Text by MEENA NARAYANASWAMI and KIERAN ZAJAC
SILICON VALLEY SUCC HOLMES’ STORY SHEDS LIGHT ON COMPETITIVE CULTURE
she was just even more encouraged to keep going with the project.” Wells continued. “I think that especially in Silicon Valley, results are really praised and not necessarily the hard work that people have done to get there,” Wells said. “So when Elizabeth Holmes was showing wild results without any proof of the hard work that she had done … people were really blinded by the fact that she was giving you these really positive results.” HEN ELIZABETH Holmes was convicted on four counts Holmes was just 19, she of defrauding investors and will be sendropped out of Stanford tenced in late September. to create a startup. After The culture of praising success no 10 years of minimal return on her work, matter how it is achieved in Silicon Valher Palo Alto based company Theranos ley, however, does not end with businesses began receiving widespread fame and fund- and startups. According to an anonymous ing for her groundbreaking technology survey of 237 Paly students conducted by that supposedly performed a wide range of Verde Magazine from Jan. 26 to Jan. 31, tests with just a drop of a patient’s blood. 87.3% of students said that they feel signifTheranos soon skyrocketed to a $9 billion icant pressure to succeed academically. valuation and Forbes magazine dubbed her “What she [Elizabeth Holmes] did was “the next Steve Jobs” as one of the youngest not acceptable, prioritizing the end result female, self-made billionaires in the world. over the means,” Paly junior Justin Gu said. Holmes achieved the remarkable levels “I think that happens a lot in Silicon Valley of acclaim that so many Silicon Valley teens and at Paly. People use unethical means to aspire to achieve. However, Theranos’s illu- get good grades.” sion of success was Paly student shattered when com- I felt the need that I had Liam, whose pany whistleblowers name has been leaked information to perform really well in changed to prothat proved the en- school to even compare tect his identity, tire company and said he cheated product was a lie; to my friends.” on several assignthe technology ments and tests in — LIAM, student order to succeed did not exist. The company went academically. bankrupt, and Holmes was investigated “Looking back, I’ve never thought on counts of conspiracy and defrauding about whether it [cheating] is a right or investors. wrong thing,” Liam said. “It’s more of a, ‘I “I think that money and fame was don’t know if I’m gonna be able to do this actually a big part of the equation,” Palo without cheating.’” Alto High School junior Miriam Wells said. Pressure to measure up to those around “She [Holmes] gained a lot of media atten- him contributed to his decision to cheat, tion from this [Theranos], and she made a although at the cost of unethical actions, lot of money from this … because she was according to Liam. getting such positive attention. I think that “I have a lot of friends who go to pri-
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