Red Team: How to Succeed by Thinking Like the Enemy with Micah Zenko

The Innovation Show

Today's episode is essential content for business leaders and policymakers, an investigation of red teaming, the practice of inhabiting the perspective of potential competitors to gain a strategic advantage. The concept is as old as the Devil's Advocate, the eleventh-century Vatican official charged with discrediting candidates for sainthood. Today, red teams are used widely in both the public and the private sector by those seeking to better understand the interests, intentions, and capabilities of institutional rivals. In the right circumstances, red teams can yield impressive results, giving businesses an edge over their competition, poking holes in vital intelligence estimates, and troubleshooting dangerous military missions long before boots are on the ground. But not all red teams are created equal; indeed, some cause more damage than they prevent. Drawing on a fascinating range of case studies, today's book shows not only how to create and empower red teams, but also what to do with the information they produce. In any truly competitive environment, even the best-laid plans and security procedures will eventually sprout problematic shortcomings and vulnerabilities, which those working in the targeted institution will most likely fail to uncover, or decide not to report, due to the normal institutional pressures and biases that inevitably reemerge. The author of, "Red Team: How to Succeed By Thinking Like the Enemy", Micah Zenko.