"The problem with most people is that they don't believe something can happen until it already has. It's not stupidity or weakness, it's just human nature"
Have you heard of the "10th Man"? If you watched Brad Pitt fighting off zombies in the movie World War Z you may remember it, it was also mentioned in Bryce Hoffman's book "Red Teaming".
In the movie, a Mossad agent explains to Brad Pitt’s character why Israel was far more prepared for a zombie outbreak than the rest of the world. The reason was "The 10th Man Rule".
He explained that Israel’s security council had 10 advisors that looked into big picture issues. If the first 9 dismissed an issue or potential danger to the country, then the 10th man was forced to overrule them on principle and look into the issue no matter how far-fetched the scenario.
The “10th Man” is a Hollywood invention – but the Devil’s Advocate Unit actually exists, the Israleli Defence Intelligence Red Team, also known as “Ipcha Mistabra”, which is Aramaic and roughly translates to ”On the contrary it appears that…”
The capability evolved following the Yom Kippur war in 1973, when, after misinterpreted intelligence information saw Israel almost pushed back into the sea by its neighbouring enemy, the IDF’s Intelligence Directorate created a Red Team, a devil’s advocate team that can challenge prevalent assumptions within intelligence bodies.
The unit’s tag line is based on the classic SAS line “He who dares, wins”, and changed to “He who thinks, wins”.
Very cool, right.
Even cooler, is that the former commander of Ipcha Mistabra - Itai Shapira - is now on the RTT staff as the Director of our Red Team Thinking® Academy.
This event will be hosted by Itai and the Red Team Leaders from the RTT Academy - Kevin Benson, Ellie Cloke, and Marcus Dimbleby.
See the relevant clip from Word War Z here: https://youtu.be/k25X3KY_m8k
Look forward to seeing you for what promises to be a highly insightful session.