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
Be extremely open.
Discuss your issues until you are in sync with each other or until you understand each other's positions and can determine what should be done. As someone I worked with once explained, "It's simple--just don't filter."
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What about people who take you for granted and exploit their chances of expressing their opinions, suggestions or ideas just to derail the organizer from their goals? How should I deal with this situation while being extremely open?
Having a radically open culture allows one to deal with virtually all problems forthrightly because it’s easy to see just about everything (so little is hidden and people can judge people’s barebones for themselves) and people can just say something (i.e. someone’s bad behavior) is a problem and explore it in an idea-meritocratic way whether it’s a problem. The problems of bad behavior are much more likely to happen in environments that are not so open so that people can do bad things in the dark and they can’t call out bad behaviors.
I have learned that without speaking openly we never have an opportunity to refine, improve or challenge our thinking.
Wonderful! I hope that you will share the power of that approach with others and let them ask questions about it so they can see how it really works.
I've been using your app and would be nice to have a web version.
I will pass this along to the tech folks to see how they can change things to help you. Thanks for the critical feedback!
I find being too open occasionally causes friction both professionally and personally, so how can I navigate being extremely open and add greater value and be purposeful in work and life?
You should have a discussion with others about how you want to be with each other – e.g. forthright or not forthright. Then, if you get what you want, stay, and if you dont, move on. The most important thing in getting what you want is to not settle for less than you want. Remember that a successful life = dreams + embracing reality + determination. Remember that pain + reflection = progress. Be thrilled by your achievements so that you’re willing to struggle well to get them. Use the 5-Step Process knowing that you don’t have to do all of those 5 steps well if you find others who can do well what you’re weak at. Remember “evolve or die”, and do it fast.
How would you handle a group dynamic where openness is discouraged primarily because of the time it takes to hash out issues in a group setting?
That sounds like the classic tragedy of not spending enough time talking about how people should be with each other in order to save the time to get things done and then having everything fall apart because the people aren’t dealing with each other well. I will give you my most used principle to handle all disagreements. (Include the one that explains that one should go above the disagreement alto agree on the protocol for disagreeing and resolving disagreements and then go back into the disagreement and do those things — let me see it first to make sure you got the right one).
If the leadership does not share, or has not created an environment to be able to express, then the openness cannot happen and sharing is stifled. The leadership has to set the tone or be open to growth in their own when receiving feedback from the rest of the team.
If the leadership doesn’t change the environment to your liking, move on. You shouldn’t be stuck in a bad job any more than you should be stuck in a bad marriage. It’s up to you to make the change.
Work Principle
Any person or organization can adopt Principles to better achieve their goals.
Learn what Principles are and how they are applied at Principles.com
