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#73 Ori Brafman on the Starfish, the Spider, and Resilience

The Cognitive Crucible

Release Date: 12/07/2021

#230 Randy Rosin on Warfare is Informational; the Case for a New DoD Information Paradigm show art #230 Randy Rosin on Warfare is Informational; the Case for a New DoD Information Paradigm

The Cognitive Crucible

The Cognitive Crucible is a forum that presents different perspectives and emerging thought leadership related to the information environment. The opinions expressed by guests are their own, and do not necessarily reflect the views of or endorsement by the Information Professionals Association. During this episode, Randy Rosin returns to the Cognitive Crucible to support his assertion that warfare is informational and the US Department of Defense needs an entirely new information paradigm. Recording Date: 28 Aug 2025 Resources: Cognitive Crucible Podcast Episodes Mentioned by Norbert...

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#229 David Cook on Digital Discipline show art #229 David Cook on Digital Discipline

The Cognitive Crucible

The Cognitive Crucible is a forum that presents different perspectives and emerging thought leadership related to the information environment. The opinions expressed by guests are their own, and do not necessarily reflect the views of or endorsement by the Information Professionals Association. During this episode, David Cook discusses his recent article: . In addition to digital discipline in a national security context, David discusses cyber  and AI threats and practical mitigation practices that private sector companies and citizens should be aware of.  Recording Date: 19 Aug 2025...

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#228 Torvald Ask on the UnCODE System show art #228 Torvald Ask on the UnCODE System

The Cognitive Crucible

The Cognitive Crucible is a forum that presents different perspectives and emerging thought leadership related to the information environment. The opinions expressed by guests are their own, and do not necessarily reflect the views of or endorsement by the Information Professionals Association. During this episode, Torvald Ask discusses his 2023 co-authored paper: The UnCODE System: A Neurocentric Systems Approach for Classifying the Goals and Methods of Cognitive Warfare. The UnCODE System is an accessible and a practical tool for understanding and addressing cognitive warfare goals....

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#227 Matthew Canham on Agentic AI and the Cognitive Security Institute show art #227 Matthew Canham on Agentic AI and the Cognitive Security Institute

The Cognitive Crucible

The Cognitive Crucible is a forum that presents different perspectives and emerging thought leadership related to the information environment. The opinions expressed by guests are their own, and do not necessarily reflect the views of or endorsement by the Information Professionals Association. During this episode, Matthew Canham discusses agentic AI's potential to boost productivity by automating tasks and its anticipated influence on user interfaces, potentially creating new security vulnerabilities and opportunities for user manipulation. Matthew emphasized the importance of robust security...

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#226 James Giordano on Neurotechnology and Future Warfare show art #226 James Giordano on Neurotechnology and Future Warfare

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The Cognitive Crucible is a forum that presents different perspectives and emerging thought leadership related to the information environment. The opinions expressed by guests are their own, and do not necessarily reflect the views of or endorsement by the Information Professionals Association. During this episode, Dr. James Giordano discusses a broad range of topics related to national security from biopsychology to complexity to neurotechnology to enactivism. Recording Date: 25 Jun 2025 Research Question: James Giordano suggests an interested student or researcher examine: “How might the...

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#225 Austin Branch, Dave Pitts, and Joe Miller on Cognitive Warfare and the Gray Zone show art #225 Austin Branch, Dave Pitts, and Joe Miller on Cognitive Warfare and the Gray Zone

The Cognitive Crucible

The Cognitive Crucible is a forum that presents different perspectives and emerging thought leadership related to the information environment. The opinions expressed by guests are their own, and do not necessarily reflect the views of or endorsement by the Information Professionals Association. During this episode, Austin Branch, Dave Pitts, and Joe Miller discuss cognitive warfare, the gray zone, and intensifying great power competition. The ultimate goal is to compete by gaining and maintaining information advantage without kinetic fighting. Recording Date: 28 Apr  2025 Research...

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#224 Jake Bebber on Cognitive Warfare show art #224 Jake Bebber on Cognitive Warfare

The Cognitive Crucible

The Cognitive Crucible is a forum that presents different perspectives and emerging thought leadership related to the information environment. The opinions expressed by guests are their own, and do not necessarily reflect the views of or endorsement by the Information Professionals Association. During this episode, Jake Bebber discusses his work related to the concept, challenges, and potential responses to cognitive warfare. Jake explains how cognitive warfare uses technology to manipulate cognition and behavior, emphasizing its distinction from traditional information warfare and its...

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#223 Paul Buvarp on the Demand-side of Disinformation show art #223 Paul Buvarp on the Demand-side of Disinformation

The Cognitive Crucible

The Cognitive Crucible is a forum that presents different perspectives and emerging thought leadership related to the information environment. The opinions expressed by guests are their own, and do not necessarily reflect the views of or endorsement by the Information Professionals Association. During this episode, Paul Buvarp contrasts disinformation as a human demand-side problem with the typical supply-side perspective. Additional discussion threads include thinking about online and real-world environments as differently as forests and tropical environments are different, how young people...

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#222 JD Maddox on Emerging IO Opportunities show art #222 JD Maddox on Emerging IO Opportunities

The Cognitive Crucible

The Cognitive Crucible is a forum that presents different perspectives and emerging thought leadership related to the information environment. The opinions expressed by guests are their own, and do not necessarily reflect the views of or endorsement by the Information Professionals Association. During this episode, JD Maddox discusses new influence opportunities borne out of necessity. JD suggests that listeners consider radical-sounding concepts for, such as letters of marque, indemnification, task-based organization, public-private operations, and new authorities as viable influence pathways...

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#221 Carrick Longley on Influence Automation show art #221 Carrick Longley on Influence Automation

The Cognitive Crucible

The Cognitive Crucible is a forum that presents different perspectives and emerging thought leadership related to the information environment. The opinions expressed by guests are their own, and do not necessarily reflect the views of or endorsement by the Information Professionals Association. During this episode, Carrick Longley discusses Large Language Models (LLM) and influence. Key topics include: LLM 101 Usage and changes in prompt engineering Improving influence resonance and speed The recent DeepSeek model controversy Bias in foundational models and Software development Recording...

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The Cognitive Crucible is a forum that presents different perspectives and emerging thought leadership related to the information environment. The opinions expressed by guests are their own, and do not necessarily reflect the views of or endorsement by the Information Professionals Association.

During this episode, Ori Brafman discusses implications of the rise of decentralized organizations which is presented in his seminal book: The Starfish and the Spider. He then applies human network dynamics to leadership within organizations, like the United States Department of Defense. Our conversation also touches upon the importance of institutional trust, the military-civilian divide, human-ness, resilience, and shared values.

Link to full show notes and resources

https://information-professionals.org/episode/cognitive-crucible-episode-73

Guest Bio:

Ori Brafman’s recent bestselling book, Radical Inclusion: What the Post-9/11 World Should Have Taught Us About Leadership, co-authored with 18th Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Martin Dempsey, argues that inclusion is no longer a “nice-to-have”, but a strategic imperative in today’s rapidly changing world. His seminal work, The Starfish and the Spider: The Unstoppable Power of Leaderless Organizations, is often cited by the U.S. military and blockchain technology companies alike. Its concepts have been utilized by Amazon, Google, Netflix, Facebook, Cisco Systems, the Association for Financial Professionals, and the Family Business Network.

Born in Israel and raised in Texas, Ori specializes in cultural transformation and unique approaches to problem solving. His ideas have been applied by Amazon, Google, Netflix, Microsoft, Cisco, Intel, the Chicago Bulls, the San Francisco 49ers, Facebook, Family Business Network, and PWC. He has advised all branches of the U.S. military, the Obama White House, and the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Since 2010 U.S. Army generals have been required to complete Ori’s leadership curriculum.

Ori is a Distinguished Teaching Fellow at UC Berkeley’s Haas School of Business where he lectures on improvisational leadership and artificial intelligence. He leads an intensive strategic broadening seminar between UC Berkeley and the U.S. Army and created a first-of-its-kind partnership between the Haas School of Business and the U.S. military’s National Defense University. 

Ori’s media appearances include the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, the Washington Post, CBS, MSNBC, Bloomberg TV, Fox News, ABC News, BBC, National Public Radio, CNBC, CNN, and C-SPAN. He has presented before audiences at Fortune 500 companies, the White House, Stanford University Graduate School of Business, Harvard Business School, the Association of Financial Professionals, the Organization of Nurse Executives, NATO, YPO, and others. His published books include Radical Inclusion: What the Post-9/11 World Should Have Taught Us About Leadership; The Starfish and the Spider: The Unstoppable Power of Leaderless Organizations; Sway: The Irresistible Pull of Irrational Behavior; Click: The Forces Behind How We Fully Engage with People, Work, and Everything We Do; and The Chaos Imperative: How Chance and Disruption Increase Innovation, Effectiveness, and Success.

Ori is founder and president of Starfish Leadership and co-founder of the Fully Charged Institute, which combines Ori’s work with that of Tom Rath. The Institute focuses on leadership and well-being and helps organizations improve performance and gain competitive advantage in an era of new business models. Ori holds partnerships with Second City Works and ExecOnline to create new leadership programs for corporate audiences.

Ori holds a BA in Peace and Conflict from UC Berkeley and an MBA from Stanford Graduate School of Business.

About: The Information Professionals Association (IPA) is a non-profit organization dedicated to exploring the role of information activities, such as influence and cognitive security, within the national security sector and helping to bridge the divide between operations and research. Its goal is to increase interdisciplinary collaboration between scholars and practitioners and policymakers with an interest in this domain.

For more information, please contact us at [email protected].

Or, connect directly with The Cognitive Crucible podcast host, John Bicknell, on LinkedIn.

Disclosure: As an Amazon Associate, 1) IPA earns from qualifying purchases, 2) IPA gets commissions for purchases made through links in this post.