Page 301 - Ray Dalio - Principles

come to our Christmas and Fourth of July parties and remain a
part of our extended family. Today, we have an award-winning
back office because of the innovative things this change

allowed us to do. Most importantly, since we were operating
openly even while we hadn’t figured things out, the back
office team had their confidence in our truthfulness and
consideration for them reinforced, and they returned it in kind.

For me, not telling people what’s really going on so as to
protect them from the worries of life is like letting your kids
grow into adulthood believing in the Tooth Fairy or Santa

Claus. While concealing the truth might make people happier
in the short run, it won’t make them smarter or more trusting
in the long run. It’s a real asset that people know they can trust
what we say. For that reason I believe that it’s almost always
better to shoot straight, even when you don’t have all the
answers or when there’s bad news to convey. As Winston
Churchill said, “There is no worse course in leadership than to

hold out false hopes soon to be swept away.” People need to
face harsh and uncertain realities if they are going to learn how
to deal with them—and you’ll learn a lot about the people
around you by seeing how well they do.

1.1 Realize that you have nothing to

fear from knowing the truth.

If you’re like most people, the idea of facing the unvarnished
truth makes you anxious. To get over that, you need to

understand intellectually why untruths are scarier than truths
and then, through practice, get accustomed to living with
them.

If you’re sick, it’s natural to fear your doctor’s diagnosis—
what if it’s cancer or some other deadly disease? As scary as
the truth may turn out to be, you will be better off knowing it

in the long run because it will allow you to seek the most
appropriate treatment. The same holds for learning painful
truths about your own strengths and weaknesses. Knowing and
acting on the truth is what we call the “big deal” at