Red Team: How To Succeed By Thinking Like The Enemy

One way to sharpen a strategy or an implementation plan is to deploy a “red team,” a group assembled to think through how an adversary or competitor would attack your strategy. This book by Micah Zenko provides a holistic review of the conditions, mindsets, and personnel needed to implement red team practices effectively. It is one technique that a policymaker can use to generate a perspective challenging his or her assumptions and approaches. Zenko notes that this process should not be confused with creating a “B team,” which involves creating a second group that develops competing analysis or ideas but from the policymaker’s perspective. A red team, by contrast, puts itself in the shoes of your adversary, understands his mindset, seeks to identify vulnerabilities in your strategy or plans, and sets out to exploit them. The value of red teaming lies in getting out of your own perspective by thinking like the adversary and thereby identifies measures needed to bullet proof your approach.