Page 403 - Ray Dalio - Principles

10.9 Don’t treat everyone the same—treat them appropriately.

It’s often said that it is neither fair nor appropriate to treat people differently. But in order to treat
people appropriately you must treat them differently. That is because people and their circumstances
are different. If you were a tailor you wouldn’t give all of your customers the same size suit.
It is, however, important to treat people according to the same set of rules. That’s why I’ve tried
to flesh out Bridgewater’s principles in enough depth that differences are accounted for. For
example, if someone has worked at Bridgewater for many years, that factors into how they are
treated. Likewise, while I find all dishonesty intolerable, I don’t treat all acts of dishonesty and all
people who are dishonest the same.
a. Don’t let yourself get squeezed. Plenty of people have threatened me over the years by saying they’d
quit, bring a lawsuit, embarrass me in the press—you name it. While some people have advised me
that it’s easier to just make such things go away, I’ve found doing that is almost always shortsighted.
Giving in not only compromises your values, it telegraphs that the rules of the game have changed
and opens you up to more of the same. Fighting for what’s right can be hard in the short term, of
course. But I’m willing to take the punch. What I worry about is doing the right thing and not about
what people think about me.
b. Care about the people who work for you. If you aren’t working with people you care about and respect,
your job probably isn’t the one for you. I will be there for anyone who really needs me; when a
whole community operates this way, it is very powerful and rewarding. Personal contact at times of
personal difficulty is a must.

10.10 Know that great leadership is generally not what it’s made
out to be.

I don’t use the word “leadership” to describe what I do or what I think is good because I don’t
believe that what most people think of as “good leadership” is effective. Most people think a good
leader is a strong person who engenders confidence in others and motivates them to follow him/her,
with the emphasis on “follow.” The stereotypical leader often sees questioning and disagreement as
threatening and prefers people do what they’re told. As an extension of this paradigm, the leader
bears the main burden of decision making. But because such leaders are never as all-knowing as
they try to appear, disenchantment and even anger tends to set in. That’s why people who once
loved their charismatic leaders often want to get rid of them.
This traditional relationship between “leaders” and “followers” is the opposite of what I believe
is needed to be most effective, and being maximally effective is the most important thing a “leader”
must do. It is more practical to be honest about one’s uncertainties, mistakes, and weaknesses than
to pretend they don’t exist. It is also more important to have good challengers than good followers.
Thoughtful discussion and disagreement is practical because it stress-tests leaders and brings what
they are missing to their attention.
One thing that leaders should not do, in my opinion, is be manipulative. Sometimes leaders will
use emotions to motivate people to do things that they would not do after reflecting clearly. When
dealing with intelligent people in an idea meritocracy, it is essential that one always appeal to their
reason rather than their base emotions.
The most effective leaders work to 1) open-mindedly seek out the best answers and 2) bring
others along as part of that discovery process. That is how learning and getting in sync occurs. A
truly great leader is appropriately uncertain but well equipped to deal with that uncertainty through
open-minded exploration. All else being equal, I think the kind of leader who looks and acts like a
skilled ninja will beat the kind of leader who looks and acts like a muscular action hero every time.
a. Be weak and strong at the same time. Sometimes asking questions to gain perspective can be
misperceived as being weak and indecisive. Of course it’s not. It’s necessary in order to become
wise and it is a prerequisite for being strong and decisive.
Always seek the advice of wise others and let those who are better than you take the lead. The
objective is to have the best understanding to make the best possible leadership decisions. Be open-