Spy's
Guide
Thinking
Taking Risks
Strategy
DADA

When you're a spy, your life depends on tools that work.

The Spy's Guide series has mental tools that work. They're useful under pressure. They bring focus. They remind us what sets us apart: We think.

Try The Operative

Endgames are all around you.

The Operative is an AI built on Braddock's CIA frameworks. Bring it your negotiation, your career decision, your strategic problem. It applies the Spy's Guide thinking tools to your specific situation.

Start your 7-day free trial
Negotiation
My business partner wants to renegotiate our equity split. He says he's been doing more work. How do I think about this?
Career
I've been offered a promotion that moves me away from the work I'm good at. My boss says it's the only path up. What's the game here?
Conflict
A competitor is spreading false information about our product. We can fight back publicly or ignore it. What's the right move?
The Books

The Spy's Guide Series

Nonfiction

A Spy's Guide to Thinking

The first (short) book. A CIA case officer's mental tools — the DADA chain, game types, and the thinking process that works under pressure.

Nonfiction

A Spy's Guide to Strategy

Endgames, zero-sum and positive-sum games, and how to reason backward from where you want to be. Read the opening.

Nonfiction

A Spy's Guide to Taking Risks

How to evaluate risk, manage uncertainty, and make decisions when the stakes are high. Read the opening.

Fiction

The 24th Name

A novella that applies the lessons of the Spy's Guide series. Lots of surprises. Read Chapter One.

Blog

Spy's Guide Blog

Fifty Years Without An Endgame The Risk Of Being A Company Founder vs. The Risk Of Being A Venture Capitalist Three Ways To Be Rich Hoping For A Plan Looking For Risks A Spy's Guide To Spy Movies: Ronin Chapter Two of The 24th Name, Part II How To Become An Expert On Experts The Dominant Game Of Baseball What Does It Take To Make Great Things? Wondering What Went Wrong
About

John Braddock

John Braddock was a case officer at the CIA. He developed, recruited and handled sources on weapons proliferation, counter-terrorism and political-military issues.

A former university research fellow, he is now a strategy consultant. He helps people and organizations think more effectively about their strategy, their customers and the competition.

Contact

To contact Mr. Braddock, email: spysguide@gmail.com