Page 103 - Ray Dalio - Principles

Since different people produce different outcomes based on
differences in what they are like, whenever we create a team
we seek to “engineer” the right mix of attributes and people to

achieve our goals. So we looked at my attributes relative to
others to see what was missing, which we called the “Ray
gap.” To be clear, we were looking at the “Ray gap” because I
was the one leaving—had Bob, David, or Greg been the ones
stepping back, we would have been studying the gaps they
left.

Greg and David created a log of my various responsibilities

and the differences between the qualities they and I brought to
handling them. Everyone agreed the gap was in what we called
“shaping.”

To visualize what I mean by “shaping” and “shapers,” think
of Steve Jobs, who was probably the greatest and most iconic
shaper of our time, as measured by the size and success of his
shaping. A shaper is someone who comes up with unique and

valuable visions and builds them out beautifully, typically over
the doubts and opposition of others. Jobs built the world’s
largest and most successful company by revolutionizing
computing, music, communications, animation, and
photography with beautifully designed products. Elon Musk
(of Tesla, SpaceX, and SolarCity), Jeff Bezos (of Amazon),
and Reed Hastings (of Netflix) are other great shapers from

the business world. In philanthropy, Muhammad Yunus (of
Grameen), Geoffrey Canada (of Harlem Children’s Zone), and
Wendy Kopp (of Teach for America) come to mind; and in
government, Winston Churchill, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.,
Lee Kuan Yew, and Deng Xiaoping. Bill Gates has been a

shaper in both business and philanthropy, as was Andrew
Carnegie. Mike Bloomberg has been a shaper in business,
philanthropy, and government. Einstein, Freud, Darwin, and
Newton were giant shapers in the sciences. Christ,
Muhammad, and the Buddha were religious shapers. They all
had original visions and successfully built them out.

While these are the biggest shapers, I saw that shapers

come in varying sizes. You probably know a few personally.
They might be your local business, nonprofit, or community
leaders—the people who drive change and build lasting