I just bought fifth-row center tickets for the opening day of You Can See Everything.

It’s Nathan Fielder’s wildly anticipated documentary following Elizabeth Holmes, the disgraced Theranos founder, in the month before she began her federal prison sentence for wire fraud and deceiving investors.

If you’ve talked to me in the past month, you know I’m chomping at the bit. That’s because, in my opinion, the film explores one of the most important questions we wrestle with, as individuals and a society working toward a better tomorrow:

What’s the difference between a vision and a delusion?

Steve Jobs envisioned personal computers. President Kennedy committed to putting a man on the moon. My clients imagine careers that are more fulfilling, lucrative, and sustainable than the ones they have now.

And Holmes had a vision for healthcare. Theranos’s mission was “to make actionable health information accessible to everyone at the time it matters.”

Sounds great, right?

So how did she end up in prison?

Visions and delusions both start with a chasm

Both have a gap between today and a better tomorrow. The difference is how you behave in that gap.

Holmes’s vision was a good one. I don’t think there’s a single person on earth who wouldn’t want our best and brightest using technology to better identify, prevent, and treat disease.

Similarly, my clients are working toward visions like criminal justice reform, sustainability initiatives, starting and growing families, building a therapy practice, and shifting pediatric healthcare policy. These visions serve as powerful north stars and fuel the trek ahead because they’re grounded in values, and our research supports them as feasible, financially viable hypotheses worth testing in the market.

What turned Holmes’s vision into a delusion was that she ignored clear evidence it wasn’t working.

I don’t just mean blood tests that didn’t perform as advertised. I mean patients who received incorrect results. Holmes needed her vision to come true, exactly as planned, so badly that she lied her way to a $9B valuation, hired 800+ employees under strict NDAs, and hit peak Forbes status, all while harming more than helping.

Her behavior didn’t move her toward her vision. It sent her backward.

Curiosity protects you from delusion and keeps you moving toward your vision

In the trailer, Fielder asks Holmes, “How are you where you are right now?”

She answers, “I wish I knew.”

When we’re navigating the chasm between where we are and where we want to be, our greatest asset is being able to answer this question.

That means getting curious about roadblocks, thinking creatively about how to get around them, and, most importantly, knowing when to reroute so we protect what actually matters about our vision: the health and happiness of ourselves and the people around us.

This is the core of our work together. No blind ambition allowed.

Onward!
Grace

P.S. Is your vision making you feel a little (or a lot) delulu? Hit reply and tell me about it. I’ll do my best to help you through the chasm.