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Principles

Life and Work

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Principles

By: Ray Dalio
Narrated by: Ray Dalio, Jeremy Bobb
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About this listen

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.

©2017 Ray Dalio (P)2017 Simon & Schuster Audio
Decision-Making & Problem Solving Investing & Trading Leadership Management Organisational Behaviour Personal Finance Career Business Inspiring New York Employment Construction Business Product Strategy

Editorial reviews

From his business and his personal life, American billionaire Ray Dalio puts all his success down to basic principles—and now he wants you to benefit from his wisdom.

If you think you know exactly what to expect from a personal development audiobook, then think again. Despite earning billions as one of the financial world’s most successful hedge fund managers, Dalio doesn’t expect you to simply take his word on how to achieve wealth, power and all that comes with it. Instead, he’s worked to uncover the underlying principles which have helped him build his way to the top and put them to the test in a range of scenarios. In this listen, he’s only offering up what’s been proven effective.

With transparency and authenticity, Dalio holds nothing back in this deep dive into his personal and business life. Dalio also sheds light on the processes he used to uncover his principles and to maximise his efforts. When coupled with clear, authoritative narration from the author himself and American actor Jeremy Bobb (The Knick), there's no better audiobook to support you through your career and beyond.

What listeners say about Principles

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AMAZING BOOK

This book was awesome. Great to hear and listen to someone that has had great financial success talk about principles. I would love to be in Ray Dalio inner circle. So much wisdom and knowledge that you can learn from. I'm developing my own principles now while also noting down Rays. Awesome book and many thanks for writing this gem.

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A +

Learn how to think systematically. A must for anyone pursing excellence in business or life.

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Best self help I have come across

I intend to incorporate many ideas from the book and start using them within our company

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Great overview for organizing and running an organization based on an idea meritocracy.

What a great overview for organizing and running an organization, whilst maintaining the vision and corporate governance of an idea meritocracy. This book gets right down to the nuts and bolts, providing a cook-book approach to a system of management that has taken decades to develop at Bridgewater.
Thankyou so much to Ray Dalio.

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Awesome Listen!!! Great content!!!

I love the sound principles I learnt a lot from this book about running a successful organisation... there were portions of the book where they talked about investments and that turned me off but the rest of it he book just made me want for more and the inserts are great!!!
Thanks for sharing your wisdom Ray!
Much appreciated 👏🏿👏🏿👏🏿👌🏿

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Not about finance

A very solid look at the way Bridgwater was constructed and how Ray manages his team and organisation. His view is refreshing and easily digested.

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EVERYONE should read this - top 5 books I've read.

substance rich and actionable!
no fluff, gives away alot of value, content rich. read it!

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Amazing listen! Really powerful insights

Amazing listen I got a lot out of it and would definitely recommend to others

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how to run a business

Good book but yeah, mostly a guide to running a cohesive business. Keen to hear the next one

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Life Changing

So easy and logic to understand. Ray is a legend. Thanks for this. Cheers from Sydney, Aus

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