The Thinking Leader: Recent Episodes
Red Team Thinking
Bestselling business author and unconsultant Bryce Hoffman talks about decision making, strategy, resilience and leadership with some of the world’s best CEOs, writers and thinkers in this twice-monthly podcast. Each episode offers new ideas and insights you can use to become a better leader and a better thinker – because bad leaders react, good leaders plan, and great leaders think.
In this episode of The Thinking Leader, Bryce Hoffman and Marcus Dimbleby talk about leadership lessons that can be learned from observing how the Ukrainian military has adapted to using new weapons systems donated from other countries.
They discuss how impressed US military officers have been with how quickly Ukrainians have been able to become operationally capable with equipment they have never seen or used before, such as British Challenger tanks. Bryce and Marcus also debate how creating uncertainty, chaos and discomfort can spark innovation, as long as people are empowered and trained to problem solve on their own.
In this episode:
- Why you need to train leaders at all levels continuously for maximum impact
- How to empower people to make decisions close to problems
- How to rapidly adapt to new challenges like the Ukrainians have during the war
- Why you should trust people to solve problems independently
Sign up to the Red Team Thinking Community - Use the coupon code THINKINGLEADER for a free 30-day trial: https://community.redteamthinking.com/checkout/general-membership
Want to find out if you’re a Red Team Thinker? Click here to take a free assessment and get your personalized report: https://www.redteamthinking.com/rttassessment
Visit our website: https://redteamthinking.com
Watch this episode on YouTube: www.red-team.tv
Follow us on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/redteamthinking/
Connect with Bryce: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brycehoffman/
Connect with Marcus: https://www.linkedin.com/in/marcusdimbleby/
Bestselling business author Bryce Hoffman and agility expert Marcus Dimbleby talk about decision making, strategy, resilience and leadership with some of the world’s best CEOs, cognitive scientists, writers, and thinkers in this weekly podcast. Each episode offers new ideas and insights you can use to become a better leader and a better thinker – because bad leaders react, good leaders plan, and great leaders think!
In this episode of The Thinking Leader, Bryce Hoffman and Marcus Dimbleby talk about the World Economic Forum's Future of Jobs Report 2023.
They analyze the top in-demand skills for today and skills that are rising in importance for 2027. Analytical and critical thinking remain the most important skills showing that focus must remain on developing your cognitive abilities. Leadership is evolving from a skill to an outcome of cultivating resilience, flexibility and other competencies to prepare for the future of work.
In this episode:
- The future importance of analytical and critical thinking
- Skills which are rising in demand
- AI capabilities in the workplace
- What it takes to cultivate effective leadership
Sign up to the Red Team Thinking Community - Use the coupon code THINKINGLEADER for a free 30-day trial: https://community.redteamthinking.com/checkout/general-membership
Want to find out if you’re a Red Team Thinker? Click here to take a free assessment and get your personalized report: https://www.redteamthinking.com/rttassessment
Visit our website: https://redteamthinking.com
Watch this episode on YouTube: www.red-team.tv
Follow us on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/redteamthinking/
Connect with Bryce: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brycehoffman/
Connect with Marcus: https://www.linkedin.com/in/marcusdimbleby/
Bestselling business author Bryce Hoffman and agility expert Marcus Dimbleby talk about decision making, strategy, resilience and leadership with some of the world’s best CEOs, cognitive scientists, writers, and thinkers in this weekly podcast. Each episode offers new ideas and insights you can use to become a better leader and a better thinker – because bad leaders react, good leaders plan, and great leaders think!
In this episode of The Thinking Leader, Bryce Hoffman and Marcus Dimbleby talk with Dr. Willy Donaldson, author of 'Simple Complexity' and Professor of Management at Christopher Newport University.
They discuss the importance of systems thinking for navigating today's complex business world. Dr. Donaldson shares insights on how viewing problems through a systems lens can provide leaders with a deeper understanding.
Key Takeaways:
- What is systems thinking and why does it matter for business?
- The dangers of short-term thinking and how it hinders systems-oriented solutions
- How culture emerges from the interactions within an organizational system
- The critical leadership skills of active listening and continuous learning
- Why listening to employees is key for understanding problems holistically
Topics Discussed:
- Reducing complexity vs. understanding emergent system behaviors
- The relationship between parts and the whole in complex systems
- How management actions shape culture over time
- Examples of companies that exemplify systems thinking principles
- Advice for leaders on better understanding the systems they lead
Connect with Dr. Willy Donaldson: https://www.linkedin.com/in/willydonaldson
Sign up to the Red Team Thinking Community - Use the coupon code THINKINGLEADER for a free 30-day trial: https://community.redteamthinking.com/checkout/general-membership
Want to find out if you’re a Red Team Thinker? Click here to take a free assessment and get your personalized report: https://www.redteamthinking.com/rttassessment
Visit our website: https://redteamthinking.com
Watch this episode on YouTube: www.red-team.tv
Follow us on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/redteamthinking/
Connect with Bryce: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brycehoffman/
Connect with Marcus: https://www.linkedin.com/in/marcusdimbleby/
Bestselling business author Bryce Hoffman and agility expert Marcus Dimbleby talk about decision making, strategy, resilience and leadership with some of the world’s best CEOs, cognitive scientists, writers, and thinkers in this weekly podcast. Each episode offers new ideas and insights you can use to become a better leader and a better thinker – because bad leaders react, good leaders plan, and great leaders think!
In this episode of The Thinking Leader, Bryce Hoffman and Marcus Dimbleby discuss the Red Team Coaching course and the impact it has had on their participants.
They explore the differences between traditional coaching courses and the Red Team Coaching course, and relay reviews from leaders who have taken both. They go over some of the revelations their course has enabled, and explain a few of the techniques they use to achieve those revelations.
Marcus shares insight into how the Red Team Coaching course has impacted its participants on an individual level, whilst Bryce explains how the Red Team Coaching course has set itself so far above the competition.
In this episode:
- Why the Red Team Coaching course focuses on instant applicability immediate efficacy
- First-hand reviews from people who have taken the course
- Plans for the future of Red Team Coaching
- Why it’s OK to admit you don’t know the answer
- What sets the Red Team Coaching course so far above the competition
Sign up to the Red Team Thinking Community - Use the coupon code THINKINGLEADER for a free 30-day trial: https://community.redteamthinking.com/checkout/general-membership
Want to find out if you’re a Red Team Thinker? Click here to take a free assessment and get your personalized report: https://www.redteamthinking.com/rttassessment
Visit our website: https://redteamthinking.com
Watch this episode on YouTube: www.red-team.tv
Follow us on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/redteamthinking/
Connect with Bryce: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brycehoffman/
Connect with Marcus: https://www.linkedin.com/in/marcusdimbleby/
Bestselling business author Bryce Hoffman and agility expert Marcus Dimbleby talk about decision making, strategy, resilience and leadership with some of the world’s best CEOs, cognitive scientists, writers, and thinkers in this weekly podcast. Each episode offers new ideas and insights you can use to become a better leader and a better thinker – because bad leaders react, good leaders plan, and great leaders think!
In this episode of The Thinking Leader, Bryce Hoffman and Marcus Dimbleby engage in a conversation with Moran Cerf, a professor of neuroscience and business at Columbia University. He helps implement decision-science and neuroscience in critical choices.
Moran speaks on his entry into the field of decision-making and his insights into flawed protocols based on outdated assumptions about human decision-making. He highlights the necessity of having a trusted friend in your decision-making groups who can provide honest feedback as this enhances decision quality.
Bryce, Marcus and Moran explore the application of AI to validate human choices, along with simulations for leaders to comprehend associated risks. The talk touches on AI's role in wartime scenarios and the rarity of key decision-makers. They discuss optimal decision states, how to make better choices, the concept of red team thinking in understanding brain function, and neuroplasticity's potential.
In this episode:
- Why you need to find a trusted decision-making ally
- How AI exposes human decision-making errors
- AI's role in wartime contexts
- How red team thinking contributes to understanding brain dynamics
- The significance of personal red teams
Moran’s article about the role of AI and Nuclear Launch Codes https://www.ft.com/content/06b22337-e862-43e5-8440-d9c225e0c18d
Sign up to the Red Team Thinking Community - Use the coupon code THINKINGLEADER for a free 30-day trial: https://community.redteamthinking.com/checkout/general-membership
Want to find out if you’re a Red Team Thinker? Click here to take a free assessment and get your personalized report: https://www.redteamthinking.com/rttassessment
Visit our website: https://redteamthinking.com
Watch this episode on YouTube: www.red-team.tv
Follow us on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/redteamthinking/
Connect with Bryce: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brycehoffman/
Connect with Marcus: https://www.linkedin.com/in/marcusdimbleby/
Bestselling business author Bryce Hoffman and agility expert Marcus Dimbleby talk about decision making, strategy, resilience and leadership with some of the world’s best CEOs, cognitive scientists, writers, and thinkers in this weekly podcast. Each episode offers new ideas and insights you can use to become a better leader and a better thinker – because bad leaders react, good leaders plan, and great leaders think!
In this episode of The Thinking Leader, Bryce Hoffman and Marcus Dimbleby talk with Rita McGrath, the author of several books, about how to take advantage of inflection points in your business.
McGrath shares fascinating insights on the importance of picking up on weak signals and being candid about the world's realities. Marcus explains the difference between wartime and peacetime leaders, and the significance of bringing people along on the leadership journey. McGrath stresses that leadership is about energy, emotional awareness, and skillful expression. She has created the idea of a permissionless organization and distributed decision-making as tools to be used by modern leaders.
In this episode:
- How to take advantage of inflection points in business and leadership
- What it means to be a permissionless organization and the advantages it offers
- How to design your organization to be permissionless and embrace distributed decision-making
- How to create a stable core in leadership by seeking out and embracing feedback
- Why leaders need to let go of decision-making responsibilities and embrace leadership agility
- What makes a great leader and the traits they exhibit
For more information about this episode, head to Rita’s website: https://www.ritamcgrath.com/
Or her YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/user/rgmcgrath
And learn more about Rita’s sister company, Valize: https://www.valize.com/
Want to find out if you’re a Red Team Thinker? Click here to take a free assessment and get your personalized report: https://www.redteamthinking.com/rttassessment
Visit our website: https://redteamthinking.com
Watch this episode on YouTube: www.red-team.tv
Follow us on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/redteamthinking/
Connect with Bryce: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brycehoffman/
Connect with Marcus: https://www.linkedin.com/in/marcusdimbleby/
Bestselling business author Bryce Hoffman and agility expert Marcus Dimbleby talk about decision making, strategy, resilience and leadership with some of the world’s best CEOs, cognitive scientists, writers, and thinkers in this weekly podcast. Each episode offers new ideas and insights you can use to become a better leader and a better thinker – because bad leaders react, good leaders plan, and great leaders think!
In this episode of The Thinking Leader, Bryce Hoffman engages in a thought-provoking conversation with Chris Butler, Lead Product Manager at Google, shedding light on Google's core machine learning infrastructure.
The discussion centers on intricate aspects such as strategy, team dynamics, and infrastructure, while placing importance on eliminating unnecessary processes and focusing on simplicity. Chris speaks on the significance of working assumptions in business, based on his learnings from Ford Motor Company.
Bryce & Chris explore the opportunities to harness the power of AI and how to effectively use machine learning systems They discuss how AI and human decision-making can work with applied critical thinking skills in guiding leaders.
In this episode:
- Why you need to remove processes, not just add them
- How to turn divergent thinking into convergent thinking
- The limitations with current AI language learning models
- How to use randomized constraints to improve your decision making
Find out more about The Uncertainty Project: https://www.theuncertaintyproject.org/
Sign up to the Red Team Thinking Community - Use the coupon code THINKINGLEADER for a free 30-day trial: https://community.redteamthinking.com/checkout/general-membership
Want to find out if you’re a Red Team Thinker? Click here to take a free assessment and get your personalized report: https://www.redteamthinking.com/rttassessment
Visit our website: https://redteamthinking.com
Watch this episode on YouTube: www.red-team.tv
Follow us on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/redteamthinking/
Connect with Bryce: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brycehoffman/
Connect with Marcus: https://www.linkedin.com/in/marcusdimbleby/
Bestselling business author Bryce Hoffman and agility expert Marcus Dimbleby talk about decision making, strategy, resilience and leadership with some of the world’s best CEOs, cognitive scientists, writers, and thinkers in this weekly podcast. Each episode offers new ideas and insights you can use to become a better leader and a better thinker – because bad leaders react, good leaders plan, and great leaders think!
In this episode of The Thinking Leader, we replay some of the most powerful moments from our recent guests.
Bryce and Marcus always have fascinating conversations with their guests, so this episode features a smorgasbord of information, and highlights some of the most valuable pieces of advice they have received for being a great leader.
In this episode:
- The Power of being Brutally Honest from Richard James
- Is Ego Needed to be a Good Leader? From Christie Garcia
- How We Can Adapt to a World with AI from Oliver Yonchev
- Why Business Schools Can’t Teach Leadership from Ron Boire
- What is the Toyota Production System? From Nigel Thurlow
- What Does Power Bias Mean? From Prof Bent Flyvbjerg
- How Ford Survived the Recession from Joe Hinrichs
- Gun Control Isn’t a Complex Issue from Dave Snowden
Listen to the full episodes highlighted in this episode:
- Leading Large-Scale Change In Industry with Richard James
- The Dangers of Workplace Ego with Christie Garcia
- AI and Taking Risks with Oliver Yonchev
- Preparing The Next Generation Of Leaders with Ron Boire
- TPS and the Value of Continuous Improvement with Nigel Thurlow
- How Big Things Get Done with Prof Bent Flyvbjerg
- Collaboration, Teamwork, and Building Positive Relationships with Joe Hinrichs
- Estuarine Mapping with Dave Snowden
Sign up for the Red Team Thinking Boot Camp: https://www.redteamthinking.com/bootcamp-page
Sign up to the Red Team Thinking Community - Use the coupon code THINKINGLEADER for a free 30-day trial: https://community.redteamthinking.com/checkout/general-membership
Want to find out if you’re a Red Team Thinker? Click here to take a free assessment and get your personalized report: https://www.redteamthinking.com/rttassessment
Visit our website: https://redteamthinking.com
Watch this episode on YouTube: www.red-team.tv
Follow us on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/redteamthinking/
Connect with Bryce: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brycehoffman/
Connect with Marcus: https://www.linkedin.com/in/marcusdimbleby/
Bestselling business author Bryce Hoffman and agility expert Marcus Dimbleby talk about decision making, strategy, resilience and leadership with some of the world’s best CEOs, cognitive scientists, writers, and thinkers in this weekly podcast. Each episode offers new ideas and insights you can use to become a better leader and a better thinker – because bad leaders react, good leaders plan, and great leaders think!
In this episode of The Thinking Leader, Bryce Hoffman and Marcus Dimbleby talk with Whitney Johnson, CEO and Co-Founder of Disruption Advisors.
They discuss disruption in business and the value that disruption plays in making changes. Whitney’s core belief is that change comes from the individual, and that disruption on a large-scale starts with disruption on an individual level.
Bryce and Whitney reflect on the moments that caused major changes in their lives which started their own journeys of disruption. They consider the different scales of disruption and how, and why, you should implement disruption in your day-to-day life.
In this episode:
- Why Whitney started her journey of disruption
- What disruption truly means and why you need to start at an individual level
- The difference between large-scale Disruptions and “little d” disruptions
- How you can disrupt yourself and why it is so important to do
- The importance of removing shame from failure and why this will improve your innovation
Find out more about Whitney’s work with Disruption Advisors on her website, https://thedisruptionadvisors.com/, and to grab a copy of her books, head to https://thedisruptionadvisors.com/books/
Read Whitney’s Disrupt Yourself article: https://hbr.org/2012/07/disrupt-yourself-3
Sign up for the Red Team Thinking Boot Camp: https://www.redteamthinking.com/bootcamp-page
Sign up to the Red Team Thinking Community - Use the coupon code THINKINGLEADER for a free 30-day trial: https://community.redteamthinking.com/checkout/general-membership
Want to find out if you’re a Red Team Thinker? Click here to take a free assessment and get your personalized report: https://www.redteamthinking.com/rttassessment
Visit our website: https://redteamthinking.com
Watch this episode on YouTube: www.red-team.tv
Follow us on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/redteamthinking/
Connect with Bryce: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brycehoffman/
Connect with Marcus: https://www.linkedin.com/in/marcusdimbleby/
Bestselling business author Bryce Hoffman and agility expert Marcus Dimbleby talk about decision making, strategy, resilience and leadership with some of the world’s best CEOs, cognitive scientists, writers, and thinkers in this weekly podcast. Each episode offers new ideas and insights you can use to become a better leader and a better thinker – because bad leaders react, good leaders plan, and great leaders think!
In this episode of The Thinking Leader, Bryce Hoffman and Marcus Dimbleby talk about how Red Team Thinking can apply to everyday life.
They discuss the difficulty of facing problems you can’t solve, but the resilience and adaptability that Red Team Thinking can build to make these problems more manageable. They talk about the value of reflection before reacting, especially in today’s complex world.
Bryce and Marcus reflect on how Red Teaming has affected themselves and their families, and go into personal examples of how their work has improved their lives. They also impart advice on how to implement Red Team Thinking into your life and how this will benefit you.
In this episode:
- How to be resilient in a VUCA (volatile, uncertain, complex, and ambiguous) world
- The importance of self-awareness and self-reflection in the workplace
- Personal examples of how Bryce and Marcus, and their families, have used the Red Team principles
- The power of taking positive action
- How Red Team Thinking can be applied to your life
Sign up for the Red Team Thinking Boot Camp: https://www.redteamthinking.com/bootcamp-page
Sign up to the Red Team Thinking Community - Use the coupon code THINKINGLEADER for a free 30-day trial: https://community.redteamthinking.com/checkout/general-membership
Want to find out if you’re a Red Team Thinker? Click here to take a free assessment and get your personalized report: https://www.redteamthinking.com/rttassessment
Visit our website: https://redteamthinking.com
Watch this episode on YouTube: www.red-team.tv
Follow us on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/redteamthinking/
Connect with Bryce: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brycehoffman/
Connect with Marcus: https://www.linkedin.com/in/marcusdimbleby/
Bestselling business author Bryce Hoffman and agility expert Marcus Dimbleby talk about decision making, strategy, resilience and leadership with some of the world’s best CEOs, cognitive scientists, writers, and thinkers in this weekly podcast. Each episode offers new ideas and insights you can use to become a better leader and a better thinker – because bad leaders react, good leaders plan, and great leaders think!
In this episode of The Thinking Leader, Marcus Dimbleby talks about The Lost Art of Contradiction, a keynote speech he gave at Scrum Day London.
Marcus explains the process of Agile and Scrum and how it has changed over the years. Despite the recent backlash against Agile, Marcus is a firm believer in the system and believes it is the implementation of Agile which is failing an otherwise great system.
He talks about the three P’s of project management, People, Process, and Platform. However, with the advance of technology, People have been forgotten in a lot of management systems. Marcus emphasizes the importance of re-empowering the People in your organization to survive the complexity of the modern world. He also goes over techniques to engage your employees and principles to avoid in your business.
In this episode:
- What is Agile and how it has evolved over the years
- The problems with how Agile is currently used
- How to engage your employees and increase their productivity
- Why conforming to expectations causes more problems than it solves
- The importance of critical thinking and how to encourage it within your organization
Sign up to the Red Team Thinking Community - Use the coupon code THINKINGLEADER for a free 30-day trial: https://community.redteamthinking.com/checkout/general-membership
Want to find out if you’re a Red Team Thinker? Click here to take a free assessment and get your personalized report: https://www.redteamthinking.com/rttassessment
Visit our website: https://redteamthinking.com
Watch this episode on YouTube: www.red-team.tv
Follow us on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/redteamthinking/
Connect with Bryce: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brycehoffman/
Connect with Marcus: https://www.linkedin.com/in/marcusdimbleby/
Bestselling business author Bryce Hoffman and agility expert Marcus Dimbleby talk about decision making, strategy, resilience and leadership with some of the world’s best CEOs, cognitive scientists, writers, and thinkers in this weekly podcast. Each episode offers new ideas and insights you can use to become a better leader and a better thinker – because bad leaders react, good leaders plan, and great leaders think!
In this episode of The Thinking Leader, Bryce Hoffman talks with Joe Hinrichs - President & CEO, Director of CSX.
He speaks about the dynamic world of railroads and the importance of effective leadership. Hinrichs, formerly the President of Ford Motor Company, brings his wealth of experience to CSX, one of the largest railroads in the United States.
Joe's focus is on collaboration, teamwork, and building positive relationships. He highlights the significance of working together, drawing from his experiences at Ford and the North American restructuring plan. He emphasizes the value of honest dialogue and negotiations with stakeholders, particularly his experience with the UAW.
Bryce and Joe explore the concept of thinking differently and embracing new perspectives, underscoring the importance of strategic planning and red team thinking. Hinrichs exemplifies the qualities of a forward-thinking leader by using the power of leveraging teamwork and transformative thinking to drive success in an organization.
In this episode:
- Why you should place emphasis on effective leadership and collaboration
- Hinrichs' experience as the former President of Ford Motor Company
- The importance of working together and building positive relationships
- Insights from Hinrichs' experiences at Ford and the North American restructuring plan
- Why you should focus on strategic planning
- What leaders need to do to embrace new perspectives
Sign up to the Red Team Thinking Community - Use the coupon code THINKINGLEADER for a free 30-day trial: https://community.redteamthinking.com/checkout/general-membership
Want to find out if you’re a Red Team Thinker? Click here to take a free assessment and get your personalized report: https://www.redteamthinking.com/rttassessment
Visit our website: https://redteamthinking.com
Watch this episode on YouTube: www.red-team.tv
Follow us on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/redteamthinking/
Connect with Bryce: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brycehoffman/
Connect with Marcus: https://www.linkedin.com/in/marcusdimbleby/
Bestselling business author Bryce Hoffman and agility expert Marcus Dimbleby talk about decision making, strategy, resilience and leadership with some of the world’s best CEOs, cognitive scientists, writers, and thinkers in this weekly podcast. Each episode offers new ideas and insights you can use to become a better leader and a better thinker – because bad leaders react, good leaders plan, and great leaders think!
This week on the show we throw back to one of our most requested episodes, Bryce’s conversation with Dr. Gary Klein.
Gary is the creator of PreMortem Analysis, a powerful tool designed to help leaders understand the ways their plans could fail so that they can ensure that they don’t. In addition to discussing the origins of PreMortem and how it is used, they talk about how humans make decisions and how leaders can make better ones – particularly in these challenging times.
Gary also discusses his latest innovation, a training tool he calls ShadowBox. Dr. Gary A. Klein is a cognitive psychologist and one of the world’s leading experts on human decision making. He is the author of several books, including Sources of Power: How People Make Decisions and Seeing What Others Don’t: The Remarkable Ways We Gain Insights. Gary pioneered the naturalistic decision-making movement and is the president of ShadowBox Training.
In this episode:
- What is naturalistic decision making and what it reveals about how people make decisions
- How Gary analyzed the way in which people really make decisions, particularly under time pressures
- What leaders can learn from firefighters in order to make better decisions
- What is ShadowBox and how it works
Sign up to the Red Team Thinking Community - Use the coupon code THINKINGLEADER for a free 30-day trial: https://community.redteamthinking.com/checkout/general-membership
Want to find out if you’re a Red Team Thinker? Click here to take a free assessment and get your personalized report: https://www.redteamthinking.com/rttassessment
Visit our website: https://redteamthinking.com
Watch this episode on YouTube: www.red-team.tv
Follow us on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/redteamthinking/
Connect with Bryce: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brycehoffman/
Connect with Marcus: https://www.linkedin.com/in/marcusdimbleby/
Bestselling business author Bryce Hoffman and agility expert Marcus Dimbleby talk about decision making, strategy, resilience and leadership with some of the world’s best CEOs, cognitive scientists, writers, and thinkers in this weekly podcast. Each episode offers new ideas and insights you can use to become a better leader and a better thinker – because bad leaders react, good leaders plan, and great leaders think!
Welcome to another episode of The Thinking Leader podcast, brought to you by Red Team Thinking. In this episode, Red Team Thinking Vice President Marcus Dimbleby turns the table on Bryce and interviews him, discussing the origins of red teaming, why we need more critical thinking, how to enable distributed decision making and create psychological safety in your organization, why leaders need to listen, and why new ways of working can’t work without new ways of thinking.
Bryce Hoffman is a bestselling author and speaker, as well as the president of Red Team Thinking. Bryce calls himself an “unconsultant” and teaches organizations and individuals around the world how to engage critical thinking, enable distributed decision making, and encourage diversity of thought. Prior to founding Red Team Thinking, Bryce spent 22 years working as a financial journalist. In 2015, he became the first and only civilian from outside government to graduate from the U.S. Army’s elite red team leader training program, then worked with renowned business leaders from around the world to develop a model for business red teaming that evolved to become Red Team Thinking.
In addition to his work with Red Team Thinking, Bryce lectures on red teaming worldwide, including at U.C. Berkeley’s Haas School of Business, Warwick Business School, and the National University of Singapore.
Top 10 Takeaways:
01:58 What is Red Team Thinking?
11:05 How Bryce learned about Red Team Thinking.
16:46 What is the difference between red teaming and Red Team Thinking?
20:59 Decision making should be a practice, not a process.
23:53 How to foster real diversity and inclusion – not just tokenism.
26:13 New ways of working require new ways of thinking.
27:24 Don't outsource thinking!
41:24 Daniel Kahneman and Red Team Thinking.
48:10 Leaders have to have the courage to ask the tough questions – and listen to the answers.
53:13 How to become a "thinking leader."
Mentioned in this episode:
Red Teaming: How Your Business Can Conquer the Competition by Challenging Everything, by Bryce G. Hoffman
American Icon: Alan Mulally and the fight to Save Ford Motor Company, by Bryce G. Hoffman
9/11 Commission Report
CIA Director George Tenet
Red Cell
General Peter Schoomaker
University of Foreign Military and Cultural Studies
Alan Mulally, Ford Motor Company
Detroit News
Dr. Daniel Kahneman
Dr. Gary Klein
Dave Snowden
Barry O’Reilly
Find Out More
Sign up for Bryce’s newsletter
Connect with Bryce on LinkedIn
Connect with Marcus on LinkedIn
Follow Bryce on Twitter
Follow Marcus on Twitter
Welcome to another episode of The Thinking Leader podcast, brought to you by Red Team Thinking. In this episode, Bryce Hoffman talks with Zia Zaman, CEO and innovator, about the use of mathematics to make better decisions in times of high risk in an increasingly uncertain world – where everyone's affected.
Zia Zaman is the CEO of Soteria, previously served as the CIO for MetLife, the CEO of LumenLab, and led the marketing strategy for FAST which culminated in a $1.2 billion acquisition by Microsoft. Zia has spoken at WEF Davos, IIF, Global Summit for Women, Milken, InsurTech Connect, and UN Women. He currently sits on the Board of the Energy Market Authority of Singapore.
Top 10 Takeaways:
01:37 The amount of uncertainty leaders are facing today is only increasing
02:11 Every job function has become a more data-driven function
05:06 A metaphor from ice hockey – “Pulling the goalie”
07:13 The Poisson model vs. the Markov model
14:35 Patrick Roy vs. Viktor Tikhonov
17:00 Malcolm Gladwell and the “Pull the goalie” concept
22:00 The Asness-Brown Model
24:53 Applying this approach to investment strategy
25:39 “Pulling the goalie” in business
32:52 “Pulling the goalie” in public health
Mentioned in this episode:
“Coach Markov Pulls Goalie Poisson,” by Zia Zaman
Poisson Model
Markov Model
Asness-Brown Model, “Pulling the Goalie: Hockey and Investment Implications”
Revisionist History, a Podcast by Malcolm Gladwell
Patrick Roy
Viktor Tikhonov
Find Out More
Connect with Zia Zaman on Linkedin
Sign up for Bryce’s newsletter
Connect with Bryce on LinkedIn
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Welcome to another episode of The Thinking Leader podcast, brought to you by Red Team Thinking. In this episode, Bryce Hoffman talks with Mark McNally, founder of Nobody Studios, about his new vision for venture capital and his goal to launch 100 companies in five years.
Mark is a serial entrepreneur with a broad base of experience scaling companies from startup through multinational establishment. Mark’s first startup went public on the Nasdaq at the age of 24. He’s “challenging the status quo daily and creating rapid but healthy disruption.” Nobody Studios is unified by its principles of rapid and frugal innovation, a “people first” mentality, crowd first execution in everything, and transparency to its core.
Top 10 Takeaways: 09:09 The strength of peer-led teams
11:37 What’s wrong the way we create companies today?
13:00 What is Nobody Studios?
13:42 A new model for venture capital
16:34 Empowering teams allows them to think differently
18:23 The power of checking your ego at the door
20:45 The most important thing entrepreneurs need to learn do well is tell their story
30:08 Should you go public?
31:15 Red teaming venture capital
33:45 How Wall Street screwed up venture capital
Mentioned in this Episode: Brought to you by Red Team Thinking
Nobody Studios
U.S. Army PSYOPS
Intervention in Haiti (1995)
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Welcome to another episode of The Thinking Leader podcast, brought to you by Red Team Thinking. In this episode, Bryce Hoffman talks with Professor Virginia Cha of the National University of Singapore (NUS) about today’s hyperconnected world and the “AAA Mindset” she says leaders need to cultivate to successfully navigate it.
Dr. Cha is a leading teacher of innovation and entrepreneurship in Asia, not only at the NUS Business School, but also at INSEAD and SMART, the Singapore MIT Alliance for Research and Technology. She also has founded or co-founded multiple high-tech companies in Singapore and China, with listings on the NASDAQ and HKSE. She is co-author of the book, Asia’s Entrepreneurs: Dilemmas, Risks and Opportunities, and she serves on the World Economic Forum’s Future Council.
Top 10 Takeaways:
[01:48] VUCAH: volatility, uncertainty, complexity, ambiguity, and hyperconnectivity.
[08:34] How leaders can cope with hyperconnectivity.
[10:02] The AAA Mindset.
[14:27] We have to admit we don’t know what the future holds.
[17:16] The limits of AI and the ways human decision makers can leverage its promise.
[19:28] The cognitive skills executives need to succeed today.
[22:52] How to train your brain with “Architectural Reasoning.”
[24:31] The problem with processes.
[27:49] How leaders can overcome cognitive biases.
[33:45] The “Three Gear Framework.”
Mentioned in this episode:
Brought to you by Red Team Thinking
Thai demonstrators at the German Embassy in Bangkok
VUCA
PDCA
Lean
Agile
James March and Organizational Ambidexterity
Nassim Nicholas Taleb and Antifragility
“Machine, Platform, Crowd” by Andrew McAfee & Erik Brynjolfsson
Cynefin Framework, by Dave Snowden
Goldratt’s Theory of Constraints
Kaizen Productive Thinking
John Boyd’s OODA Loop
Book of Five Rings by Musashi Miyamoto
Charlie Munger with Berkshire Hathaway
Burroughs Corp.
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Welcome to another episode of The Thinking Leader podcast, brought to you by Red Team Thinking. In this episode, Bryce Hoffman talks to former diplomat and executive Dr. David Landsman, OBE, about the lessons business leaders can learn from the world of diplomacy.
David served as British Ambassador to Greece and Albania before transitioning to business, first as a senior executive with De La Rue plc, later as executive director of Tata Limited, the Indian conglomerate’s European subsidiary. He continues to share his knowledge and expertise as a strategic advisor, writer, and speaker on corporate strategy, (geo)politics, and reputation. David is the chairman of Cerebra Global Strategy and the British-Serbian Chamber of Commerce, director of Digital Cognate, advises for The India Business Group, and is a Visiting Fellow at Cambridge Judge Business School.
Top 10 Takeaways:
[04:00] The most important skill for diplomats is listening to other people and trying to understand their perspective.
[06:18] Go and see things for yourself; don’t rely on subordinates to tell you what’s going on.
[12:31] Cultivate “the diplomat’s mindset.”
[18:37] Don’t just do something, sit there!
[25:38] Everybody is motivated by something, so incentives matter.
[27:51] How Tata made ethics a priority in business.
[29:22] Using clear messaging to establish priorities.
[31:35] How Alan Mulally used messaging and incentives to save Ford.
[36:51] Sending the wrong signal is very easy.
[38:18] Don’t automatically assume the other guy is mad or bad.
Mentioned in this episode:
Brought to you by Red Team Thinking
Genchi Genbutsu or “go and see”
Alan Mulally & Ford Motor Company
Human Terrain System
Four Ways of Seeing
Gillian Tett
Yes Minister (1980s British sitcom)
What Got You Here Won’t Get You There by Marshall Goldsmith
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Cambridge Judge Business School
Cerebra Global Strategy
British-Serbian Chamber of Commerce
The India Business Group
Digital Cognate
Tata Unlimited
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Welcome to another episode of The Thinking Leader podcast, brought to you by Red Team Thinking. In this episode, Bryce Hoffman talks to Marc Cox, president of The Company Spirit and the author of The Business Case For Love: How Companies Get Bragged About Today.
Cox believes that the best companies succeed in part because they love their customers, love their employees, and build authentic relationships with both of these critical cohorts. He urges leaders to turn up the volume on emotional engagement in order to drive loyalty and boost profits.
Bryce shares some examples from his own work of how successful leaders used love to not only motivate their employees, but also to rebuild damaged relationships with suppliers, dealers, and other key stakeholders.
Top 10 Takeaways:
[2:00] Marc makes the business case for love.
[3:10] Bryce talks about how Alan Mulally used love as a leadership tool.
[5:02] Employees want to work for a company they believe in and can be proud of.
[7:00] Customers want something more than a transactional experience.
[8:03] BrewDog is an example of a company that “gets it.”
[9:17] Gymshark is another one.
[16:50] The best companies are those that remain rooted in their founding spirit.
[19:49] Marc talks about how companies that have lost that mojo can get it back again.
[28:10] Companies lose their way because leaders fail to recognize the emotional component of their businesses.
[32:02] Marc explains how you justify the ROI in love.
Mentioned in this episode:
Brought to you by Red Team Thinking
The Business Case For Love
The Company Spirit
Brew Dog
Gymshark
Airbnb
British Airways
Bosch Global
Orangina
Crew Clothing Company
East Midlands Airport
East Coast Main Line
Neverfail
American Icon: Alan Mulally and the Fight to Save Ford Motor Company, by Bryce G. Hoffman
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Welcome to another episode of The Thinking Leader podcast, brought to you by Red Team Thinking. In this episode, your host Bryce Hoffman talks to Colonel Kevin Benson, U.S. Army, ret., the man who planned the invasion or Iraq, about the painful lessons of that war, and how they led to the creation of decision-support red teaming and the establishment of the Army’s red teaming school at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas.
Col. Benson was a senior instructor at that school. He is now dean of The Red Team Thinking Academy, which provides comprehensive red team training and support to the U.S. and allied militaries, intelligence community and national security agencies, and the former director of the School of Advanced Military Studies, the Army’s most elite institution for training strategic thinkers. Today, he also writes for a number of professional journals and websites from Parameters and Army Magazine, to Time and POLITICO.
Welcome to another episode of The Thinking Leader podcast, brought to you by Red Team Thinking. In this episode, your host Bryce Hoffman talks to Dave Snowden about how a four-stage approach can help leaders better manage complexity and why smaller, adaptive systems initiate change to improve your position. Dave Snowden is a world-renowned expert in the field of knowledge management who is most famous for creating the Cynefin framework. He is the founder and chief scientific officer for Cognitive Edge, a consulting firm specializing in complexity and sensemaking, and is also the author of several publications, including Managing Complexity and Chaos in Times of Crisis, recently published in conjunction with the European Union. Top
10 Takeaways:
[2:38] The role of the leader in times of crisis.
[6:19] Constraints are the only thing you can manage in a complex system.
[9:20] Trioptican and the benefits of creating a human sensor network to act faster.
[12:00] The Cynefin Framework – what it is and where it comes from.
[16:15] Distinctions between Complexity and Systems Thinking leadership styles.
[20:55] The problem with big consulting companies.
[27:27] Can processes change culture?
[30:15] A complexity-based approach to design thinking.
[31:17] Bryce and Dave talk about how companies can respond to negative publicity.
[38:19] How do you get leaders to move beyond short-term thinking?
Mentioned in this episode:
Brought to you by Red Team Thinking
Managing Complexity and Chaos in Times of Crisis, by Dave Snowden
The Cynefin Centre
Cognitive Edge
Welcome to another episode of The Thinking Leader podcast, brought to you by Red Team Thinking. In this episode, your host Bryce Hoffman talks to Barry O’Reilly about the need for leaders to “unlearn” things that are no longer valid or no longer serve them and explains how major corporations have used his unlearning process to achieve greater success.
Barry is a business advisor, entrepreneur, and author of the book Unlearn: Let Go of Past Success to Achieve Extraordinary Results. He is also the co-author of the international bestseller: Lean Enterprise: How High Performance Organizations Innovate at Scale. Barry is a speaker, writer, and contributor to The Economist, Strategy+Business, and the MIT Sloan Management Review. He also is a member of the faculty at Singularity Universitythe founder of ExecCamp, the entrepreneurial experience for executives. His mission is to help purposeful, technology-led businesses innovate at scale., and in today’s episode, he shares the core of
Top 10 Takeaways:
[1:30] Barry explains the concept of unlearning.
[7:23] Capital One, a case study of successful unlearning. unlearn.
[11:45] Bryce and Barry talk about the difference between a decision-making process and a decision-making practice.
[13:50] Why so many digital transformations fail.
[16:19] Use crises as springboards for positive transformation.
[23:00] All you can do when confronted with chaos is act.
[24:15] Becoming a more agile, more resilient leader.
[25:35] Signs you need to unlearn and adapt.
[28:18] What do you do if you’re not the one in charge of an organization that needs to unlearn?
[35:30] How to start unlearning.
Mentioned in this episode:
Brought to you by Red Team Thinking
Unlearn: Let Go of Past Success to Achieve Extraordinary Results, by Bary O’Reilly
Lean Enterprise: How High Performance Organizations Innovate at Scale, Jez Humble, Joanne Molesky, and Barry O'Reilly
Read Barry’s blog
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This week, Bryce talks with Dr. Gary Klein, creator of PreMortem Analysis, a powerful tool designed to help leaders understand the ways their plans could fail so that they can ensure that they don’t. In addition to discussing the origins of PreMortem and how it is used, they talk about how humans make decisions and how leaders can make better ones – particularly in these challenging times. Gary also discusses his latest innovation, a training tool he calls ShadowBox. Dr. Gary A. Klein is a cognitive psychologist and one of the world’s leading experts on human decision making. He is the author of several books, including Sources of Power: How People Make Decisions and Seeing What Others Don’t: The Remarkable Ways We Gain Insights. Gary pioneered the naturalistic decision-making movement and is the president of ShadowBox Training.
Welcome to the inaugural episode of The Thinking Leader podcast, brought to you by Red Team Thinking. Bad leaders react, good leaders, plan, and great leaders think. In each episode, your host, Bryce Hoffman, brings you new ideas and insights from some of the greatest business and thought leaders to help you think more deeply and lead more effectively so that you can be a great leader too. In this episode, Bryce interviews legendary CEO, Alan Mullaly. They talk about leading through crises and how Alan saved not one, but two, iconic American companies: Boeing and Ford.
Alan Mullaly began his career as an Aerospace engineer at Boeing, rising to become president and CEO of that company’s commercial airplanes group in 2001. He led Boeing through its near-death experience after 9/11 and returned the company to record profitability in less than five years. A lot of people took notice of that, and one of them was Bill Ford. His company, Ford Motor Co., was on the brink of bankruptcy in 2006. Bill Ford stepped aside and turned the automaker over to Mulally. Alan went on to lead a top-to-bottom global restructuring that transformed Ford into one of the most profitable automakers in the world — and he did it in the midst of The Great Recession, while the rest of the American automobile industry collapsed around him, and he did it without taking a government bailout.
It is one of the most amazing comebacks in business history. It was also the subject of Bryce’s first book: American Icon: Alan Mulally and the Fight to Save Ford Motor Company.
Top 10 Takeaways:
[3:11] Alan offers advice for leading through the present pandemic.
[6:59] As a leader, you need to face reality, no matter how challenging it may be.
[7:31] Alan outlines his “Working Together” principles and talks about where they come from and how they work.
[12:22] When confronted with a crisis, you need to deal with the immediate challenges, but not lose sight of your long-term strategy.
[23:27] Alan talks about his heroic decision to turn down a government bailout in the midst of the Global Financial Crisis when he was CEO of Ford.
[27:19] Finding the courage to stay the course.
[30:35] Alan talks about his team-based approach to leadership.
[36:23] Alan offers advice on how to develop the emotional resiliency leaders need to guide their organizations through difficult times.
[37:45] As a leader, you need to be a coach, not a king.
[38:14] How to avoid burnout so that you can be there for your team and your company.
Mentioned in this Episode:
Brought to you by Red Team Thinking
American Icon: Alan Mulally and the Fight to Save Ford Motor Company, Bryce Hoffman
Alan Mullaly’s Working Together Principles
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Ford Motor Co.
Boeing Co.
Tweetables and Quotes:
“There is always an alternative, and it starts with really facing reality.”
“It is so important that the leader and the leadership team trusts the Working Together process, so when there is a problem we thank the organization for sharing that, we make sure that everybody is included, the vision and the strategy plan, and lastly making sure that all participants of the process are having fun and enjoying the journey.”
“We are always thinking not only about creating the products that people want and value today, but we are also thinking about the products and services people will want in the future in a rapidly-changing world.”
“Every near-term decision needs to be aligned to the long-term goals.”
“If you react as a leader, you are not thinking, you are not planning and you are not looking at the long term.”
“The same process that you used to grow the business during normal times is the one that serves more effectively when transiting a crisis you didn’t create.”