Fallacies that Affect Business Decision Making - The Red Herring

The Red Herring

The red herring is a logical sleight of hand.  A trick to divert attention from the main argument.  Red herrings might indicate that the speaker is on shaky ground.  Rather than dealing with the central issue directly, they introduce a separate argument, diverting discussion to an argument they are more likely to win.

How it works: 
I may listen respectfully to your question, but I will not answer you directly.  Instead I will steer the conversation toward safer ground (for me) by making a spurious link to a different topic.  Yes, overcrowding in our hospitals is a serious issue.  It affects older Australians in particular.  Let me tell you about the changes to mandatory superannuation that we are introducing...

Example: 
Manager: "John, your performance in this month is poor, you need to improve yourself."
John: "Sir, compare to my performance, I notice that Lily does not focus in her work recently."
John want to divert manager's attention from his poor performance to Lily.

Know more about Red Herring? Click https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=exdK7Lirngg&t=85s