Some Valuable Lessons from the Theranos Fiasco

Now that Theranos iskaput, a number of articles have been published that attempt to extract useful lessons from the whole experience. Here is a good one: Bad Blood: 4 lessons from Theranos for IT leaders. Below is an excerpt from it:In “Bad Blood: Secrets and Lies in a Silicon Valley Startup,” Wall Street Journal reporter John Carreyrou tells the tale of the fraud that ultimately brought down Silicon Valley sensation Theranos, its CEO Elizabeth Holmes, and president Ramesh “Sunny” Balwani.....Reading between the lines, it also provides valuable leadership advice for CIOs about the nature of innovation and disruption, the perils of overpromising results, the risk of confirmation bias, and – above all – the value of a collaborative and transparent culture to long-term success. If you haven ’t put this on your summer reading list yet, consider it. Let’s look at four key lessons:Exponential innovation is rare In the era of digital disruption....The Theranos ’ story serves as a reminder that most innovation, in IT and elsewhere, remains incremental – and that’s ok. A valuable evolution that actually works is worth far more than pie-in-the-sky promises of transformation....Don't over-promise. Holmes once told Theranos ’ employees that the company’s miniLab was “the most important thing humanity has ever produced.” Such hyperbole created incredible hype around the company, but was ultimately its undoing when it became clear the company ’s pr...
Source: Lab Soft News - Category: Laboratory Medicine Authors: Tags: Clinical Lab Industry News Clinical Lab Testing Healthcare Information Technology Healthcare Innovations Hospital Executive Management Lab Industry Trends Medical Ethics Source Type: blogs