The Purple Team: How Strategic Thinkers Move the Pieces Others Don’t See.
By Purple Team Member, Nicolin Decker. Strategic Integration and the Purple Thinker Most professionals working in threat environments understand the Red Team–Blue Team dynamic. Red Teams simulate adversaries — probing systems, modeling hostile behavior, and revealing vulnerabilities. Blue Teams defend — monitoring operations, reacting to threats, and protecting core functions. What if the most critical role isn’t the attack — or the defense? What if it’s the mind orchestrating both? That’s where the Purple Team comes in. History records the Red and the Blue. But it often forgets the ones who guide the game. When a Purple Team member acts, it is for a reason — often to keep history on track when the world can’t hear over the noise. Purple Team thinkers do not pick sides — they orchestrate systems. They ensure every simulated breach results in operational growth. They unify chaos into clarity. And more than anything, they accelerate evolution acr...