John Carreyrou, then a journalist with the Wall Street Journal writes his first book with Bad Blood which is a well researched and riveting account of the Silicon Valley startup Theranos. A book that I read in a single session is filled with recognizable names that jolts you and communicates the scale of the "scam".
Joe Biden, Robert Kraft, Betsy DeVos, Carlos Slim, George Shultz, Henry Kissinger, Safeway and Walgreens are some household names that make regrettable cameos in this saga valuing Theranos on paper at $9 billion. The company was also a favorite with the media and had ties to respectable names from academia.
As you keep reading, disbelief takes over wonder as you time and again see Elizabeth Holmes, the CEO of Theranos make a mockery out of industry veterans. The book starts off describing this path breaking idea Holmes has and how she casts a spell over investors which will impact thousands and millions of lives. It then morphs into a chilling tale detailing all the questionable actions Theranos did to "not disappoint" its investors. This half of the book is case study material for business schools to inculcate that siloed communication and ignoring employee concerns is never the answer in running a business.
There is a rush the reader feels as the story goes into parts where the author gets involved, talking to witnesses and in conversations back at WSJ battling lawyers from Theranos and investors with conflicts of interest. The book does a good job in showing how an idea with good intention when not executed with ethical reasoning in mind can create chaos that no legal or PR team can solve. Money minded executives, companies who didn't want to miss out, leaders who were asked to show results no-matter-what, all culminated to the biggest expose of a fantasy that Theranos was.
Kudos to the author for the persistence to get through this investigation and to the employees of Theranos who came forward with courage to get their story out, in spite of all the legal intimidation they had to face. No wonder, this detailed story gets it's due as it gets picked up by streaming services and made into documentaries and web series. Bad Blood is the perfect book to start with if you are looking to make reading a habit!
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