Philosophically, our approach is akin to the “devil’s advocate” that the Catholic church used for centuries to safeguard canonization, by which the church declared someone to be a saint. In the Middle Ages, the church began appointing a person to gather all possible evidence that would challenge the idea that someone should be canonized. While the name “devil’s advocate” is a bit challenging, two things should be noted. First, the formal name of the office was promotor fidel, or “promoter of the faith.” In other words, the idea was to build the church, not to be punitive. Second, the office was effective. Since Pope John Paul II abolished the office in the early 1980s, the rate of canonization has increased by a factor of more than 20, amid reports that church officials have ignored compelling, unflattering evidence.

Our approach is built around constructive, independent reviews, like the Catholic church’s devil’s advocate process. Here are some excerpts from the audio edition of Billion-Dollar Lessons describing how the devil’s advocate process can be applied to business: