Page 329 - Ray Dalio - Principles

race), it is much harder in a creative environment (where
different points of view about what’s best have to be resolved).
If they’re not, the process of sorting through disagreements and
knowing who has the authority to decide quickly becomes

chaotic. Sometimes people get angry or stuck; a conversation
can easily wind up with two or more people spinning
unproductively and unable to reach agreement on what to do.

For these reasons, specific processes and procedures must
be followed. Every party to the discussion must understand
who has what rights and which procedures should be followed
to move toward resolution. (We’ve also developed tools for

helping do this, which you can review at the end of this book.)
And everyone must understand the most fundamental principle
for getting in sync, which is that people must be open-minded
and assertive at the same time. Thoughtful disagreement is not
a battle; its goal is not to convince the other party that he or she
is wrong and you are right, but to find out what is true and what
to do about it. It must also be nonhierarchical, because in an
idea meritocracy communication doesn’t just flow
unquestioned from the top down. Criticisms must also come

from the bottom up.

For example, this email was sent to me by someone who
worked for me after a meeting with clients. All the senior
people at Bridgewater, including me, are routinely criticized
and judged by our subordinates.

From: Jim H

To: Ray; Lionel K; Greg J; Randal S; David A

Subject: Feedback on ABC Meeting . . .

Ray- you deserve a “D-” for your performance today in the
ABC meeting and everyone that was in the room that saw

you agrees on that harsh assessment (give or take half a
grade). This was especially disappointing for two reasons:
1) You have been great in previous meetings where the
subject matter to be covered was the same, and 2) We held
a specific planning meeting yesterday to ask you to focus
tightly on culture and portfolio structuring because we had

only 2 hours to have you cover those two topics, me cover
the investment process, have Greg do the observatory and