It’s not that uncommon in my experience. I’ve met several people similar to those in Theranos management.

It’s partly “fake it until you make it”, “double think” and a certain lack of understanding of the basic technology.

And investors reward that behavior mostly investing in a persons connections and projected confidence. Theranos raised hundreds of millions of dollars, and they’re by no means the only company like this. In fact, many of them do manage to fake it until they make it and become successful.