Red Team Thinking for Law Enforcement Leaders
years after the Army graduated it first class of red teamers from its red teaming school at the Command and General Staff College at Fort Leavenworth , Kansas .
I had recently quit my job as a business journalist to launch a management consulting practice based the concepts outlined in my first book , American Icon : Alan Mulally and the Fight to Save Ford Motor Company . That work had opened my eyes to the challenges facing even successful businesses in today ’ s complex and rapidly changing world . Every day seemed to bring new threats and new competitors , but also new opportunities . I soon realized the decision-making processes taught in most business schools were poorly suited for this brave new world , so I started hunting for new approaches that could help leaders better cope with this uncertainty and volatility . When I discovered red teaming , I knew that I had found what I was looking for .
Here was a set of battle-tested tools that had proven effective in helping leader solve the most complex problems under the most trying circumstances in the highest-stakes arena imaginable . I immediately saw how valuable these techniques could be for business leaders , and so I called up the Department of Defense and asked if I could go to Fort Leavenworth and audit the Army ’ s Red Team Leader course .
For centuries , it was assumed that people generally made the best decision possible , given the limited information at available to them , unless they were swayed by powerful emotions such as anger , love , or unhealthy relationship with adult beverages . Therefore , the thinking went , if people could just keep calm , stay sober , and access more accurate information , they could make better decisions . Unfortunately for all of us , that ’ s simply not true .
Beginning in the 1970s scientists and psychologists began uncovering a dizzying array of cognitive biases and mental blind spots that skew our decision making in ways we ’ re entirely unaware of – and they discovered that we all fall victim to the biases and blind spots every single day , no matter how smart we are , no matter how well-educated we are , no matter how successful we are .
For example , they discovered a bias they called “ loss
Calls for police reform , or even to “ defund the police ” are growing louder every day . Responding effectively to these new challenges will require not only new ways of working , but also new ways of thinking .
The Science and Psychology of Red Teaming One of the first things they taught us at Fort Leavenworth was that we human beings are pretty lousy at making good decisions . aversion ,” which refers to the fact that most of us would rather hold on to what we already have , rather than risk it for a potentially greater reward – even if that risk is extremely low . Now , loss aversion is a good thing , in that it prevents of from trading our cows for bags of magic beans . But loss aversion also prevents us from changing when change is exactly what is required of us .
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