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The Fund: Ray Dalio, Bridgewater Associates, and the Unraveling of a Wall Street Legend
The unauthorized, unvarnished story of famed Wall Street hedge-fund manager Ray Dalio.
Ray Dalio does not want you to read this book.
Late last year, when the billionaire founder of Bridgewater Associates, the largest hedge fund on the planet, announced that he was stepping down from the company he started out of his apartment nearly 50 years ago, the news made headlines around the world. Dalio cultivated an aura of international admiration and fame thanks to his company’s eye-popping success, coupled with a mystique he encouraged with frequent media appearances, celebrity hobnobbing, and his bestselling book, Principles . In The Fund , award-winning New York Times journalist Rob Copeland punctures this carefully-constructed narrative of the benevolent business titan, exposing his much-promoted “principles” as one of the great feats of hubris in modern memory―in practice, they encouraged a toxic culture of paranoia and backstabbing.
The Fund is a page-turning, stranger-than-fiction journey into a rarefied world of wealth and power. It offers an unflinching look at the pain so often caused by the “radical transparency” Dalio has described as a core tenet of his recipe for business success and a meaningful life. Drawing on hundreds of interviews with those inside and around the firm, Copeland takes readers into the room as former FBI director Jim Comey kisses Dalio's ring, recent Pennsylvania Senate candidate David McCormick drinks the Kool-Aid, and a rotating cast of memorable characters grapple with their personal psychological and moral limits―all under the watchful eye of their charismatic leader.
This is a cautionary tale for anyone convinced that the ability to make lots of money has anything at all to do with unlocking the principles of human nature.
Ray Dalio does not want you to read this book.
Late last year, when the billionaire founder of Bridgewater Associates, the largest hedge fund on the planet, announced that he was stepping down from the company he started out of his apartment nearly 50 years ago, the news made headlines around the world. Dalio cultivated an aura of international admiration and fame thanks to his company’s eye-popping success, coupled with a mystique he encouraged with frequent media appearances, celebrity hobnobbing, and his bestselling book, Principles . In The Fund , award-winning New York Times journalist Rob Copeland punctures this carefully-constructed narrative of the benevolent business titan, exposing his much-promoted “principles” as one of the great feats of hubris in modern memory―in practice, they encouraged a toxic culture of paranoia and backstabbing.
The Fund is a page-turning, stranger-than-fiction journey into a rarefied world of wealth and power. It offers an unflinching look at the pain so often caused by the “radical transparency” Dalio has described as a core tenet of his recipe for business success and a meaningful life. Drawing on hundreds of interviews with those inside and around the firm, Copeland takes readers into the room as former FBI director Jim Comey kisses Dalio's ring, recent Pennsylvania Senate candidate David McCormick drinks the Kool-Aid, and a rotating cast of memorable characters grapple with their personal psychological and moral limits―all under the watchful eye of their charismatic leader.
This is a cautionary tale for anyone convinced that the ability to make lots of money has anything at all to do with unlocking the principles of human nature.
352 pages, Hardcover
First published November 7, 2023
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 122 reviews
November 9, 2023
my jaw was on the floor the entire time oh my god
December 2, 2023
I am amazed by the accuracy and breadth of Copeland’s reporting. He managed to get his hands on a ton of source material and found a number of brave people willing to share their stories. Excellent read!
November 15, 2023
A scorcher of a tale. Orwellian. Let me cut to the chase - everyone is ultimately fired (except Greg Jensen). This is the story of the “revolving ranks of cast-off executives” either unable or unwilling to fulfill the pernicious whims of Ray Dalio. Oh, and no one comes off very well. Everyone in it for the humongous pay packages - at the expense of the pension funds (teachers!) being hosed for huge fees, 2/20 - 2% assets under management, 20% of profits, assuming the “Pure Alpha” or “all weather” funds actually delivered alpha (excess returns) relative to their benchmarks. (They frequently underperformed over time after fees vis their benchmarks).
But of course, “no investment manager gets fired for holding Bridgewater.” At least not before this book.
“Dalio responded, ‘as I always say, the best gift anyone can receive is the knowledge of their own weakness.’”
Given the overwhelming evidence presented in this book, it appears that Dalio was much more interested in taking his top executives down, lots more “red dots on the baseball card,” rather than building them up. Insecure and hewing to outdated investment strategies. And a permabear, chronically betting against the US economy, the US dollar. Well, that didn’t exactly ‘bear’ out over the time period in question.
This is the tale of an highly insecure, sadistic, controlling, hypocritical and over-the-top narcissistic main central character. Ray Dalio. A toxic work environment. It appears as the encapsulation of every bad adjective you would want to associate with the workplace and management thereof.
Dalio tries to create a legacy through his “principles.” And yet his major blind spot appears to be how damaging his process around the “principles” are, and the hypocritical, random application of his principles. Cultish intolerance of constructive feedback at the top of the food chain. You can “turn” anyone in except for the top guy. How convenient.
I have to say that in reading this book it became clear to me, the old adage, “live by the sword, die by the sword” applies. One’s transgressions ultimately catch up with them, one way or another.
But of course, “no investment manager gets fired for holding Bridgewater.” At least not before this book.
“Dalio responded, ‘as I always say, the best gift anyone can receive is the knowledge of their own weakness.’”
Given the overwhelming evidence presented in this book, it appears that Dalio was much more interested in taking his top executives down, lots more “red dots on the baseball card,” rather than building them up. Insecure and hewing to outdated investment strategies. And a permabear, chronically betting against the US economy, the US dollar. Well, that didn’t exactly ‘bear’ out over the time period in question.
This is the tale of an highly insecure, sadistic, controlling, hypocritical and over-the-top narcissistic main central character. Ray Dalio. A toxic work environment. It appears as the encapsulation of every bad adjective you would want to associate with the workplace and management thereof.
Dalio tries to create a legacy through his “principles.” And yet his major blind spot appears to be how damaging his process around the “principles” are, and the hypocritical, random application of his principles. Cultish intolerance of constructive feedback at the top of the food chain. You can “turn” anyone in except for the top guy. How convenient.
I have to say that in reading this book it became clear to me, the old adage, “live by the sword, die by the sword” applies. One’s transgressions ultimately catch up with them, one way or another.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
November 25, 2023
Unnerving and excellent. Absorbing. This may be perceived in some quarters as a kind of attack but the author here is really just holding up a mirror. What is grotesque and troubling (like all personality cults) is just the plain old unadorned reality. The reporting seems faultless and completely fair.
November 14, 2023
A deep view into a cringe inducing, dystopian, police mini state, a living hell called Bridgewater. Its cultish leader is the famed billionaire Ray Dalio, a fragile egotistical, small man. Also a commentary on how much humans can debase themselves to earn money or be in the good books of a cult leader. The amount of sycophants that one can summon is staggering. Men and women humiliated in inquisitions, young women sexually harassed, the book is replete with tidbits that I think might make this place illegal. How did the hedge fund become the largest in the world despite the putrid work culture? Nobody knows. There are hints that Ray Dalio’s trading strategy involves nothing more than basic “ if-then” statements that trigger trades based on macroeconomics factors( ex: country X interest rate goes up currency goes down- take a position that bets against it), and/or some informational advantage he may have cultivated with mid-rung government officials and central bankers. Superbly written by the journalist from the Times.
November 13, 2023
Too many libertarian tinged management philosophies leave the world a crueler, more unpleasant place. Dalio’s principles were touted to be elite management gold, but bring with them a very harsh cost for the human beings involved. Is that the kind of world we want to live in?
Thank you Rob Copeland for writing this book. I still have my jaw on the floor from the stories Copeland brings to light about Bridgewater Associates and Ray Dalio. My mind is changed about Dalio’s principles.
Ironically, I read Dalio’s book that was titled Principles and felt the principles for how one manages themselves was useful. But his tactics for managing others are dystopian and Copeland brings the receipts!
Thank you Rob Copeland for writing this book. I still have my jaw on the floor from the stories Copeland brings to light about Bridgewater Associates and Ray Dalio. My mind is changed about Dalio’s principles.
Ironically, I read Dalio’s book that was titled Principles and felt the principles for how one manages themselves was useful. But his tactics for managing others are dystopian and Copeland brings the receipts!
Read
November 9, 2023Petty. Would pass.
November 12, 2023
This was the most insane story I’ve ever read. Even Going Infinite had a more self-aware subject than The Fund. The similarities between Sam Bankman-Fried and Ray Dalio were really interesting though. Both accumulated employees with little apparent sense of why. Both showed a similar overconfidence in their own opinions. Both tended towards gut decisions. Both pursued fame for… what purpose?
Copeland put together a narrative that is factual in tone and gives credit for the accomplishments of Ray Dalio while also presenting the places where he went off the rails or was just straight out gross. Pressure and money make people crazy, it seems.
Copeland put together a narrative that is factual in tone and gives credit for the accomplishments of Ray Dalio while also presenting the places where he went off the rails or was just straight out gross. Pressure and money make people crazy, it seems.
November 13, 2023
An instant classic. Well-researched, well-written and gripping to read.
I have read many business/finance books and this sits right up there with the best of them.
I have read many business/finance books and this sits right up there with the best of them.
November 11, 2023
An astonishing feat of reportage, one of those efforts that fills you with gratitude for the mettle and ingenuity of the Fifth Estate. Rob Copeland deserves a raft of praise for everything he achieves in these pages.
November 12, 2023
Wowza, a must read for anyone who has read or followed Dalio. Megalomanic, egomaniac, tyrant, etc. I mean given Ray Dalio's love for the public eye, it is all quite coherent if you look at his public persona through a different lens. Even if 10% of the stories are factually correct (which based on the thoroughness of the research I would believe the author does a good job doing justice to a much higher percentage) you can categorically sort Ray into the "bad dude" category. From a competency perspective, it looks like his investment strategies have also been traded out of existence and the author paints a storey that their lacklustre performance for the last 10+ years is a function of this + an inability to develop new strategies as they regress to the market mean return before fees.
November 14, 2023
Not worth reading.
The excerpt in The NY Times gives an impression of some of it (fairly inaccurate seeming) being about the investing but it is not, there is almost exactly zero on that topic.
Basically it is 300 pages of : Ray Dalio is a bad person and mean and a hypocrite (because he won’t accept negative feedback himself). With a side dose of: Greg Jensen is slimy.
Obvious who the sources are since they are portrayed very positively. No sense that this is in any way a balanced book. I don’t particularly want to defend Bridgewater or dalio or jensen (in fact I would actively not like to do so and don’t mean for this short book review to do so); I have no idea of the facts. But I also don’t think this book seems like a good place to go to get any facts.
The excerpt in The NY Times gives an impression of some of it (fairly inaccurate seeming) being about the investing but it is not, there is almost exactly zero on that topic.
Basically it is 300 pages of : Ray Dalio is a bad person and mean and a hypocrite (because he won’t accept negative feedback himself). With a side dose of: Greg Jensen is slimy.
Obvious who the sources are since they are portrayed very positively. No sense that this is in any way a balanced book. I don’t particularly want to defend Bridgewater or dalio or jensen (in fact I would actively not like to do so and don’t mean for this short book review to do so); I have no idea of the facts. But I also don’t think this book seems like a good place to go to get any facts.
December 11, 2023
This exposé was unbelievable…. Jaw on the ground level unbelievable.
After reading this I’m struggling how best to describe it, I’ll try…. The world’s largest hedge fund, Bridgewater, was run, quite literally, as if it was modelled after George Orwells “1984” by a ruthless dictator that used the framework of a cult.
As the ruthless creator and de facto CEO, Ray Dalio created hundreds of hardline “Principles” that were meant to be Bridgewaters commandments. He encouraged “radical transparency” to the point where every employee was rated in live time for the most trivial of matters. One employee, who sought help for severe depression, suicidal thoughts and PTSD, was told by his therapist that his workplace created a “feedback loop of self destruction”. Dalio would personally participate in the “drill downs” of employees. He would gather a boardroom full of their peers, berate them ruthlessly and fire them for the most trivial of matters. He would say it was because they didn’t demonstrate dedication to the Principles.
Not even mentioning how NO ONE knows how they make their money, multiple finance sector professionals suspected a massive Ponzi scheme!
This book was just nuts!
After reading this I’m struggling how best to describe it, I’ll try…. The world’s largest hedge fund, Bridgewater, was run, quite literally, as if it was modelled after George Orwells “1984” by a ruthless dictator that used the framework of a cult.
As the ruthless creator and de facto CEO, Ray Dalio created hundreds of hardline “Principles” that were meant to be Bridgewaters commandments. He encouraged “radical transparency” to the point where every employee was rated in live time for the most trivial of matters. One employee, who sought help for severe depression, suicidal thoughts and PTSD, was told by his therapist that his workplace created a “feedback loop of self destruction”. Dalio would personally participate in the “drill downs” of employees. He would gather a boardroom full of their peers, berate them ruthlessly and fire them for the most trivial of matters. He would say it was because they didn’t demonstrate dedication to the Principles.
Not even mentioning how NO ONE knows how they make their money, multiple finance sector professionals suspected a massive Ponzi scheme!
This book was just nuts!
November 27, 2023
quick, easy to read and well documented.
The Fund further cements why you should never meet your heroes, because they’re probably delusional!!
The Fund further cements why you should never meet your heroes, because they’re probably delusional!!
November 17, 2023
It’s a 4/5 but there’s a huge slander campaign by the cult so gotta bump the ratings.
Mostly an entertaining read. There’s so many insane ex BW stories so this tracks lmao.
Mostly an entertaining read. There’s so many insane ex BW stories so this tracks lmao.
November 10, 2023
Would be surprised surprised in Bridgewater turned out to be a scam
https://archive.ph/Lrkmv
Long on gossip, innuendoes and speculation; short on insights
FT review
https://www.ft.com/content/2db7ca87-4...
https://archive.ph/Lrkmv
Long on gossip, innuendoes and speculation; short on insights
FT review
https://www.ft.com/content/2db7ca87-4...
November 13, 2023
Brilliantly reported and thoroughly sourced. An important investigative work.
November 30, 2023
Anybody who’s worked for Bridgewater won’t be able to admit publicly if they identified with the book and why. For instance, if they found the anecdotes to feel precariously nostalgic and absurdly validating. While I’m sure this was not the book’s intended purpose, it could possibly help someone to work through their complicated feelings about their time at the company, which they might describe as feeling like they attended a management masterclass fever dream directed by Quentin Tarantino.
They might appreciate how Copeland was able to gain so much access to an incredibly secretive organization and while not perfectly capturing all of the nuances and details of their experience, admiring how much of that culture he was able to absorb and describe to a mostly unfamiliar audience.
A person familiar with the company might suddenly realize why they get especially anxious when they watch that one Black Mirror episode about an individual’s social credit score and the real life implications that can arise when their sense of personal value, self worth and ultimately their financial well-being is being dictated by what others think of them… in real time… visible to all… and how a bad score can be detrimental so they quickly figure out how to work the system as a means of self preservation even if that goes against the entire purpose of the thing.
Someone might theoretically think fondly of a time when they successfully spent weeks preparing for a drill-down to defend processes that were widely considered industry best practices in order to be grilled for four hours straight on why they felt like this was the right approach and if they were “believable” when they were brought on in the first place because they were an expert in their field.
Anyway, I really liked the book.
They might appreciate how Copeland was able to gain so much access to an incredibly secretive organization and while not perfectly capturing all of the nuances and details of their experience, admiring how much of that culture he was able to absorb and describe to a mostly unfamiliar audience.
A person familiar with the company might suddenly realize why they get especially anxious when they watch that one Black Mirror episode about an individual’s social credit score and the real life implications that can arise when their sense of personal value, self worth and ultimately their financial well-being is being dictated by what others think of them… in real time… visible to all… and how a bad score can be detrimental so they quickly figure out how to work the system as a means of self preservation even if that goes against the entire purpose of the thing.
Someone might theoretically think fondly of a time when they successfully spent weeks preparing for a drill-down to defend processes that were widely considered industry best practices in order to be grilled for four hours straight on why they felt like this was the right approach and if they were “believable” when they were brought on in the first place because they were an expert in their field.
Anyway, I really liked the book.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
November 16, 2023
Damn these capitalistic CEOs be insane.
Great read.
Blog: http://literaturesandmovies.com/
Great read.
Blog: http://literaturesandmovies.com/
November 24, 2023
Between 4 and 5 stars.
The main thesis of the book can be summarized like this: there is no evidence that the principles led to the BW success, however the evidence that it led to toxic company culture is overwhelming.
And this is what makes this blow so heavy. Anyone reading the principles can understand that those are the recipes for creating a pressure cooker, but the success of BW is supposed to be a proof that this cooker would generate extraordinary result.
The book provides believable enough sketch of where did the success of BW actually come from but also left me in doubt as I don't have enough financial chops to verify how probable is this explanation.
I wish book had more to say on financial side of things and spend less time on sexual harassment side of things. The later topic is important, but most of the described incidents are in "alleged" category, this gives the book this pinch of a gosssipy taste I wish it didn't have.
Overall interesting read and perspective, especially if you've read Dalio's books. Feels a little bit one sided (the Ray's side is presented through the voice of BW lawyers just denying the accusations), but it's a good counterbalance to the hype around Dalio and his work.
If you like reading about "big bad tech" (books like "bad blood", "super pumped", etc) this is the book for you.
The main thesis of the book can be summarized like this: there is no evidence that the principles led to the BW success, however the evidence that it led to toxic company culture is overwhelming.
And this is what makes this blow so heavy. Anyone reading the principles can understand that those are the recipes for creating a pressure cooker, but the success of BW is supposed to be a proof that this cooker would generate extraordinary result.
The book provides believable enough sketch of where did the success of BW actually come from but also left me in doubt as I don't have enough financial chops to verify how probable is this explanation.
I wish book had more to say on financial side of things and spend less time on sexual harassment side of things. The later topic is important, but most of the described incidents are in "alleged" category, this gives the book this pinch of a gosssipy taste I wish it didn't have.
Overall interesting read and perspective, especially if you've read Dalio's books. Feels a little bit one sided (the Ray's side is presented through the voice of BW lawyers just denying the accusations), but it's a good counterbalance to the hype around Dalio and his work.
If you like reading about "big bad tech" (books like "bad blood", "super pumped", etc) this is the book for you.
November 22, 2023
Oh, what a pleasure to watch a naked king! Copeland made a huge effort, convincing perhaps tens of people to talk against their non-disclosure agreements, to turn Dalio' "radical transparence" into little more than hypocrisy and kowtowing. It would be a greater book, in my view, if it went deeper into Bridgewater's investment process, market calls, and performance; either it wasn't the focus of the book or the "investment machine" is a black box much more inescrutable than the day-to-day of the company. My favorite part is the visit of Niall Ferguson to the company.
December 9, 2023
So good. Up there with a Nocera or JB Stewart company/situation breakdown but more anchored on the personality and psychology of a person who has huge success early and how they can get to a sad, distorted place all the while thinking of themselves as a hero and friend of humanity for the ages. This is a Ray Dalio / company story but it also felt universal and timeless. I didn’t feel so much outraged as I felt empathetic for this frustrated, hollow man and especially bad for the thousands subjected to the company and CULTure that his quest to solve humanity with a “simple” 856 principle system.
The similarities to religious and cult leaders throughout the ages was remarkable. The stories reminisced of Going Clear and Under the Banner of Heaven more than any of the Sackler outrage books.
Great story, highly instructive, well told and riveting. I read it alongside Principles which was a mind blowing experience. If you can go through that back while reading this one I highly recommend it. Lotta work but the two books are so good together.
The similarities to religious and cult leaders throughout the ages was remarkable. The stories reminisced of Going Clear and Under the Banner of Heaven more than any of the Sackler outrage books.
Great story, highly instructive, well told and riveting. I read it alongside Principles which was a mind blowing experience. If you can go through that back while reading this one I highly recommend it. Lotta work but the two books are so good together.
November 18, 2023
An absolute garbage! This guy has written a Big Brother version of how the biggest hedge fund on planet is being run like 1984!
Pathetic narration, bad story; sorry, no story! Garbage!
Pathetic narration, bad story; sorry, no story! Garbage!
December 18, 2023
Very very spicy and critical of bw. Entertaining. Calling it an ‘unraveling’ is might be melodramatic.
December 17, 2023
I crushed this book in a weekend - it feels like the only time I put the book down was to text an ex-BW colleague if some of the stories were true. They confirmed the “pee on the floor” investigation. I was afraid to ask about the rest. Very fun read 🔥
December 1, 2023
A triumph of the "Get a load of this a**hole" genre of biography/organizational expose.
Copeland paints a picture of a young man with hustle who slowly slides into being a ludicrously rich, sociopathic office tyrant on the strength of a few extraordinary "a broken clock is right twice a day" investment calls. The absolutely deranged office behaviour and Orwellian (in the true senses of the word) environment is bizarre and makes for a series of fascinating and interlocking stories. Copeland also does a nice job of balancing and juggling the cast of characters. The structure of the book in general is very well-executed, and I liked his decision to confine the discussion of his own interactions with Bridgewater and Dalio to a postscript.
Excellent narration by the venerable Will Damron.
Copeland paints a picture of a young man with hustle who slowly slides into being a ludicrously rich, sociopathic office tyrant on the strength of a few extraordinary "a broken clock is right twice a day" investment calls. The absolutely deranged office behaviour and Orwellian (in the true senses of the word) environment is bizarre and makes for a series of fascinating and interlocking stories. Copeland also does a nice job of balancing and juggling the cast of characters. The structure of the book in general is very well-executed, and I liked his decision to confine the discussion of his own interactions with Bridgewater and Dalio to a postscript.
Excellent narration by the venerable Will Damron.
December 12, 2023
Epic!! A shocking revelation of the very toxic, "unprincipled" culture of Bridgewater!!
November 12, 2023
A remarkable read
Rob Copeland’s book is a page-turner. It stands out as an introduction to the business of finance in the USA, a primer on how corporate PR and marketing can be wielded for advantage, and as a history of the world’s largest hedge fund and the people who worked there. But primarily, it’s a book about how to manipulate people - using financial incentives and promises of a magical evolution that’ll be gained by working at this unique business. The stories of how people were treated at Bridgewater are … staggering. And the stories of how people made themselves complicit in their own treatment are shocking. As the old saying goes, if you regularly find yourself saying you’re not in a cult, you’re in a cult. And people who read about and study cult behavior will find Copeland’s book to be very, very familiar territory. I’m glad I picked up The Fund.
Rob Copeland’s book is a page-turner. It stands out as an introduction to the business of finance in the USA, a primer on how corporate PR and marketing can be wielded for advantage, and as a history of the world’s largest hedge fund and the people who worked there. But primarily, it’s a book about how to manipulate people - using financial incentives and promises of a magical evolution that’ll be gained by working at this unique business. The stories of how people were treated at Bridgewater are … staggering. And the stories of how people made themselves complicit in their own treatment are shocking. As the old saying goes, if you regularly find yourself saying you’re not in a cult, you’re in a cult. And people who read about and study cult behavior will find Copeland’s book to be very, very familiar territory. I’m glad I picked up The Fund.
November 14, 2023
Very juicy and informative book. Ray doesn't seem to live by his own principles. Would be a 5 star, but trying to reserve for books that I will re read.
December 1, 2023
It's December, and this feels like the best book i've read all year, after reading Isaacson's bio of Musk & most of Isaacson's bio of Kissinger. Musk is changing the world, Kissinger shaped it, and Dalio wished Isaacson would write about him.
Ray Dalio (RD) has been at the helm of Bridgewater Associates (BW) since its inception more than 30 years ago (49, in fact, as per Linkedin), and the decade+ long drama around his succession shows a man clinging to power while looking to monetize / liquidate his holdings in BW. Autocrats like their power, and their money.
A textbook trick of totalitarian regimes involves using euphemisms (such as USA's enhanced interrogation techniques, or Putin's special military operation in Ukraine), or what Orwell coined as doublespeak in 1984. I found a lot of parallels to draw with RD & BW. Today, some of it would also be called gas lighting.
RD spent the last decade building his public image telling us who he is. Let's use this unauthorized book to see who he is not.
Transparent.
- Radical transparency is a core principle at BW. Except, in the words of Rubinstein (BW's co-CEO in 2016), it's a fraud. The (non) algorithmic scoring system was hardcoded with RD as #1. This reminded me of Sasha Baron Cohen's scene in the Dictator, where he wins his own Olympics games by shooting down fellow competitors.
- Comically, we can also mention the episode where RD orders rolls of butcher paper to placate on the glass walls of a conference room in 2016, for privacy.
- More telling, as of 2020, the internal dot scoring system at BW includes confidential dots. And the all important transparency library went offline overnight, on the recommendation of BW's legal counsel: too much law suit material.
- We should also point to the culture of secrecy of GW, with countless personnel compelled to sign NDAs preventing them from talking about BW to the outside world. It's sad to realize that these NDAs aren't in place to protect trading strategies, but inane internal machinations.
In Animal Farm, we learn that all animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others. In BW we learn that transparency is radical, unless it applies to the boss, the outside, or in certain places, or at certain times. It's a vibe.
Principled.
- Here, we quote Rubinstein again, one of the few with enough pre-existing wealth to dare confronting the Supreme Leader. "You’ve got 375 Principles. Those aren’t principles. Toyota has 14 principles. Amazon has 14 principles. The Bible has 10".
- RD also added principles in the book he published compared to the BW internal principles, and removed others. He also comes up with principles along the way, in order to suit him / save face. With that many, they sometimes contradict each other. So, you have a body of public principles, one of private ones, each subject to change (2 new ones in Ch12, 1 in Ch16, 1 in Ch17 that reversed a previous one, a potential one in Ch23).
- Unsurprisingly. any effort to turn this alleged body of wisdom into anything scientific failed. Ferrucci, the inventor of IBM Watson, hired to turn this shopping list into a predictive algorithm. “How do you calculate believability?” “I’m not going to tell you.” “Why?” “I’m embarrassed.”
- Some English pubs have a buffet with little sauce packets. RD has a buffet of principles. Take those you like depending on your mood that day. But we swear we'll make it into an app, and a book we'll call... "the book of the future". Yes.
Benevolent.
That one is painful. There are countless instances of gleefully mean behavior of RD towards his "family" at BW, where a key principle is having "meaningful relationships". There's a litany of gratuitous, demeaning insults. Then there are the orchestrated public humiliation / lynching shows.
- At a good bye party, we have RD's "As I always say, the best gift anyone can receive is knowledge of their own weaknesses", where he gifts Canner beautifully wrapped hard copies of all the low ratings he'd received.
- A 60th birthday that turns into a 3-hour diagnosis of the failings of the birthday boy, with the classic poll of RD asking whether those at the table agree with the accused or the Supreme Leader. And every time, RD, without blinking, goes "see? people agree with me, not with you, so you're wrong". That gimmick may feel intellectually insulting to the reader, but RD uses it every time.
- We also have the party in honour of the recent wedding of David McCormick (BW's CEO in 2020), seemingly organized at the insistence of RD so he can call the bride, as a toast in front of all the guests, and by then a top executive at Goldman Sachs, having before that served in two White Houses, "the best party girl in America". Now to those not overly versed in speeches and subtlety of men who interact with heads of states, I invite you to check out the definition of party girl in the Collins dictionary. That's not just petty, that's base. And the list goes on.
Meritocratic.
The saga of the succession of RD shows a pattern where RD allows personnel to get very close to the goal, then humiliates and demotes / fires them somehow. The myth of Sisyphus comes to mind. There are too many examples to quote. RD loves the book "hero with a thousand faces", so he calls this their hero journey. As per previous points, too, the scoring system is meritocratic except with all the hardcodes and exceptions, the transparency is radical unless you disagree with RD, and so on. Yet another fraudulent principle.
Now, you may wonder, how and when do they manage money? Apparently, <20% of the firm had roles even only remotely linked to investing, when really a young team of 10 (most of which without prior relevant experience), forced to sign lifetime contracts and sworn to secrecy, actually did all of the investing, under the heavy, veto capable rule of RD. The process was run in excel, by hand, dictated by Dalio's ideas. The links he saw between events is what lets BW say that they have "systematic" trading. For example, I tend to eat when i'm hungry, and i tend to be hungry 3 times per day. I therefore have a very systematic approach to food.
Ultimately, you have a man who created a court of financially dependent serfs around him, over-paying wildly. His savvy & proximity to wealth allowed him to raise large sums interested in stable returns over time, starting when it was ok to charge a 2+% base fee. His investing edge largely faded over the years, as shown by recent performance, but the opacity around the reporting of the performance of the funds, together with the inertia and strength of the PR machine, keep the machine buzzing along. After all, “no one ever got fired for hiring Bridgewater Associates”.
In flagrant doublespeak, Dalio speaks of meaningful relationships, personal growth, principles, transparency, meritocracy, family, when the reality feels much closer to the polar opposite of that. The book is an endless list of telling examples, which I invite you to read.
Ray Dalio (RD) has been at the helm of Bridgewater Associates (BW) since its inception more than 30 years ago (49, in fact, as per Linkedin), and the decade+ long drama around his succession shows a man clinging to power while looking to monetize / liquidate his holdings in BW. Autocrats like their power, and their money.
A textbook trick of totalitarian regimes involves using euphemisms (such as USA's enhanced interrogation techniques, or Putin's special military operation in Ukraine), or what Orwell coined as doublespeak in 1984. I found a lot of parallels to draw with RD & BW. Today, some of it would also be called gas lighting.
RD spent the last decade building his public image telling us who he is. Let's use this unauthorized book to see who he is not.
Transparent.
- Radical transparency is a core principle at BW. Except, in the words of Rubinstein (BW's co-CEO in 2016), it's a fraud. The (non) algorithmic scoring system was hardcoded with RD as #1. This reminded me of Sasha Baron Cohen's scene in the Dictator, where he wins his own Olympics games by shooting down fellow competitors.
- Comically, we can also mention the episode where RD orders rolls of butcher paper to placate on the glass walls of a conference room in 2016, for privacy.
- More telling, as of 2020, the internal dot scoring system at BW includes confidential dots. And the all important transparency library went offline overnight, on the recommendation of BW's legal counsel: too much law suit material.
- We should also point to the culture of secrecy of GW, with countless personnel compelled to sign NDAs preventing them from talking about BW to the outside world. It's sad to realize that these NDAs aren't in place to protect trading strategies, but inane internal machinations.
In Animal Farm, we learn that all animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others. In BW we learn that transparency is radical, unless it applies to the boss, the outside, or in certain places, or at certain times. It's a vibe.
Principled.
- Here, we quote Rubinstein again, one of the few with enough pre-existing wealth to dare confronting the Supreme Leader. "You’ve got 375 Principles. Those aren’t principles. Toyota has 14 principles. Amazon has 14 principles. The Bible has 10".
- RD also added principles in the book he published compared to the BW internal principles, and removed others. He also comes up with principles along the way, in order to suit him / save face. With that many, they sometimes contradict each other. So, you have a body of public principles, one of private ones, each subject to change (2 new ones in Ch12, 1 in Ch16, 1 in Ch17 that reversed a previous one, a potential one in Ch23).
- Unsurprisingly. any effort to turn this alleged body of wisdom into anything scientific failed. Ferrucci, the inventor of IBM Watson, hired to turn this shopping list into a predictive algorithm. “How do you calculate believability?” “I’m not going to tell you.” “Why?” “I’m embarrassed.”
- Some English pubs have a buffet with little sauce packets. RD has a buffet of principles. Take those you like depending on your mood that day. But we swear we'll make it into an app, and a book we'll call... "the book of the future". Yes.
Benevolent.
That one is painful. There are countless instances of gleefully mean behavior of RD towards his "family" at BW, where a key principle is having "meaningful relationships". There's a litany of gratuitous, demeaning insults. Then there are the orchestrated public humiliation / lynching shows.
- At a good bye party, we have RD's "As I always say, the best gift anyone can receive is knowledge of their own weaknesses", where he gifts Canner beautifully wrapped hard copies of all the low ratings he'd received.
- A 60th birthday that turns into a 3-hour diagnosis of the failings of the birthday boy, with the classic poll of RD asking whether those at the table agree with the accused or the Supreme Leader. And every time, RD, without blinking, goes "see? people agree with me, not with you, so you're wrong". That gimmick may feel intellectually insulting to the reader, but RD uses it every time.
- We also have the party in honour of the recent wedding of David McCormick (BW's CEO in 2020), seemingly organized at the insistence of RD so he can call the bride, as a toast in front of all the guests, and by then a top executive at Goldman Sachs, having before that served in two White Houses, "the best party girl in America". Now to those not overly versed in speeches and subtlety of men who interact with heads of states, I invite you to check out the definition of party girl in the Collins dictionary. That's not just petty, that's base. And the list goes on.
Meritocratic.
The saga of the succession of RD shows a pattern where RD allows personnel to get very close to the goal, then humiliates and demotes / fires them somehow. The myth of Sisyphus comes to mind. There are too many examples to quote. RD loves the book "hero with a thousand faces", so he calls this their hero journey. As per previous points, too, the scoring system is meritocratic except with all the hardcodes and exceptions, the transparency is radical unless you disagree with RD, and so on. Yet another fraudulent principle.
Now, you may wonder, how and when do they manage money? Apparently, <20% of the firm had roles even only remotely linked to investing, when really a young team of 10 (most of which without prior relevant experience), forced to sign lifetime contracts and sworn to secrecy, actually did all of the investing, under the heavy, veto capable rule of RD. The process was run in excel, by hand, dictated by Dalio's ideas. The links he saw between events is what lets BW say that they have "systematic" trading. For example, I tend to eat when i'm hungry, and i tend to be hungry 3 times per day. I therefore have a very systematic approach to food.
Ultimately, you have a man who created a court of financially dependent serfs around him, over-paying wildly. His savvy & proximity to wealth allowed him to raise large sums interested in stable returns over time, starting when it was ok to charge a 2+% base fee. His investing edge largely faded over the years, as shown by recent performance, but the opacity around the reporting of the performance of the funds, together with the inertia and strength of the PR machine, keep the machine buzzing along. After all, “no one ever got fired for hiring Bridgewater Associates”.
In flagrant doublespeak, Dalio speaks of meaningful relationships, personal growth, principles, transparency, meritocracy, family, when the reality feels much closer to the polar opposite of that. The book is an endless list of telling examples, which I invite you to read.
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