blog




  • Essay / The Rise and Fall of Elizabeth Holmes: Malice, Narcissism, and Moral Disengagement in the Theranos Scandal

    Elizabeth Holmes is a popular name known for her failed and unrealistic invention. At the age of 19, Holmes dropped out of Stanford University, ending his journey to earn a degree in engineering. This is how she began her journey in the medical field spontaneously. She founded the company “Theranos” where blood tests would have been carried out with a simple prick of the finger. Despite numerous experts familiar with the medical industry informing her that her creative and hopeful idea, while clever and innovative, was simply impossible, she still blindly dove into her unrealistic plan. This plan was seen as brilliant and useful, but in reality it was quite the opposite. His simple idea turned into a billion-dollar business that, in hindsight, was apparently an unstoppable scam. Even though her idea seemed innocent and hopeful at first, she continued to deceive others by pursuing the flawed test for her own benefit. Elizabeth Holmes is a flawed idealist who desperately yearned for fame and notoriety, like many of the inventors and geniuses she managed to emulate. Through her actions, she demonstrated malice, narcissistic characteristics, and moral disengagement throughout her reign as founder and CEO of Theranos. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”?Get the original essayElizabeth Anne Holmes, from a very young age, always knew that she wanted to become an entrepreneur, and she wanted to be extremely rich like her family and the individuals she admired like Steve Jobs. She didn't portray the happy-go-lucky, carefree personality like most children. She was very ambitious and determined about her future goals, even during her teenage years, and she took her goals seriously. It is believed that this behavior may be inspired by his family's long line of success and his natural business-oriented family lineage. His father, Christian Holmes, was vice president of Enron Corporation, a once-successful energy company. His father was also a descendant of intelligent, successful and wealthy individuals. His grandfather, Dr. Christian Holmes, was a physician who enjoyed many networking advantages through his wife, Bettie Fleischmann, and her family. His wife's family had a thriving business and became one of the richest families of that period. Through this, Dr. Holmes had a significant number of connections and he had the opportunity to establish Cincinnati General Hospital and the University of Cincinnati Medical School. On the other hand, Holmes' mother, Noel Daousts Holmes, was a congressional committee member and came from a military family. Overall, Holmes grew up alongside a driven family with natural entrepreneurial genes and a medical background. Elizabeth was surrounded by success all around her, and it was not expected that she would also achieve success. Elizabeth Holmes was simply a young adult with an idea gone wrong. Her plans were innocent at first, but when the Edison machine, her invention meant to quickly test blood samples, proved faulty, instead of recalling the machine and ending all its uses on humans, she continued to ensure that the machine is used to preserve the increased level of blood. the image it has acquired at the expense of innocent people, notably its employers and consumers. Throughout her reign, she displayed several traits ofdark personality. Factor D is defined as “the general tendency to maximize one's individual utility – by ignoring, accepting or maliciously causing the disutility of others – accompanied by beliefs that serve as justifications. » (Moshagen, Hilbig and Zettler). Holmes demonstrated this throughout her CEO project, and she seemed to increase these traits as she became more engulfed in her scandal. Many factors can affect a person's Factor D personality traits, which are similar to normal personality characteristics. Personality traits are influenced by genes, environment, and human circumstances, just like Factor D traits. This is helpful because the reader understands how and why they developed these traits. Holmes grew up in an environment surrounded only by extremely successful people. When she found herself in a situation of potential success, she decided to do everything possible to maintain that accomplishment, even at the expense of others. This is where the dark factor personality traits become most prevalent. Some of the limitations of using the dark factor of personality are that some traits are quite broad and can fall into the same category as others. For example, the trait psychopathy is quite broad and can also be related to the personality traits of Machiavellianism, narcissism, and the dark factor of self-interest, as they all have close characteristics, but regardless, the D factor is essential in describing Holmes. One of Holmes' most notable characteristics was his villainy. She is a confident woman with an inflated ego. She believes that she is the equivalent of great inventors like Steve Jobs or Bill Gates. So when she is questioned or challenged, her first response is to fight back. All Holmes expected from her employees was quick results, and if they disagreed with her, they were often quickly fired. For example, Ian Gibbons was one of the main people Holmes sabotaged. Gibbons was an extremely intelligent biochemist with a passion for blood testing. He was one of the first experienced scientists to work on the Edison. Although he loved what he did, he had a problem with the inaccuracy of Edison and Holmes and Sunny Balwani's direction. He disliked "stealth mode" and his willingness to lie to many of his employers about important information. Gibbons often spoke to his employees about this confusing and tiring situation towards his colleagues, but the information came back to Holmes thanks to his old friend, Channing Robertson. This led to him being fired, rehired and demoted. Gibbons moved from head of the general chemistry department to technical consultant. Gibbons was completely humiliated and diminished simply because Holmes felt like he had lost his loyalty and trust, which in hindsight was a threat to her. His nastiness matches his narcissistic personality effortlessly. Narcissists often only see black or white. If someone supports a narcissist, the narcissist sees them as a friend and a supporter of their great ideas or accomplishments. On the other hand, someone who disagrees with a narcissist is automatically seen as a threat or enemy (Stieg 2019). Often, when narcissists face conflict, they lie, distract themselves, blame others, develop strong loyal friendships for support, or simply threaten legal action. Holmes did all this to protect his image and ego. She also displayed narcissistic qualities due to her willingness to invent and start this business without any knowledge..