of extreme secrecy. They explained that “employees weren’t supposed to communicate with each other about their tasks, they also were advised not to reveal the company name on social media sites like LinkedIn. The immense secrecy was apparently to protect what Holmes felt were trade secrets” (Taylor Dunn, 2019). She continuously told her employees and investors that things were okay and improving, all of which proved to be false. Clearly Holmes’ deontologist approach to ethical issues justified these actions in the name of keeping the lie alive. According to multiple employees they revealed “that their concerns were met with intimidation and threats rather than listening ears and empathetic solutions. Holmes actions drove the ethical flaws in the organization” (CLARK, 2019). Carreyrou said he accepts that Holmes didn't begin with a false or vindictive aim. She was rather essentially brimming with aspiration and fantasies about turning into the "following Steve Jobs" from the beginning. Be that as it may, the business and innovation demonstrated more troublesome than Holmes likely envisioned. The weight and unreasonable desires she made shaped an inconceivably harmful work culture. Conclusion Elizabeth Holmes narcissistic tendencies and questionable ethical orientation undeniably stand out. The characteristics she possesses allowed her to influence and inspire investors, employees and public figures alike. This is not an easy task and certainly Holmes’ personality traits and ethical orientation allowed her to perform this great feat of deception. A double edged sword, these narcissistic tendencies lead to the eventual alienation of her employees and the creation of a toxic work environment. Furthermore, the combination with her deontological approach to ethics pushed her past the realm of social misbehaviour into criminal law breaking in the form of fraud. Holmes unethically lied to her employees and investors knowingly about the capabilities of Theranos testing. Her followers invested millions into her project and believed in her vision and her employees dedicated their time and effort to her cause believing her to be the next great leader of the time. It was Holmes’ narcissistic traits and shady ethical practices that enabled her to do this but it was also these factors which eventually led to her downfall and her overall failure as a leader. Bibliography Business, M. S. o., 2022. Theranos’ Bad Blood. [Online] Available at: https://ethicsunwrapped.utexas.edu/video/theranos-bad-blood?cv=1 [Accessed 10 March 2022]. Center, T. A. W. P., 2020. Ethical Orientations: Deontology or Duty. [Online] Available at: https://www.pagecentertraining.psu.edu/public-relations-ethics/ethical-decisionmaking/yet-another-test-page/ethical-orientations-deontology-or-duty/ [Accessed 10 March 2022]. Chatman, C. A. O. a. J. A., 2020. Transformational Leader or Narcissist? 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