Full confession: I am OBSESSED with Theranos and the Elizabeth Holmes case. If you are not familiar, do yourself a favor and set aside a couple of hours of your life to do a deep dive. You’re welcome and I’m sorry.
Anyhoo. The Elizabeth Holmes case is going to trial and though we say that people are innocent until proven guilty, I have my opinions about Ms. Holmes and her intentions. (Hit me up if you want to nerd out about this).
Nevertheless, whether she was a schemer or a naif, I think there are some interesting lessons to be learned for fundraisers (which does NOT include defrauding donors and making false claims).
The power of storytelling: Regardless of how you feel about Elizabeth, this was a woman who knew how to tell a story. Before there was a company, there was an idea and this idea was told over and over and over with utter conviction. I don’t even know the woman, but even I know the story about her fear of needles, her childhood time machine prototype and her dead uncle (“That less people will have to say goodbye too soon to people that they love.”–grammatical problems aside, it’s a good line).
As fundraisers, we need to leverage the power of story and drama to paint a vision for our donors that is vivid, compelling and will move them to action. And it is your job to tell that story over and over and over.
The power of clarity: So, the cynic might argue that the mission was actually to defraud investors and abscond with millions of ill-gotten funds. But, the public mission was about creating a blood test from a finger prick. Regardless of the scientific possibility of the claim, it was something that was easily understood and easily explained.
When someone tries to explain what their organization does and starts with, “Well, it’s complicated…” my brain shuts off. I’m already making grocery lists in my head. What you do should be simply and clearly communicated so that everyone can explain what your organization does.
The power of boards: Much has been made about how her stacked board protected her from scrutiny, and aided and abetted her scheme. Though you could make the argument that the board did not perform their duty of care and oversight, Elizabeth also used the power of her board, their reputations and their relationships to her advantage.
So much of the time, we may think of board members as a hindrance or simply an interruption in our day. If recruited, managed and deployed properly, boards have the power to turbocharge your efforts.
But, your board will probably not keep you from going to jail if you break the law, FYI.
