Principles are ways of successfully dealing with reality to get what you want out of life.
Ray Dalio, one of the world’s most successful investors and entrepreneurs, cites principles as his key to success.
In 1975, Ray Dalio founded Bridgewater Associates, out of his two-bedroom apartment in New York City. Over forty years later, Bridgewater has grown into the largest hedge fund in the world and the fifth most important private company in the United States (according to Fortune magazine), and Dalio himself has been named to TIME’s list of the 100 most influential people in the world. Along the way Dalio discovered unique principles that have led to his and Bridgewater’s unique success. It is these principles, and not anything special about Dalio, that he believes are the reason behind whatever success he has had. He is now at a stage in his life that he wants to pass these principles along to others for them to judge for themselves and to do whatever they want with them.
Work Principle
Understand that you and the people you manage will go through a process of personal evolution.
No one is exempt from this process. Having it go well depends on people's abilities to make frank assessments of strengths and weaknesses (most importantly weaknesses). While it's generally as difficult for managers to give this feedback as it is for their subordinates to hear it, in the long run it makes people happier and the organization more successful.
Work Principle
- Constantly Train, Test, Evaluate, and Sort People
Understand that you and the people you manage will go through a process of personal evolution.
- Recognize that personal evolution should be relatively rapid and a natural consequence of discovering one's strengths and weaknesses; as a result, career paths are not planned at the outset.
- Understand that training guides the process of personal evolution.
- Teach your people to fish rather than give them fish, even if that means letting them make some mistakes.
- Recognize that experience creates internalized learning that book learning can't replace.
Any person or organization can adopt Principles to better achieve their goals.
Learn what Principles are and how they are applied at Principles.com
