Ray Dalio’s Principles will soon be sold in a bookstore near you.
The Bridgewater Associates founder’s guide to his unique philosophy on life and management — including such commands as “be radically transparent” and “don’t treat all opinions as equally valuable” — will be re-published as a hardcover book in September, Simon & Schuster announced on Monday.
The new book, an expanded and updated version of the original Principles, will be the first of a two-volume series to be released in various formats. The second volume is expected to focus on economics and investing.
“These principles are the reason behind whatever success I’ve had,” Dalio said in a statement. “I’ve learned them over a lifetime of making mistakes and reflecting on them. At this stage in my life the most important thing I can do is pass them along to others.”
They are also the blueprint for the firm’s controversial corporate culture — in which employees are encouraged to be frank with one another about mistakes and weaknesses, and meetings are taped — which Dalio has defended on his LinkedIn page and elsewhere as fostering openness and “thoughtful disagreement.” The original Principles, a 123-page document detailing the 210 rules Dalio lives and works by, is required reading for Bridgewater employees and potential recruits, who are expected to adhere to such principles as “never say anything about a person you wouldn’t say to them directly” and “observe the patterns of mistakes to see if they are a product of weaknesses.”
Earlier this month, Bridgewater — the world’s largest hedge fund firm, with $160 billion in assets — announced that Dalio will be stepping down from his co-chief executive role at the firm, which will now be managed by co-CEOs David McCormick and Eileen Murray. Dalio remains co-chairman and co-CIO of Bridgewater.
The Principles PDF was first released online in 2011, and has been downloaded over three million times, according to Simon & Schuster. The original version earned a 4.38-star rating on book review site Goodreads.
As of Monday, the original PDF was no longer available for download, and had been replaced by a promotional site for the new book. A spokesperson for Simon & Schuster would not provide further comment on the decision to publish Principles.
