Modern Devil’s Advocacy: Disrupt Groupthink, Build Stronger Plans, and Achieve Better Results

“Robert Koshinskie makes a compelling case for the devil’s advocate and offers practical advice for those brave enough to play that important role in their organization. This sort of applied critical thinking is exactly what companies need more of if they are to not only thrive, but survive, in today’s complex and rapidly changing world.” –Bryce G. Hoffman, author of Red Teaming: How Your Business Can Conquer the Competition by Challenging Everything

In 2018, the celebrated biotechnology startup Theranos collapsed from a market valuation of over $9 billion into bankruptcy and felony charges against its superstar founder, Elizabeth Holmes. This spectacular failure was due in large part to the silencing of dissenting voices who challenged the dubious claims and questionable decisions by Theranos leadership. Similar catastrophic examples can be found in business, the military and other human activities.

Modern Devil’s Advocacy is a form of challenge analysis that’s intended to help overcome our human bias and fallacious reasoning, disrupt groupthink, reduce risk, and achieve better outcomes. By creating a strong counter case to any decision, modern Devil’s Advocates can help others see potential weaknesses in their assumptions, beliefs, and judgments.

This book will show you how practically anyone from the CEO to the newly minted manager can and should think and act like a modern Devil’s Advocate. You will learn the origin of modern Devil’s Advocacy, why the practice is desperately needed today, and how to apply modern Devil’s Advocacy in any setting. If you want to learn how to constructively challenge the judgments that you and others make and achieve better outcomes, then this book is for you.

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