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A Marriage Gone Bad: Walgreens Struggles to Shake Off Theranos

nytimes.com

121–130 of 140 posts

Re: A Marriage Gone Bad: Walgreens Struggles to Shake Off Theranos

#121

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yep. When the Chicago Tribune posted an article on how they started a lawsuit for Rahm's email/text records, I almost immediately called them to tell them about the lawsuit I'd filed for his phone records about a month prior after a year long battle with FOIA/IL's Attorney General. You'd think the person writing the article would have cared about the subject. Nope. He was just doing his job. He forwarded me to the pe…

Hey man, it's life. At least 80% of people are going through the motions, and that the default rate you should expect. Thats not a humbug fact though, because finding someone who isn't going through the motions can be explosively good. It's like, a gold mine digs up a lot of dirt, but boy is it worth it when they hit a lode.

Nah, I totally get it. In a weird way, I'm glad there's been this much resistance, considering I'm too stubborn to back away. Every time someone or something pushes back, it's another thing that gives me a chance to say "This is why shit sucks." with an opportunity at an attempt to address it.

The things I've seen and heard, the people I've met and the ungodly amount of hand typed data I've had to go through... it's nuts out there and the rabbit holes always go deep.

Re: A Marriage Gone Bad: Walgreens Struggles to Shake Off Theranos

#122

I've been calling this for ages since I saw Elizabeth Holmes speak at the Entrepreneurial Thought Leaders seminar at Stanford 5 or 6 years ago. Huge vision, entitled dismissal of incumbents, and a story that is just a little bit too perfect. Following your dreams is cool, but only when they aren't delusions.

The first time I saw her interviewed, 2-3 years ago, I knew it also. The incredibly unclear, defensive and meandering answers to incredibly simple questions, the strange confrontational body posture, the paper-thin hints at more business partnerships and customers than they could actually talk about...once I started learning about the makeup of the board and some bio friends of mine explained the non-homogeneous chemistry of blood, I confirmed it in my mind.

I still don't know of a convincing explanation for all of it, but it reminds me of some first and second-hand experiences I've heard about other, much smaller startups, in deep deep states of denial while the company is literally falling down around the CEOs head.

Re: A Marriage Gone Bad: Walgreens Struggles to Shake Off Theranos

#124

How has she escaped being fired yet?

Probably because that would accomplish nothing. From the initial refusal to publish details for review, and then the repeated delays, I'm guessing the "Edison Machine" is just snake oil.

Theranos probably has no product.

Re: A Marriage Gone Bad: Walgreens Struggles to Shake Off Theranos

#125

I can't help but notice that Ms Holmes is now wearing a hair loose and a shirt. Having only ever seen her with hair tied and black turtle necks, I'm wondering if this is an attempt at softening her image in the midst of a deluge of bad publicity. Not an ad hominem or personal attack, purely curiosity.

If Ms Holmes was a guy you wouldn't notice.

Re: A Marriage Gone Bad: Walgreens Struggles to Shake Off Theranos

#126
post #17

Test accuracy aside, isn't finger prick blood draw painful? I've had blood drawn both ways, and finger prick is very unpleasant. I'll pick arm blood draw any day.

My child has diabetes and pricks her finger multiple times a day to check her blood glucose. According to her, it hardly hurts. Then again, she only needs a tiny tiny drop of blood and the lancet used to do the finger prick is very thin.

Re: A Marriage Gone Bad: Walgreens Struggles to Shake Off Theranos

#127

Why so much negative press about a diagnostic company? Most people would struggle to name 1 of these save for having to get a drug test or something. It just seems odd. Like some sort of vendeta to crush this company.

I dunno...diagnostic companies can determine whether or not you get a job, get insurance, are exonerated of a crime, determine what diseases you might be subject to. Seems like thing you might give a fuck about. And this is a company that claims it can manage that and a lot more, and has failed. Dunno...it gives me pause...

Re: A Marriage Gone Bad: Walgreens Struggles to Shake Off Theranos

#128

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah, Marissa Meyer was hired to save a dinosaur from the tarpit, and has done a mediocre job at it. She isn't even that bad - she's no Carly Fiorina - and I've never seen her ethics challenged. I'd go as far as to say that if Meyer at least manages to unwind Yahoo gracefully, she may move on to greater success in the future in a similar position.

"Yeah, Marissa Meyer was hired to save a dinosaur from the tarpit, and has done a mediocre job at it. She isn't even that bad - she's no Carly Fiorina - and I've never seen her ethics challenged." That's how I look at it. I'm still a fan of Meyer due to the great work she did at Google. That's where she showed her talents. Yahoo was a terrible situation... aimed at the ground calling for "Ludicrous Speed!"... and she…

We tend to judge many simply because they happen to find themselves on an uneven playing field. In Meyer's case, it was both the tailwind of the Google juggernaut, and the headwind of Yahoo. But what of the thousands who are on the level playing field that we never hear of?

Re: A Marriage Gone Bad: Walgreens Struggles to Shake Off Theranos

#130

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"Yeah, Marissa Meyer was hired to save a dinosaur from the tarpit, and has done a mediocre job at it. She isn't even that bad - she's no Carly Fiorina - and I've never seen her ethics challenged." That's how I look at it. I'm still a fan of Meyer due to the great work she did at Google. That's where she showed her talents. Yahoo was a terrible situation... aimed at the ground calling for "Ludicrous Speed!"... and she…

We tend to judge many simply because they happen to find themselves on an uneven playing field. In Meyer's case, it was both the tailwind of the Google juggernaut, and the headwind of Yahoo. But what of the thousands who are on the level playing field that we never hear of?

That's a great point. It warrants a reply. Well, they're mostly screwed due to fate. You know that part. Far as Meyer, what I considered interesting about her success was that Google only tried to hire geniuses and such. So, the average person in management might be asked about some run of the mill problem or strategy. Whereas, she had to be the gatekeeper and/or internal sponsor of all kinds of crap Googlers came up with that was anywhere from out of touch to clever to on another level.

Just got her a boost in my mind. From another perspective, it might have been easy for her if she was a non-geek with the ability to drill through people's BS. They'd have a disadvantage against her that people at C-level or non-geek management might not have. That's another angle I thought about.

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