Principles

Life and Work

By: Ray Dalio

Narrated by: Ray Dalio, Jeremy Bobb

An Avid Reader Press book. Simon & Schuster has a great book for every reader.

In 1975, Ray Dalio founded an investment firm, Bridgewater Associates, out of his two-bedroom apartment in New York City. Forty years later, Bridgewater has made more money for its clients than any other hedge fund in history and grown into the fifth most important private company in the United States, according to Fortune magazine. Dalio himself has been named to Time magazine’s list of the 100 most influential people in the world. Along the way, Dalio discovered a set of unique principles that have led to Bridgewater’s exceptionally effective culture, which he describes as “an idea meritocracy that strives to achieve meaningful work and meaningful relationships through radical transparency.” It is these principles, and not anything special about Dalio—who grew up an ordinary kid in a middle-class Long Island neighborhood—that he believes are the reason behind his success.

In Principles, Dalio shares what he’s learned over the course of his remarkable career. He argues that life, management, economics, and investing can all be systemized into rules and understood like machines. The book’s hundreds of practical lessons, which are built around his cornerstones of “radical truth” and “radical transparency,” include Dalio laying out the most effective ways for individuals and organizations to make decisions, approach challenges, and build strong teams. He also describes the innovative tools the firm uses to bring an idea meritocracy to life, such as creating “baseball cards” for all employees that distill their strengths and weaknesses, and employing computerized decision-making systems to make believability-weighted decisions. While the book brims with novel ideas for organizations and institutions, Principles also offers a clear, straightforward approach to decision-making that Dalio believes anyone can apply, no matter what they’re seeking to achieve.

Here, from a man who has been called both “the Steve Jobs of investing” and “the philosopher king of the financial universe” (CIO magazine), is a rare opportunity to gain proven advice unlike anything you’ll find in the conventional business press.

Critic reviews

“Ray Dalio has provided me with invaluable guidance and insights that are now available to you in Principles.”
—Bill Gates

“I absolutely loved this book. It’s beautifully written and filled with such wisdom.”
—Arianna Huffington

“I found it to be truly extraordinary. Every page is full of so many principles of distinction and insights—and I love how Ray incorporates his history and his life in such an elegant way.”
—Tony Robbins

“Ray Dalio’s market acumen is legendary, but it was creating and living by a set of principles that allowed him to reach the top. Everyone with goals and dreams can learn from Ray’s approach.”
—Michael Bloomberg

“It’s important and instructive to share what you’ve learned in life with others, and Ray does this in an interesting and provocative way in this compelling work.”
—Jamie Dimon

“Among a handful of philosopher-investors known not only for moneymaking prowess but also for their distinctive take on life.”
—The Wall Street Journal

“What makes Dalio compelling is not just his track record but the way he goes about making money, and the rigorous analysis he applies to understanding markets, organizations, the economy, and life.”
—Fortune

phenomenally replete with wisdom

if you're building a business or hold a management role in one or even if you're looking to improve your day-to-day life, I bet this book will serve you well.

Very Very Detailed.

I listened to this book on the recommendation of the Adam Grant nook list. It is insightful into Ray Dalio and his success. the principles are useful in nearly every company and mission critical in Bridgewater's industry. The book is long and quite dry, thus a tough listen and felt it dove too deep into topics that were just a shade different from the one before. Great to hear the success story and wonderful to hear Ray reach a stage in his life to give to others.

Very good! Listen twice and take notes.

Recommend to listen through it more than once. Imagine if you hired someone to do research for you on how to create, run and maintain an organisation and to do it most productive and efficient way. Then let that person study the subject for 40 years and at the end of 40 years present you with compressive research paper. And you, being the benevolent employer, pay that person 20$ for all his troubles.

That's pretty much how i felt while listening to this audio book.

The principles were clear, well researched and neatly organized.

I, being a person that studies the Bible, was a bit set back by the heavy emphasis on how well the 'evolution' handles things, but soon was pleasantly surprised that the behavioural principles laid out in this book very closely mimic the ones stated in the Bible. Ray sorta went backwards on the Bible without realising it. Instead of taking the principles from the Bible and applying them, he by trial and error distiled what works in life and what doesn't and ended up with what principles are true and real. And it were the ones recorded in the Bible. I'd say it merits both books.

Strongly recommend this book.

Eat your broccoli. Listen to this audiobook.

Ray Dalio has it all. The money and the wisdom. The important takeaway from this book is that we ought to follow (not blindly) to these time-tested principles.

Masterpiece

The first part is stellar, towards the end it gets very technical and is almost only relevant to managers of large organizations, had to slog through that part a bit... but the content is extremely meaningful throughout