Page 272 - Ray Dalio - Principles

I don’t mean that they must be aligned on everything, but I do mean
that they have to be aligned on the most important things, like the
mission they’re on and how they will be with each other.

If people in an organization feel that alignment, they will treasure
their relationships and work together harmoniously; its culture will
permeate everything they do. If they don’t, they will work for
different, often conflicting, goals and will be confused about how
they should be with each other. For that reason, it pays for all
organizations—companies, governments, foundations, schools,
hospitals, and so on—to spell out their principles and values clearly
and explicitly and to operate by them consistently.
Those principles and values aren’t vague slogans, like “the
customer always comes first” or “we should strive to be the best in
our industry,” but a set of concrete directives anyone can understand,
get aligned on, and carry out. As we shift our attention from Life
Principles to Work Principles, I will explain how we went about
achieving these alignments at Bridgewater and how that affected our
results. But first, I want to explain how I think about organizations.