A handwritten note from Elizabeth Holmes is back in the spotlight as a new documentary revives attention on the former Theranos CEO.
The note, written on stationery for a Singapore-based hotel, lays out a day that starts with a 4:00 a.m. wake-up to 'rise & thank God' and ends with lunch and dinner menus that included broccoli, quinoa and a green drink. It also includes a series of terse rules: 'I am not impulsive.' 'I do not react.' 'I am always proactive.' 'I know the outcome of every encounter.'
The final lines are even sharper: 'I speak rarely. When I do—CRISP and CONCISE. I call bullshit immediately. My hands are always in my pockets or gesturing.'
Holmes testified in 2021 during the criminal fraud trial against her that her former boyfriend and business partner Ramesh 'Sunny' Balwani emotionally and sexually abused her. Part of the evidence her lawyers submitted included the handwritten note detailing her schedule for the day.
Holmes said the rules in the note were Balwani's 'rules and advice,' and The New York Times reported that she testified he told her she did not know what she was doing in business, that her convictions were wrong, that he was astonished by her mediocrity and that if she followed her instincts she was going to fail.
Balwani's lawyer Jeffrey Coopersmith denied Holmes' allegations of abuse, multiple outlets reported. Holmes was ultimately convicted in 2022 on four counts of wire fraud and conspiracy and is serving a roughly decade-long sentence in prison. She reportedly asked President Donald Trump for clemency in 2025.
The note does not prove how Theranos was managed, and it does not need to. It shows how much power can shape the posture of a founder, especially when control becomes a private operating system. Capital rewards clarity and discipline, but it also punishes fraud, and the market eventually sorts the difference.
That is the deeper lesson here. The taxpayer does not benefit when image outruns substance, and free enterprise depends on rules that are real, not just written down in neat handwriting.
