Principles, Life & Work

This book taught me some very important key ideas, though I have mixed feelings on its presentation since much of the less prominent ideas fall under the umbrella of obvious to say, hard to do. Dalio introduces himself in an autobiography at the beginning, and it’s written very openly which gave me a much better context from my little background knowledge on Bridgewater. The book then delves into the life principles, which I found to be often obvious but Dalio’s reemphasis of the important points really drive them into your mind. Then come work principles, which outlined more specific applications of the ideas introduced earlier as well as some ways that Bridgewater executes on these ideas. I recommend this book if you want to learn about the unique culture of Bridgewater, and are willing to put to disciplined practice the most important principles that you find.

The most important point in the book is Dalio’s religious devotion to seeking truth, and that has led to some very central ideas to his life such as the idea of radical transparency and using meritocratic rationality in settling issues. I had preconceived notions of hedge fund managers as being in-the-moment and reckless, but Dalio is just the opposite in only involving himself and his investments in areas he is familiar with, putting his ideas under rigorous objective and subjective scrutiny from the top of the C-suite to the freshest interns. In addition, his emphasis on complete honesty comes directly from rigorously pursuing truth, though I have doubts how much this honesty scales with the organization though I’m sure that it is beneficial to smaller groups.