Modern Devils Advocacy: Disrupt Groupthink

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 Devils Advocacy is a form of challenge analysis thats 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 Devils 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 Devils Advocate. You will learn the origin of modern Devils Advocacy, why the practice is desperately needed today, and how to apply modern Devils 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.