The shortcuts to Theranos

EARLY ON IN “The Inventor”, a documentary about Elizabeth Holmes, the founder of Theranos, she talks about her childhood-reading habits and her interest in what makes a great leader. “So much changes in our society technologically but as humans we don't change a lot,” she says in that slow, deep voice.Whatever the verdict in Ms Holmes’s ongoing trial, on charges of defrauding investors and patients by making false claims about the startup’s blood-testing technology, she is right about that. The story of Theranos is not simply about how its leaders behaved, and whether they deliberately misled others. (Ms Holmes denies the charges.) It is also about how people take decisions. The trial has shown how cognitive shortcuts helped propel the firm to a valuation of more than $9bn, before reporting by the , revealing that its proprietary technology did not work, sent it spiralling towards oblivion.