Listen free for 30 days
-
Principles
- Life and Work
- Narrated by: Ray Dalio, Jeremy Bobb
- Length: 16 hrs and 5 mins
- Unabridged Audiobook
- Categories: Business & Careers, Career Success
Add to basket failed.
Add to wishlist failed.
Remove from wishlist failed.
Follow podcast failed
Unfollow podcast failed
Listen with a free trial
Buy Now for £25.99
No valid payment method on file.
We are sorry. We are not allowed to sell this product with the selected payment method
Listeners also enjoyed...
-
Principles for Dealing with the Changing World Order
- Why Nations Succeed or Fail
- By: Ray Dalio
- Narrated by: Jeremy Bobb, Ray Dalio
- Length: 16 hrs and 48 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
From legendary investor Ray Dalio, author of the international best seller Principles, who has spent half a century studying global economies and markets, Principles for Dealing with the Changing World Order examines history’s most turbulent economic and political periods to reveal why the times ahead will likely be radically different from those we’ve experienced in our lifetimes - but similar to those that have happened many times before.
-
-
A New Appreciation for Macro Politics & Economics
- By Joshua on 13-12-21
-
The Psychology of Money
- Timeless Lessons on Wealth, Greed, and Happiness
- By: Morgan Housel
- Narrated by: Chris Hill
- Length: 5 hrs and 48 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Money - investing, personal finance, and business decisions - is typically taught as a math-based field, where data and formulas tell us exactly what to do. But in the real world people don’t make financial decisions on a spreadsheet. They make them at the dinner table, or in a meeting room, where personal history, your own unique view of the world, ego, pride, marketing, and odd incentives are scrambled together. In The Psychology of Money, award-winning author Morgan Housel shares 19 short stories exploring the strange ways people think about money.
-
-
Quite disappointing
- By Lakshan on 31-12-20
-
The Intelligent Investor Rev Ed.
- By: Benjamin Graham
- Narrated by: Luke Daniels
- Length: 17 hrs and 48 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The greatest investment advisor of the 20th century, Benjamin Graham taught and inspired people worldwide. Graham's philosophy of "value investing" - which shields investors from substantial error and teaches them to develop long-term strategies - has made The Intelligent Investor the stock market bible ever since its original publication in 1949.
-
-
A great book ruined by poor performance
- By GT89 on 25-05-18
-
Mindset - Updated Edition
- Changing the Way You Think to Fulfil Your Potential
- By: Dr Carol Dweck
- Narrated by: Bernadette Dunne
- Length: 10 hrs and 23 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
World-renowned Stanford University psychologist Carol Dweck, in decades of research on achievement and success, has discovered a truly groundbreaking idea - the power of our mindset. Dweck explains why it's not just our abilities and talent that bring us success - but whether we approach them with a fixed or growth mindset. She makes clear why praising intelligence and ability doesn't foster self-esteem and lead to accomplishment but may actually jeopardise success.
-
-
Robot voice
- By Dominika Powojska on 26-03-19
-
How to Stop Worrying and Start Living
- Time-Tested Methods for Conquering Worry
- By: Dale Carnegie
- Narrated by: Andrew MacMillan
- Length: 10 hrs and 8 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Through Dale Carnegie's seven-million-copy bestseller, recently revised, millions of people have been helped to overcome the worry habit. Dale Carnegie offers a set of practical formulas you can put to work today, formulas that will last a lifetime!
-
-
very good book
- By Marc on 13-12-08
-
Deep Work
- Rules for Focused Success in a Distracted World
- By: Cal Newport
- Narrated by: Jeff Bottoms
- Length: 7 hrs and 44 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Popular blogger Cal Newport reveals the new key to achieving success and true meaning in professional life: the ability to master distraction. Many modern knowledge workers now spend most of their brain power battling distraction and interruption, whether because of the incessant pinging of devices, noisy open-plan offices or the difficulty of deciding what deserves their attention the most. When Cal Newport coined the term deep work on his popular blog, Study Hacks, in 2012, he found the concept quickly hit a nerve.
-
-
Useful insights into ring-fencing your focus.
- By Mark Lancaster on 23-05-17
-
Principles for Dealing with the Changing World Order
- Why Nations Succeed or Fail
- By: Ray Dalio
- Narrated by: Jeremy Bobb, Ray Dalio
- Length: 16 hrs and 48 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
From legendary investor Ray Dalio, author of the international best seller Principles, who has spent half a century studying global economies and markets, Principles for Dealing with the Changing World Order examines history’s most turbulent economic and political periods to reveal why the times ahead will likely be radically different from those we’ve experienced in our lifetimes - but similar to those that have happened many times before.
-
-
A New Appreciation for Macro Politics & Economics
- By Joshua on 13-12-21
-
The Psychology of Money
- Timeless Lessons on Wealth, Greed, and Happiness
- By: Morgan Housel
- Narrated by: Chris Hill
- Length: 5 hrs and 48 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Money - investing, personal finance, and business decisions - is typically taught as a math-based field, where data and formulas tell us exactly what to do. But in the real world people don’t make financial decisions on a spreadsheet. They make them at the dinner table, or in a meeting room, where personal history, your own unique view of the world, ego, pride, marketing, and odd incentives are scrambled together. In The Psychology of Money, award-winning author Morgan Housel shares 19 short stories exploring the strange ways people think about money.
-
-
Quite disappointing
- By Lakshan on 31-12-20
-
The Intelligent Investor Rev Ed.
- By: Benjamin Graham
- Narrated by: Luke Daniels
- Length: 17 hrs and 48 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The greatest investment advisor of the 20th century, Benjamin Graham taught and inspired people worldwide. Graham's philosophy of "value investing" - which shields investors from substantial error and teaches them to develop long-term strategies - has made The Intelligent Investor the stock market bible ever since its original publication in 1949.
-
-
A great book ruined by poor performance
- By GT89 on 25-05-18
-
Mindset - Updated Edition
- Changing the Way You Think to Fulfil Your Potential
- By: Dr Carol Dweck
- Narrated by: Bernadette Dunne
- Length: 10 hrs and 23 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
World-renowned Stanford University psychologist Carol Dweck, in decades of research on achievement and success, has discovered a truly groundbreaking idea - the power of our mindset. Dweck explains why it's not just our abilities and talent that bring us success - but whether we approach them with a fixed or growth mindset. She makes clear why praising intelligence and ability doesn't foster self-esteem and lead to accomplishment but may actually jeopardise success.
-
-
Robot voice
- By Dominika Powojska on 26-03-19
-
How to Stop Worrying and Start Living
- Time-Tested Methods for Conquering Worry
- By: Dale Carnegie
- Narrated by: Andrew MacMillan
- Length: 10 hrs and 8 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Through Dale Carnegie's seven-million-copy bestseller, recently revised, millions of people have been helped to overcome the worry habit. Dale Carnegie offers a set of practical formulas you can put to work today, formulas that will last a lifetime!
-
-
very good book
- By Marc on 13-12-08
-
Deep Work
- Rules for Focused Success in a Distracted World
- By: Cal Newport
- Narrated by: Jeff Bottoms
- Length: 7 hrs and 44 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Popular blogger Cal Newport reveals the new key to achieving success and true meaning in professional life: the ability to master distraction. Many modern knowledge workers now spend most of their brain power battling distraction and interruption, whether because of the incessant pinging of devices, noisy open-plan offices or the difficulty of deciding what deserves their attention the most. When Cal Newport coined the term deep work on his popular blog, Study Hacks, in 2012, he found the concept quickly hit a nerve.
-
-
Useful insights into ring-fencing your focus.
- By Mark Lancaster on 23-05-17
-
The Lean Startup
- How Today's Entrepreneurs Use Continuous Innovation to Create Radically Successful Businesses
- By: Eric Ries
- Narrated by: Eric Ries
- Length: 8 hrs and 38 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Most startups fail. But many of those failures are preventable. The Lean Startup is a new approach being adopted across the globe, changing the way companies are built and new products are launched.
-
-
Startups and product developers should take note
- By Mark on 14-02-12
-
The Personal MBA: Master the Art of Business
- By: Josh Kaufman
- Narrated by: Josh Kaufman
- Length: 15 hrs and 25 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Josh Kaufman founded PersonalMBA.com as an alternative to the business school boondoggle. His blog has introduced hundreds of thousands of readers to the best business books and most powerful business concepts of all time. Now, he shares the essentials of entrepreneurship, marketing, sales, negotiation, operations, productivity, systems design, and much more, in one comprehensive volume. The Personal MBA distills the most valuable business lessons into simple, memorable mental models that can be applied to real-world challenges.
-
-
Better than expected
- By Amazon Customer on 17-04-13
-
Skin in the Game
- Hidden Asymmetries in Daily Life
- By: Nassim Nicholas Taleb
- Narrated by: Joe Ochman
- Length: 8 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In his most provocative and practical book yet, one of the foremost thinkers of our time redefines what it means to understand the world, succeed in a profession, contribute to a fair and just society, detect nonsense, and influence others. Citing examples ranging from Hammurabi to Seneca, Antaeus the Giant to Donald Trump, Nassim Nicholas Taleb shows how the willingness to accept one's own risks is an essential attribute of heroes, saints, and flourishing people in all walks of life.
-
-
Another great work by Teleb
- By Tim on 05-03-18
-
Influence, New and Expanded
- The Psychology of Persuasion
- By: Robert B. Cialdini
- Narrated by: Robert B. Cialdini
- Length: 20 hrs and 43 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In the new edition of this highly acclaimed bestseller, Robert Cialdini—New York Times bestselling author of Pre-Suasion and the seminal expert in the fields of influence and persuasion—explains the psychology of why people say yes and how to apply these insights ethically in business and everyday settings. You'll learn Cialdini's Universal Principles of Influence, including new research and new uses so you can become an even more skilled persuader—and just as importantly, you'll learn how to defend yourself against unethical influence attempts.
-
-
Very useful concepts and a pleasure to read
- By Joseph on 21-06-21
-
The Almanack of Naval Ravikant
- A Guide to Wealth and Happiness
- By: Eric Jorgenson, Tim Ferriss
- Narrated by: Vikas Adam
- Length: 4 hrs and 53 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Naval Ravikant is an entrepreneur, philosopher, and investor who has captivated the world with his principles for building wealth and creating long-term happiness. The Almanack of Naval Ravikant is a collection of Naval’s wisdom and experience from the last 10 years, shared as a curation of his most insightful interviews and poignant reflections. This isn’t a how-to book, or a step-by-step gimmick. Instead, through Naval’s own words, you will learn how to walk your own unique path toward a happier, wealthier life.
-
-
unreal book
- By Becky on 25-06-21
-
Thinking, Fast and Slow
- By: Daniel Kahneman
- Narrated by: Patrick Egan
- Length: 20 hrs and 1 min
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In Thinking, Fast and Slow, Kahneman takes us on a ground-breaking tour of the mind and explains the two systems that drive the way we think and make choices. One system is fast, intuitive and emotional; the other is slower, more deliberative and more logical. Kahneman exposes the extraordinary capabilities-and also the faults and biases-of fast thinking and reveals the pervasive influence of intuitive impressions on our thoughts and behaviour.
-
-
Interesting topic - but audiobook wrong format
- By Carrie on 24-07-13
-
Zero to One
- By: Peter Thiel, Blake Masters
- Narrated by: Blake Masters
- Length: 4 hrs and 50 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
What valuable company is nobody building? The next Bill Gates will not build an operating system. The next Larry Page or Sergey Brin won't make a search engine. If you are copying these guys, you aren't learning from them. It's easier to copy a model than to make something new: doing what we already know how to do takes the world from 1 to 10, adding more of something familiar. Every new creation goes from zero to one. This book is about how to get there.
-
-
Reality of starting a business
- By Ahmad on 27-04-16
-
The Most Important Thing
- Uncommon Sense for The Thoughtful Investor
- By: Howard Marks
- Narrated by: John FitzGibbon
- Length: 7 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Howard Marks, the chairman and cofounder of Oaktree Capital Management, is renowned for his insightful assessments of market opportunity and risk. After four decades spent ascending to the top of the investment management profession, he is today sought out by the world's leading value investors, and his client memos brim with insightful commentary and a time-tested, fundamental philosophy. The Most Important Thing explains the keys to successful investment and the pitfalls that can destroy capital or ruin a career.
-
-
Definitely a good audio book for investors
- By Suraj Pokhriyal on 20-05-17
-
The Hard Thing About Hard Things
- Building a Business When There Are No Easy Answers
- By: Ben Horowitz
- Narrated by: Kevin Kenerly
- Length: 7 hrs and 57 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Ben Horowitz, cofounder of Andreessen Horowitz and one of Silicon Valley’s most respected and experienced entrepreneurs, offers essential advice on building and running a startup--practical wisdom for managing the toughest problems business school doesn’t cover, based on his popular ben’s blog. While many people talk about how great it is to start a business, very few are honest about how difficult it is to run one.
-
-
Disappointing
- By Julia Bonner on 22-08-19
-
Range
- How Generalists Triumph in a Specialized World
- By: David Epstein
- Narrated by: Will Damron
- Length: 10 hrs and 17 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In this landmark audiobook, David Epstein shows that the way to excel is by sampling widely, gaining a breadth of experiences, taking detours, experimenting relentlessly, juggling many interests - in other words, by developing range. Studying the world’s most successful athletes, artists, musicians, inventors and scientists, Epstein discovered that in most fields - especially those that are complex and unpredictable - generalists, not specialists, are primed to excel. They are also more creative, more agile and able to make connections their more specialized peers can’t see.
-
-
Fantastic - As a serial career changer, this has demolished my guilt and imposter syndrome that tends to accompany such a career
- By Amazon Customer on 25-09-19
-
Start with Why
- How Great Leaders Inspire Everyone To Take Action
- By: Simon Sinek
- Narrated by: Simon Sinek
- Length: 7 hrs and 18 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Why are some people and organisations more inventive, pioneering and successful than others? And why are they able to repeat their success again and again? Because in business it doesn't matter what you do, it matters why you do it. Steve Jobs, the Wright brothers and Martin Luther King have one thing in common: they started with why. This book is for anyone who wants to inspire others or to be inspired.
-
-
Repetitive and dated
- By Derek Darkins on 15-06-22
-
Radical Candor
- How to Get What You Want by Saying What You Mean
- By: Kim Scott
- Narrated by: Kim Scott
- Length: 9 hrs and 23 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Radical Candor is the sweet spot between managers who are obnoxiously aggressive on the one side and ruinously empathetic on the other. It is about providing guidance, which involves a mix of praise as well as criticism - delivered to produce better results and help employees develop their skills and boundaries of success. Great bosses have strong relationships with their employees, and Scott has identified three simple principles for building better relationships with your employees.
-
-
Not a pleasant narrator
- By Dongxu on 16-05-19
Summary
Ray Dalio, one of the world's most successful investors and entrepreneurs, shares the unconventional principles that he's developed, refined, and used over the past 40 years to create unique results in both life and business - and which any person or organization can adopt to help achieve their goals.
In 1975, Ray Dalio founded an investment firm, Bridgewater Associates, out of his two-bedroom apartment in New York City. Forty years later Bridgewater has made more money for its clients than any other hedge fund in history and grown into the fifth most important private company in the United States, according to Fortune magazine. Dalio himself has been named to Time magazine's list of the 100 most influential people in the world. Along the way Dalio discovered a set of unique principles that have led to Bridgewater's exceptionally effective culture, which he describes as "an idea meritocracy that strives to achieve meaningful work and meaningful relationships through radical transparency". It is these principles, and not anything special about Dalio - who grew up an ordinary kid in a middle-class Long Island neighborhood - that he believes are the reason behind his success.
In Principles, Dalio shares what he's learned over the course of his remarkable career. He argues that life, management, economics, and investing can all be systemized into rules and understood like machines. The book's hundreds of practical lessons, which are built around his cornerstones of "radical truth" and "radical transparency", include Dalio laying out the most effective ways for individuals and organizations to make decisions, approach challenges, and build strong teams. He also describes the innovative tools the firm uses to bring an idea meritocracy to life, such as creating "baseball cards" for all employees that distill their strengths and weaknesses and employing computerized decision-making systems to make believability-weighted decisions. While the book brims with novel ideas for organizations and institutions, Principles also offers a clear, straightforward approach to decision making that Dalio believes anyone can apply, no matter what they're seeking to achieve.
Here, from a man who has been called both "the Steve Jobs of investing" and "the philosopher king of the financial universe" (CIO magazine), is a rare opportunity to gain proven advice unlike anything you'll find in the conventional business press.
PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying reference material will be available in your Library section along with the audio.
More from the same
What listeners say about Principles
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Vlad
- 20-10-17
I personally didn't find it educational enough.
The book feels a lot like a linear autobiography. It talks about major events from the author’s past, including successes and failures the author has learnt from.
In the beginning, the book sounded to have been structured well and the author’s writing style seemed quite analytical. The author’s voice is clear and composed throughout. I really liked it when the author states he doesn’t wish to impose his beliefs on the listener and that the advice he’ll be sharing may not benefit everyone.
The author frequently speaks about how has helped companies run more efficiently. Most times, however, I struggled to extract value from his explanations unless he gave some sort of evaluation in the end.
The author also speaks a lot about his company Bridgewater, its challenges and achievements as well as constantly evolving culture and management. To me it sounded the author was more interested in describing, explaining and at times praising his business instead of looking to provide knowledge to the listener in a direct and understandable way.
Four hours in, the book appeared to have become an autobiography of Ray Dalio’s business and career. I decided to return it because the more I listened to it, the less I felt it benefited me.
I wouldn’t recommend the book to everyone but if you are into investing, finance and business management, you may really like the book.
58 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Amazon Customer
- 28-11-17
Your compass north guide on your life journey
I truly enjoyed this book and it was particularly beneficial being read by the author. Ray Dalio is a very successful person and it’s excellent for him to share, in full transparency, his Principles that shaped him and Bridgewater. This allows you to gain a very intimate insight on Rays compass north during all important and mundane decisions and can be used a guide for you as you develop your own principles.
Of course, this is the premise of the book that to achieve results it requires radical truth with radical transparency. Ray certainly delivers on this and I have begun to implement these within my career and life.
18 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Thomas Sichel
- 30-09-17
A life changing boom
Thank you Ray Dalio for writing this! Business and life guidance from someone well read and most definitely experiences..
19 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- walduscycu
- 22-11-17
An absolute must read
The author is incredibly eloquent and down to earth person. Normal language is being used to explain complexity of company organisation etc.
6 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Anonymous User
- 05-11-19
a future classic
Ray Dalio narrates a significant portion of the book and is much more engaging than the other narrator, but the content is excellent
2 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Iulian - Easy coaching? for men
- 15-10-19
I have to listen it again as it's so full of infos
It's a book full of information and from my perspective, it needs a lot of attention. I have to relisten.
2 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- khwexi
- 02-11-17
Book of the year!
1.3 Don't let the fears of what others think of you stand in your way.
2 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Adrian S.
- 20-09-21
Great for personal development
The first part of this book is great for someone in his 20s who is just starting off in life and and struggles in achieving his personal goals. The second is useFul for the future manager.
The book motivates one to be better and look at his/her flaws objectively. It’s practical and gives hands-on approaches to creating principles in life that will undoubtedly improve one’s standard of living.
Sure, it’s not perfect, some of the terms used are over-repetitive and can at times get annoying, and some of the ideas presented here and not earth-shattering revelations. But it helped me widen my perspective and I wished I had read it 10 years ago. If I had, and more importantly, followed his advices, I can confidently say that my life would have been better now. Not everyone has in their lives these kind of role models, and frankly it makes me happy that a billionaire with better things to do takes his time to share, with humility, his life lessons.
1 person found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Robert Murphy
- 22-08-21
Long, but packed full of useful insights
A great booked packed full of great business insights.
It’s a long one, but well worth the time.
1 person found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Anonymous User
- 11-07-21
Decision making frameworks
Ray Dalio is a billionaire investor and the founder of one of the world's biggest hedge funds.
Ray shares his life lessons and work experience through principles as guidelines on how to create your own principles and incorporate decision making frameworks in your professional and personal life.
As a young professional with financial background, I was able to visualise and appreciate investment scenarios discussed throughout the book. This might not resonate with all individuals without this background.
Throughout the book some principles are repeated which have been applied to different scenarios.
While I see this as continuous reflection on these principles and embed them in my long term memory, some people might see this as repetitive.
Rating: Must Read
1 person found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story

- Patrick Eberle
- 30-06-18
Idea-meritocracy/Principles Reference
This work is a reference to Ray Dalio's principals & a brief history of how he created them to get where he is now.
I throughly enjoyed the first 5 hours of this book. Most everything after seemed redundant. So much so, that Ray often sites the same example for the same points over and over again. These instances took value away from this book's readability and message.
This book is not very clear that it serves as more of a reference and that it is intended to be two reference volumes combined. Albeit, the title's subscript mentions Work & Life. This work reads more like a dictionary after you remove the first few hours of Dalio's life story.
Besides your ability to create a drinking game from the number of times Ray states, "Idea-meritocracy", "Radical Truthfulness", "Believability", & each time he retells you about starting Bridgewater, you will find helpful advice on this book. I have listed general themes below
Ray could've summarized this book into less than a 10 hr read and kept the same quality in the 16 hr behemoth of reiderations. See my recommendation on his YouTube video below. 30 min.
Overall:
This book poses interesting ideas on how to improve life and business results. Obviously Bridgewater stands as a shining example of the success from Ray's points. I find that this melds well with Thinking Fast & Thinking Slow as well as many other jobs on how we think and make decisions. It makes our circle of knowledge a little bit wider on how to meet our goals/be successful. I am not sure I would recommend this book, but I believe it does actively challenge you to improve yourself and your processes in life and business.
What to take away:
Principles are useful for helping us get what we want out of life. They help guide us to meet our goals. You could argue they are algorithms that make us the best we want to be when we follow them.
We can use a 5 step plan to adjust our learn from our mistakes and become better, thus updating ourselves or our Principles.
It's best to write these principles down.
It's best to take the opinion of the whole to make decisions, rather than to think your opinion holds more weight. Seek out experts that are more "Believable" than you and weight their advice higher in their strengths.
Ray's YouTube videos are a greater & FREE synopsis of this book that cuts everything down to 30 minutes. I'd highly recommend reviewing that first of you're interested in this book.
221 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story

- Dr. Scott K. Moffat
- 30-06-18
Could have been much shorter
Slow in topic and performance. I had to listen to it on 2.0x. Some of this is very interesting, but overall it feels rather verbose and repetitive. I understood from the outset that this would be quite different from Shoe Dog, but I was hoping for something a little more exciting Than it turned out to be.
The first part of the book was the most interesting to me. It focuses on the background of the company and its Ascension.
25 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story

- Bell
- 16-11-17
Insightful but repetitive
I listened to the entire book to understand the context of the principles. However that led me to become easily bored by the constant repetition of the words "idea maritocracy" and "radical honesty". I would suggest skipping to the second portion of the book when the author explains the life and work principles.
69 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story

- Robert F. Jones
- 08-10-17
Personal
Two stars - meh
three stars - good
four stars - worth a second read
five stars - life-changing - my top 50 of all time
Worth a second read because the ideas at the core of the book seem contrary to what has been my life experience.
I'd love to spend a couple of days at Bridgewater or extensively interview some longtime employees to find out if it works as the author suggests.
My experience has been that 'Idea Meritocracies' and 'Radical honesty' work great for those at the top, who's positions cannot be threatened because they deem what is valued and right.
I've also always been told that attempting to fit market movements to algorithms cannot predict the really important swings. This is because we cannot properly summarize all of the market conditions that existed historically, nor can we know all of the factors that effect markets currently because our information is incomplete. I should be able to tell if his approach works by comparing Bridgewater's performance to that of its peers, but I have not yet done this.
The author does make a telling comment early in the book, regarding the computational nature of reality. He states that if we knew we had a perfect description of the current state of the universe, we'd be able to predict what would happen next. This is by no means an established fact. Chaos theory, quantum mechanics and and Heisenberg would probably disagree.
I cannot decide if the 'Baseball Card' approach to personnel makes sense. Baseball stats are more objective that job performance or personality types based on standardized tests.
I'd love to believe that keeping stats on everyone would help predict future performance, but as Sabermetrics showed, which stats one calculates and how they are weighted have significant impact on outcomes.
I'd love to believe that his basic assumptions are correct, but I'm really ambivalent. This book raised many more questions than it answered.
If I check the facts and they seem to hold water, I will make changes to my life and thus this would qualify as a five-star book.
209 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story

- James Adams
- 22-11-17
The Management/CEO’s Handbook
Having fewer reports (zero), than the author, this book - while very interesting, insightful and practical - comes across as directed towards folks way above my pay grade. CEOs and VPs in particular. Still, as a small cog in a very big wheel, I recommend it for both perspective on what good management looks like, and for straight-up honorable principles to live by.
85 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story

- MazamaCoffeeCo
- 01-10-17
Bored to Tears
I don't usually give up on a book, especially one being read to me during a long drive when the only other option is silence. But, geesh. Some of the lead up stories to what I thought was the meat forthcoming were interesting but all in all no meat delivered. At least nothing up to the point where I threw up the white hankie and hit the stop button. The advice was generic and lacked the, for instance, this is how you'd apply this. I do know that he knows all about the ins and outs of pork bellies and the crops they eat and weather patterns ad nauseam. And he mentioned many times how he rubbed elbows with the rich and famous. Got it - you're a big deal.
66 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story

- Jon David Schein
- 28-10-17
phenomenally replete with wisdom
if you're building a business or hold a management role in one or even if you're looking to improve your day-to-day life, I bet this book will serve you well.
23 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story

- McKenzy Germain
- 15-10-17
The Blueprint — Lessons From Reformed New Yorker
The Blueprint — 10 Lessons From Principles: Life and Work by Ray Dalio
What makes this book a gold mine for me and like-minded people:
1. Understanding why a meritocratic environment works best for my personality has helped me shed imposter syndrome; mask off.
2. Ray defines a valid solution around a psychological dichotomy and process that stems to eliminate a ton of common misconceptions. Supportive ideologies around the power of numbers & group theory, associated with machine learning seem to be a great formula for creating an effective symbiotic ecosystem. If practiced by those who are open to change and constructive criticism.
3. The opening line made me want to get on plane to NYC, take a train over to CT, give Ray a high five, then head back to the concrete jungle to engage in shenanigans.
4. Machine learning (ai) can have a positive outcome as long as its used as supportive component for analytics and behavioral studies.
5. Ai, when done right, has the ability to yield some highly beneficial outcomes around structuring teams and making business decisions. At the same time, it can aid in studying your personal history, train of thought, and help predict what environments are good for personality.
6. It’s good to be open to constructive criticism.
7. Arguments should occur with the intention of arriving at new learnings, not to generate hatred or sense of detachment from the opposing party.
8. Some personalities just don’t work for the environment or culture that you are trying to creates. And in certain cases YOU actually create the high level of toxicity that destroys the environment that you are attempting to create.
9. The goal of learning is to grow and one day help another elevate themselves by sharing your learnings in an intuitive manner.
10. Mistakes should be embraced in the same we celebrate blessings. For in a lost or failure, we have an opportunity to learn and increase our aptitude around problem solving for that specific issue.
Bonus: never give up and let your humility serve as the honey that will capture the hearts and minds of your counterparts.
39 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story

- Market Maven
- 14-10-17
Two-thirds full.
I am a fan of Ray Dalio, the legendary hedge-fund manager. This book has three sections: a bio of Ray, followed by his "life principles," followed then by his "work principles." I found his life story to be very interesting indeed. And his "life principles" were excellent, especially the notion of "radical transparency" and "radical openness" and honestly confronting ones problems. So far great. But I got really bogged down in the third section, his "work principles." This seemed more like a corporate human resources manual than anything one could use in life. Even if you were a CEO or department head of a several hundred person organization, his principles often seemed like cliches. So much depends on what people are charged to do, but he has very little of that. I wish he had spent more time on his investment philosophy. This is where is his genius lies. He is not Tony Robbins. But I did learn from this book to confront my own problems more honestly and directly.
40 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story

- T. Herman
- 05-10-17
Narrow Perspective on Modern Workplace
Some of the ideas here are interesting but this really feels like the thoughts of someone who has been "the boss" their entire career, and never experienced other work cultures. Ray is clearly not shy about conflict and I doubt any introverts have ever worked at Bridgewater. If you were starting a hedge fund with a bunch of alpha males this would be the goto strategy for success but I don't think a lot of this advice carries over to other fields and a lot I would consider harmful for creating a truly creative environment.
17 people found this helpful