Page 321 - Ray Dalio - Principles

3 Create a Culture in

Which It Is Okay to

Make Mistakes and

Unacceptable Not to

Learn from Them

Everyone makes mistakes. The main difference is that

successful people learn from them and unsuccessful people
don’t. By creating an environment in which it is okay to safely
make mistakes so that people can learn from them, you’ll see
rapid progress and fewer significant mistakes. This is
especially true in organizations where creativity and

independent thinking are important, as success will inevitably
require the acceptance of failure as a part of the process. As
Thomas Edison once said, “I have not failed. I’ve just found
ten thousand ways that do not work.”

Mistakes will cause you pain, but you shouldn’t try to
shield yourself or others from it. Pain is a message that

something is wrong and it’s an effective teacher that one
shouldn’t do that wrong thing again. To deal with your own
and others’ weaknesses well you must acknowledge them
frankly and openly and work to find ways of preventing them
from hurting you in the future. It’s at this point that many
people say, “No thanks, this isn’t for me—I’d rather not have
to deal with these things.” But this is against your and your
organization’s best interests—and will keep you from

achieving your goals. It seems to me that if you look back on
yourself a year ago and aren’t shocked by how stupid you