Page 328 - Ray Dalio - Principles

4 Get and Stay in Sync

Remember that for an organization to be effective, the people

who make it up must be aligned on many levels—from what
their shared mission is, to how they will treat each other, to a
more practical picture of who will do what when to achieve
their goals. Yet alignment can never be taken for granted
because people are wired so differently. We all see ourselves
and the world in our own unique ways, so deciding what’s true
and what to do about it takes constant work.

Alignment is especially important in an idea meritocracy, so

at Bridgewater we try to attain alignment consciously,
continually, and systematically. We call this process of finding
alignment “getting in sync,” and there are two primary ways it
can go wrong: cases resulting from simple misunderstandings
and those stemming from fundamental disagreements. Getting
in sync is the process of open-mindedly and assertively
rectifying both types.

Many people mistakenly believe that papering over

differences is the easiest way to keep the peace. They couldn’t
be more wrong. By avoiding conflicts one avoids resolving
differences. People who suppress minor conflicts tend to have
much bigger conflicts later on, which can lead to separation,
while people who address their mini-conflicts head on tend to
have the best and the longest-lasting relationships. Thoughtful
disagreement—the process of having a quality back-and-forth

in an open-minded and assertive way so as to see things
through each other’s eyes—is powerful, because it helps both
parties see things they’ve been blind to. But it’s not easy. While
it is straightforward to have a meritocracy in activities in which
there is clarity of relative abilities (because the results speak for
themselves such as in sports, where the fastest runner wins the