Near the end of Elizabeth Holmes’ criminal trial, her lawyers submitted into evidence a punishing self-improvement plan she had written while working at Theranos, the blood-testing company she founded in 2003.
"4 a.m. Rise and thank God,” the handwritten memo began. Exercise, meditation, prayer, breakfast (whey and, as she spelled it, "bannanna”) followed. By 6:45 a.m., a time when slackers were still fumbling for the alarm clock, she had been at the office.
Holmes had many rules at the startup: "I am never a minute late. I show no excitement. ALL ABOUT BUSINESS. I am not impulsive. I know the outcome of every encounter. I do not hesitate. I constantly make decisions and change them as needed. I speak rarely. I call bullshit immediately.”