Advocatus Diaboli

The Advocatus Diaboli was, until 1983, an officially recognized role within the catholic church who's sole purpose was to argue against the sainthood of a candidate in order to uncover any character flaws or misrepresentation of the evidence in favor of canonization.

In general, the term devil's advocate refers to someone who takes a position he or she does not necessarily agree with. They take an alternate position from the accepted norm simply for the sake of debate, argument or to explore the thought further.

Devil's advocacy is the historical root of the modern military "Red Team". Red Team concepts are widely used within US Defense and Intelligence agencies and have been more and more utilized in the public sector. In this particular article I will not be referring directly to red and blue teams as seen within the computer security industry. Their purpose is to reinforce the digital infrastructure of an organization. Red teams in this sense execute penetration testing by attacking the organization while blue teams build defenses based on findings. Obviously very similar concept but my purpose here is to elaborate from a business and leadership perspective.

The US Army defines red teaming as:

"a structured, iterative process executed by trained, educated, and practiced team members that provide commanders an independent capability to continuously challenge plans, operations, concepts, and capabilities within the context of the operational environment, partners, and adversaries."

Basically, a Red Team exists as an independent group that challenges an organization to improve its effectiveness by assuming an adversarial role or point of view. They are particularly effective in organizations with strong cultures and fixed ways of solving problems. The concept of "red teaming" doesn't mean you have to spend tons of money on a consulting firm to bring in a red team. You can train yourself, your team and company in the concepts and slowly incorporate into your culture. When I was in the service my platoon leaders and squad leaders would often approach me with plans. Usually my first question was, "have you red teamed it?"

Lisa McLeod of Noble Purpose Business Concept described a great example: "on the HBO show The Newsroom, the news team was working on a big high stakes story. Some members of the news team were intentionally kept in the dark about a big scoop. When the team producing the story was ready to go live, they assembled the people who had been intentionally left out to form The Red Team." The Red Team's job of course was to poke holes in the story and since they were left in the dark, they weren't personally invested in the story making it easier for them to be objective.

As a professional, I recommend you start by reading a couple of decisive books on the topic. My first recommendation is Red Teaming authored by Bryce Hoffman. He draws on the latest research in cognitive psychology to build his case for overcoming mental blind spots and biases companies and individuals fall victim to. A second is titled Red Team: How To Succeed By Thinking Like The Enemy by Micah Zenko who focuses on best practices, most common pitfalls, and the most effective application of red teams.

Common Red Team Concepts To Consider:

1. Question Everything - Even the one person, team, or policy you'd never think to question. Gut check every assumption and all plans. This is where you deliberately begin to challenge the status quo.
2. Forward Thinking & The Medici Effect - How many ways can you forecast potential outcomes? How many ways can you try to understand the impact of decisions and strategies for better or worse? The Medici Effect infers that quantity of ideas and concepts will lead to quality of ideas and concepts through cross functional team analysis. Focus on every alternate future imaginable while being your own worst enemy. Remember, it's like asking, "have you red teamed it?"
3. Challenge Everything - Group thinking and internal politics often cloud the needed solution to a problem. Hear every idea, concept, and alternative from your people, even if at first it appears or sounds completely ridiculous. Empower your people; liberate them to war game solutions and let surface every thought. Then, systematically challenge every idea and solution they present.

Remember to engage your people well beforehand. Train and prepare them for this to unfold in volatile and complex ways. Ensure they know this isn't punishment or a tool you're using to figure out what to write on their employee evals. Deploying even the simplest of these concepts next year will get you started in the right (or wrong) direction. Don't forget to ask, "have you red teamed it?"

Are you ready to be a Devil's Advocate in 2019?

Share your thoughts below and let me know what you think of the readings I suggested. Please share others you may know of too.

Jason Sharp