Dalio Ray. Principles: Life and Work

Simon & Schuster, 2017. — 592 p. — ISBN10: 1501124021; ISBN13: 978-1501124020.Ray Dalio, one of the world s most successful investors and entrepreneurs, shares the unconventional principles that he s developed, refined, and used over the past forty years to create unique results in both life and business and which any person or organization can adopt to help achieve their goals.
In 1975, Ray Dalio founded an investment firm, Bridgewater Associates, out of his two-bedroom apartment in New York City. Forty years later, Bridgewater has made more money for its clients than any other hedge fund in history and grown into the fifth most important private company in the United States, according to Fortune magazine. Dalio himself has been named to Time magazine s list of the 100 most influential people in the world. Along the way, Dalio discovered a set of unique principles that have led to Bridgewater s exceptionally effective culture, which he describes as an idea meritocracy that strives to achieve meaningful work and meaningful relationships through radical transparency. It is these principles, and not anything special about Dalio who grew up an ordinary kid in a middle-class Long Island neighborhood that he believes are the reason behind his success.
In Principles, Dalio shares what he s learned over the course of his remarkable career. He argues that life, management, economics, and investing can all be systemized into rules and understood like machines. The book s hundreds of practical lessons, which are built around his cornerstones of radical truth and radical transparency, include Dalio laying out the most effective ways for individuals and organizations to make decisions, approach challenges, and build strong teams. He also describes the innovative tools the firm uses to bring an idea meritocracy to life, such as creating baseball cards for all employees that distill their strengths and weaknesses, and employing computerized decision-making systems to make believability-weighted decisions. While the book brims with novel ideas for organizations and institutions, Principles also offers a clear, straightforward approach to decision-making that Dalio believes anyone can apply, no matter what they re seeking to achieve.
Here, from a man who has been called both the Steve Jobs of investing and the philosopher king of the financial universe (CIO magazine), is a rare opportunity to gain proven advice unlike anything you ll find in the conventional business press.
About the Author
Ray Dalio is the founder and co-chairman of Bridgewater Associates, which, over the last forty years, has become the largest and best performing hedge fund in the world. Dalio has appeared on the Time 100 list of the most influential people in the world as well as the Bloomberg Markets list of the 50 most influential people. He lives with his family in Connecticut.
Where I’m Coming From
My Call to Adventure: 1949–1967
Crossing the Threshold: 1967–1979
My Abyss: 1979–1982
My Road of Trials: 1983–1994
The Ultimate Boon: 1995–2010
Returning the Boon: 2011–2015
My Last Year and My Greatest Challenge: 2016–2017
Looking Back from a Higher Level
Life Principles
Embrace Reality and Deal with It
Use the 5-Step Process to Get What You Want Out of Life
Be Radically Open-Minded
Understand That People Are Wired Very Differently
Learn How to Make Decisions Effectively
Life Principles: Putting It All Together
Summary and Table of Life Principles
Work Principles
Summary and Table of Work Principles
To get the culture right...
Trust in Radical Truth and Radical Transparency
Cultivate Meaningful Work and Meaningful Relationships
Create a Culture in Which It Is Okay to Make Mistakes and Unacceptable Not to Learn from Them
Get and Stay in Sync
Believability Weight Your Decision Making
Recognize How to Get Beyond Disagreements
To get the people right...
Remember That the Who is More Important than the What
Hire Right, Because the Penalties for Hiring Wrong Are Huge
Constantly Train, Test, Evaluate, and Sort People
To build and evolve your machine...
Manage as Someone Operating a Machine to Achieve a Goal
Perceive and Don’t Tolerate Problems
Diagnose Problems to Get at Their Root Causes
Design Improvements to Your Machine to Get Around Your Problems
Do What You Set Out to Do
Use Tools and Protocols to Shape How Work Is Done
And for Heaven’s Sake, Don’t Overlook Governance!
Work Principles: Putting It All TogetherAbout the authorAppendix: Tools and Protocols for Bridgewater’s Idea Meritocracy