Page 377 - Ray Dalio - Principles

produce success, yet everyone must

excel.

Teams should operate like those in professional sports, where

different skills are required to play different positions. Excellence
in each is mandatory, the success of the mission is
uncompromisable, and members that don’t measure up may need
to be cut. When teams operate with such high standards and
shared values, extraordinary relationships are likely to develop.

8.4 Pay attention to people’s track

records.

People’s personalities are pretty well formed before they come to
you, and they’ve been leaving their fingerprints all over the place
since childhood; anyone is fairly knowable if you do your
homework. You have to get at their values, abilities, and skills: Do

they have a track record of excellence in what you’re expecting
them to do? Have they done the thing you want them to do
successfully at least three times? If not, you’re making a lower-
probability bet, so you want to have really good reasons for doing
so. That doesn’t mean you should never allow yourself or others
to do anything new; of course you should. But do it with
appropriate caution and with guardrails. That is, have an
experienced person oversee the inexperienced person, yourself
included (if you fit that description).

a. Check references. Don’t rely exclusively on the candidate for
information about their track record: Talk to believable people
who know them, look for documented evidence, and ask for past
reviews from their bosses, subordinates, and peers. As much as
possible, you want to get a clear and objective picture of the path
that they have chosen for themselves and how they have evolved
along the way. I’ve seen plenty of people who claimed to be
successful elsewhere operate ineffectively at Bridgewater. A
closer look often revealed that they were either not as successful
as they portrayed themselves or they got credit for others’
accomplishments.