Elizabeth Holmes jotted down reminders on hotel stationery for how to conduct herself as chief executive officer of blood-testing startup Theranos Inc.: “I speak rarely” and “I show no excitement”; also, “I do everything I say—word for word.”
The notes were presented as part of Ms. Holmes’s testimony last week in her criminal-fraud trial—the defense’s effort to show the alleged directives from her former boyfriend and business partner to influence her leadership at Theranos. The testimony put that relationship on center stage, as she aimed to turn trauma she says she sustained during their long-term romance into a linchpin of her defense.