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
Teach your people to fish rather than give them fish, even if that means letting them make some mistakes.
Sometimes you need to stand by and let someone make a mistake (provided it's not too serious) so they can learn. It's a bad sign if you are constantly telling people what they should do; micromanagement typically reflects inability on the part of the person being managed. It's also not a good thing for you as a manager. Instead of micromanaging, you should be training and testing. Give people your thoughts on how they might approach their decisions, but don't dictate to them. The most useful thing you can do is to get in sync with them, exploring how they are doing things and why.
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.
- Teach your people to fish rather than give them fish, even if that means letting them make some mistakes.
- Understand that you and the people you manage will go through a process of personal evolution.
Any person or organization can adopt Principles to better achieve their goals.
Learn what Principles are and how they are applied at Principles.com
