Page 392 - Ray Dalio - Principles

wrong thing to do. This is a hard decision. You need to understand deeply what the person in this
situation is like and weigh the costs carefully before deciding.

9.10 Remember that the goal of a transfer is the best, highest
use of the person in a way that benefits the community as
a whole.

Both affected managers should be in sync that the new role is the best, highest use or escalate up the
chain to make a determination. The manager wanting to recruit the person is responsible for not
causing a disruption. An informal conversation to see if someone is interested is fine, but there
should be no active recruiting prior to getting in sync with the existing manager. The timing of the
move should be decided by the existing manager in consultation with relevant parties.
a. Have people “complete their swings” before moving on to new roles. There should always be follow-through,
not interruption, unless a pressing reason exists (when, say, a person would be a great click for
another job that needs to be filled immediately). In a company where things are evolving quickly
and people are expected to speak openly, it is natural that there will be a steady stream of
opportunities for employees to move into new roles. But if too many people jump from one job to
another without fulfilling their responsibilities, the resulting discontinuity, disorder, and instability
will be bad for managers, bad for the culture, and bad for the people moving, because they won’t be
adequately tested in their ability to move things to completion. As a guideline, a year in a job is
sufficient before having conversations about a new role, although this isn’t black and white—the
range could easily vary depending on the circumstances.

9.11 Don’t lower the bar.

You reach a point in all relationships when you must decide whether you are meant for each other—
that’s common in private life and at any organization that holds very high standards. At
Bridgewater, we know that we cannot compromise on the fundamentals of our culture, so if a person
cannot operate within our requirements of excellence through radical truth and transparency in an
acceptable time frame, he or she must leave.

Tough love is both the hardest and the
most important type of love to give.