Endgame Reasoning is a strategic thinking method where you identify what each side wants the situation to look like when it's over, then reason backward from that end state to determine what moves make sense now. Instead of asking 'what should I do next?' you ask 'what does each side want this to look like when it's done?'
Every strategic situation has an endgame — the desired end state. The Endgame has three elements: people, place, and things.
You identify the endgame first, then reason backward step by step to your current position. This reveals what moves are logical and what moves are noise.
Most people think forward: 'What should I do next?' Endgame reasoning inverts this. You think backward: 'Where does each side want to end up?' Once you know the Endgame, the moves become obvious.
This works on negotiations, geopolitics, career decisions, competitive strategy — any situation where multiple sides have different objectives.
In A Spy's Guide to Strategy, Braddock describes an airport security incident. His shoes test positive for explosives. Security converges. His endgame: get on the plane without revealing he's CIA. He reasons backward from that endgame — what story is plausible? What explanation lets him board without triggering a deeper investigation? He builds the backward chain from the desired end state to his current position, then executes forward.
The power of the method is that it eliminates irrelevant options. Once you know the endgame, most possible actions fall away. You're left with the moves that actually lead where you need to go.