RED TEAMING

Adapted from the U.S. Army, a revolutionary new management concept on making critical thinking and contrarian viewpoints a key part of the planning process of any organization or business. Red teaming is both a set of analytical tools and a mindset. It is designed to overcome the mental blind spots and cognitive biases that all of us fall victim to when we try to address complex problems. The same heuristics that allow us to successfully navigate life and business also cause us to miss or ignore important information. We do not know what we do not know. The good news is that with red teaming, we can find out.

Adapted from the U.S. Army, a revolutionary new management concept on making critical thinking and contrarian viewpoints a key part of the planning process of any organization or business.

Most established companies live with the gnawing fear that there is another Uber out there just waiting to disrupt their industry. The cure for this paranoia or anxiety: red teaming. First set up by the U.S. military in the 1960s, red teams were used in war-gaming exercises during the Cold War; they were made up of American military officers tasked with assuming the role of their Soviet counterparts. They were supposed to think like Soviets and act like them, even referring to each other as “comrade” as they plotted the defeat of the decadent Americans and their European lackeys. The practice waned in the wake of the Cold War, though computer security experts continued to use red teaming as a tool for exposing hidden vulnerabilities in networks and software, assuming the role of hackers to try to breach their own security systems. Big companies such as Apple and Microsoft established red teams to help make their own software and systems more secure, and the practice soon became an industry standard.

Red teaming is both a set of analytical tools and a mindset. It is designed to overcome the mental blind spots and cognitive biases that all of us fall victim to when we try to address complex problems. The same heuristics that allow us to successfully navigate life and business also cause us to miss or ignore important information. We do not know what we do not know. The good news is that with red teaming, we can find out.

This book will be for entrepreneurs and decision makers who want to improve their decision making; aspiring managers and executives who need to know the latest cutting-edge management practices to get ahead in their careers; and government agencies, nonprofits, and civic groups who would benefit from factoring in contrarian thinking when they strategize and plan.

Bryce Hoffman is the author of the New York Times bestseller American Icon: Alan Mulally and the Fight to Save Ford Motor Company, which has sold over 80,000 copies in all editions. An award-winning investigative business journalist, Bryce is now a consultant training the executives and CEOs of some of America’s foremost businesses. Bryce was the first civilian invited to go through the U.S. Army’s Red Team Leader Course at the Command and General Staff College at Fort Leavenworth.