Hi All! This week's episode of the #5minpodcast is now live. With all the news around prominent businesspeople whose incoherent actions hurt those who had put their faith in their ideas, I decided to record an episode trying to make sense and understand the case of Elizabeth Homes of #Theranos, Sam Bankman-Fried (SBF) of #FTX, and Elon Musk of #Twitter. Many people would not put Elon together with Elizabeth and SBF, and I need to respect that. Elon Musk is a brilliant entrepreneur, but what he does on Twitter is the opposite of any literature and experience in leadership, motivation, etc. If he succeeds, he will write a new chapter on what management should be. Despite this small disclaimer, both share many characteristics, including a remarkable charm that has garnered widespread admiration and the impression that they possess superhuman abilities. Yet, the revolutionary language and charisma were eventually questioned, revealing a lack of governance, control systems, and compliance. Elizabeth Holmes is in jail now with a sentence of 11 years for fraud. Potentially SBF will go the same way. Twitter is facing an avalanche of class actions against the decisions made by Elon. What does this matter to us? Because maybe there are many Elizabeth Holmes or SBFs leading projects worldwide, and these heavily charismatic and self-assured leaders who decide to charge ahead without caring about governance, planning, risk management, and compliance can do a lot of harm. Let me repeat—a lot of harm. Behind the development of a project, several stakeholders invested time, money, and effort with the belief that the project would deliver. And charisma alone does not deliver, and lack of governance does not deliver. And superpowers do not exist. What delivers is work, planning, control, and a lot of drive a commitment to make it happen. I hope we all can learn from these events to become better and more responsible project leaders. Enjoy your week. Ricardo https://ricardo-vargas.com/podcasts/what-we-can-learn-from-elizabeth-holmes-theranos-sam-bankman-fried-ftx-and-elon-musk-twitter/ #lessonlearned #leadership #scandal #projectmanagement