Page 332 - Ray Dalio - Principles

It is essential to know where the ultimate decision-making
authority lies—i.e., how far the power of the argument will
carry relative to the power of the assigned authority. While
arguing and especially after a decision is rendered, everyone in

the idea meritocracy must remain calm and respectful of the
process. It is never acceptable to get upset if the idea
meritocracy doesn’t produce the decision that you personally
wanted.

a. Surface areas of possible out-of-syncness. If you and others don’t raise
your perspectives, there’s no way you will resolve your
disputes. You can surface the areas of disagreement informally

or put them on a list to go over. I personally like to do both,
though I encourage people to list their disagreements in order
of priority so I/we can more easily direct them to the right party
at the right time.

The nubbiest questions (the ones that there is the greatest
disagreement about) are the most important ones to thrash out,
as they often concern differences in people’s values or their
approaches to important decisions. It’s especially important to

bring these issues to the surface and examine their premises
thoroughly and unemotionally. If you don’t, they will fester and
cause rot.

b. Distinguish between idle complaints and complaints meant to lead to
improvement. Many complaints either fail to take into account the
full picture or reflect a closed-minded point of view. They are
what I call “chirping,” and are generally best ignored. But
constructive complaints may lead to important discoveries.

c. Remember that every story has another side. Wisdom is the ability to
see both sides and weigh them appropriately.

4.3 Be open-minded and assertive at

the same time.

Being effective at thoughtful disagreement requires one to be
open-minded (seeing things through the other’s eyes) and
assertive (communicating clearly how things look through your