Ray Dalio explains in this book the principles he has used to get to where he is today. It discusses not just individual principles that we live by, but also principles that which organisations can follow, establishing structures to guide their path to success. While insightful, is it worth a read?
Content: Ray starts off by explaining his background and the early stages of Bridgewater Associates, the company he founded decades ago. He described the principles which he lived by (life principles) and how he incorporated them into his company (work principles). Finally, he ended with the governance and structures in place that can help individuals and companies stick to these principles to allow for continued growth and development.
Estimated reading time needed: 10-12h, including time for reflection.
Key takeaways:
1) Be radically open-minded and learn your ego and blind spot barriers: Our defence mechanisms make it hard for us to accept that we are wrong at times, but we need to put our egos down and learn. The key takeaway for me is that we should learn from whoever is the expert, even if that person is a junior. The most important thing is to get the right answer rather than to be right.
2) Creating a culture in which it is ok to make mistakes and unacceptable not to learn from them: More applicable to organisations - a culture in which it is unacceptable to make mistakes will naturally find that mistakes are swept under the rug as nobody wants to get into trouble. This means that not only are mistakes not resolved, but the same mistake may be made again if there is no education provided. I think a "fail fast, learn fast" culture may be the quickest way to develop and grow as individuals and organisations.
Recommendation: While Ray provides some useful insights, I would recommend reading this book with an open and critical mind. Firstly, the book itself could have been much shorter if not for the repetitions and unnecessary explanations/examples, which made it less enjoyable to read - filter out only the necessary stuff. Secondly, Ray's principles worked for him and are good for us to consider. However, these are meant to be a guide rather than the whole truth, as there are other principles out there that we can follow/create. Thirdly, remember that Ray is the founder of his firm and thus several of his points come from that perspective. Not all may apply to non-founders.
That being said, I also do agree with many of his points. Ray spoke about creating an open culture where mistakes are called out, individuals are educated, and people challenge each other (for the purpose of getting the right answer). As someone who also has blind spots, I always appreciate feedback, especially from my superiors at work.
Overall, the points in this book are generic and not life-changing. They are real lessons that he has learned over the years of building his company. The book is more like a reminder for me, so 10-12h is a bit too long. Not a bad book, but also not great.
