Ray Dalio on Failure, Meaningful Work and Relationships

[sle]

Lemme just say that, as time goes on and I learn more about what goes on at Smidgeblotter, it's getting increasingly difficult for me to take Dalio and his schtick seriously.

Think his ideas the same that you think of a self-help book. While the author might me a narcissist and a degenerate alcoholic, the ideas are well thought through and makes sense.

 

[Martinghoul]

Think his ideas the same that you think of a self-help book. While the author might me a narcissist and a degenerate alcoholic, the ideas are well thought through and makes sense.

Well, I am just not sure this works for me... To start with, I dislike most self-help books intensely. The only reason I might have been willing to make an exception for Uncle Ray is because I thought that, not only does he practice what he preaches, but the results are impressive. I just dunno if I am willing to believe it quite as much at this stage.

 

[themickey]

Well, I am just not sure this works for me... To start with, I dislike most self-help books intensely.

ET is a type of self help book, yes/no?

 

[777]

My way is to attach more weight to the opinion of the person who knows the most about the topic. Than again, I have never managed a big team so it might not work with 50 people (for example).

That is Dalio's way; however, lesser lights in the group sometimes swing the decision by presenting the superior ideas!

 

[Wintermute]

The "radical honesty" thing directly conflicts with the "praise in public, criticize in private" concept that is taught in every military leadership class and pretty universally espoused. Officers and senior enlisted in the military spend a great deal of their time studying, discussing, and practicing leadership with a good number of PhDs in leadership among both the officer and enlisted ranks, so it's something that's pretty well thought out. I'm a product of that so I cringe when I read about the Dalio "philosophy", but I try to be open minded and think about the difference in his work force and their mission and how that may require different leadership tenets. Like you I'd tend to think that if you can take the time to criticize in private when people literally die due to mistakes, then you could also to it at a hedge fund, but that's just me.

This kind of public criticism can be taken as humiliation. I prefer the more established Military method which frankly is more humanist in the sense that it understands and respects the individual.

I don't know much about Bridgewater but from reading the glassdoor reviews, there is a sharp divide between Dalio "acolytes" and the average employee who expects tactful communication. "A spoonful of sugar helps the medicine go down" is still my operating philosophy.

 

[Martinghoul]

ET is a type of self help book, yes/no?

It surely depends on the individual, yes/no?

 

[Sig]

ET is a type of self help book, yes/no?

I'd maintain that a community discussion is nearly the opposite of a guru based self-help book.

 

[themickey]

As a dysfunctional young man and raised a strict christian, I couldn't get enough of this sort of thing back then.
These days I feel well past needing to listen to preachers.
However I still enjoy a good dose of humour and ET supplies that in spades, thankfully.

 

[sle]

The only reason I might have been willing to make an exception for Uncle Ray is because I thought that, not only does he practice what he preaches, but the results are impressive. I just dunno if I am willing to believe it quite as much at this stage.

Well, part of his success is surely luck, but there is some value to the ideas described in the book. It does not mean that it would be easy to implement across a fully company, but doing that sort of thing for oneself or a small team might be a plausible goal.

 

[newwurldmn]

Well, I am just not sure this works for me... To start with, I dislike most self-help books intensely. The only reason I might have been willing to make an exception for Uncle Ray is because I thought that, not only does he practice what he preaches, but the results are impressive. I just dunno if I am willing to believe it quite as much at this stage.

I like self-help books. There is some truth in somewhere in them and I have found that truth is consistently the same.