Glossary
Red-team report
A red-team report sets out the strongest arguments against a strategy and the conditions under which it fails; every strategy1 plan ships with one.
Glossary · Strategy term
Red teaming in strategy
A plain definition, why it matters, how strategy1 uses it, and answers to the questions people ask most.
Definition
What is red teaming in strategy?
Red teaming in strategy is the practice of having a separate team argue against a plan as a competitor, a regulator, an investor or a customer would, to find how it could fail before it is adopted. It borrows from military and security practice and ends in a written case against the plan.
Also called: strategic red teaming, red team strategy.
Explained in full on The Agent Mesh: the red team.
Context
Why it matters
Teams that build a plan tend to see its strengths and miss its weak points. A structured challenge surfaces blind spots, tests assumptions and gives decision-makers the strongest counter-case while there is still time to change course.
In practice
How strategy1 uses it
At strategy1, red teaming is built into every engagement. Four critics, competitor, regulator, investor and customer, argue against every option before it reaches the Strategy Council, two judges check the result, and every plan ships with a red-team report setting out the conditions under which it fails.
FAQ
Red teaming in strategy: common questions
How is red teaming different from a risk register?
A risk register lists known risks and their owners. Red teaming actively argues against a plan to find risks no one has listed, often by taking the role of a rival, a regulator, an investor or a customer. Its findings can then feed the risk register.
Who should be on a strategy red team?
People, or AI agents, who did not build the plan and are asked to take an opposing view. A good strategy red team covers the outside parties a plan depends on: competitors, regulators, investors and customers.
Can AI be used to red-team a business plan?
Yes. AI agents can argue a plan from several opposing views quickly and consistently. At strategy1 the red-team agent's guardrail is that a “how this fails” section is required, and people review the result before any decision.
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