Principles
"The two biggest barriers to good decision making are your ego and your blind spots."
— Ray Dalio, Principles (2017)
Introduction
| Principles | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Full title | Principles: Life & Work |
| Author | Ray Dalio |
| Language | English |
| Subject | Leadership; Management; Decision making; Personal development |
| Genre | Nonfiction; Business; Self-help |
| Publisher | Simon & Schuster |
Publication date | 19 September 2017 |
| Publication place | United States |
| Media type | Print (hardcover); e-book; audiobook |
| Pages | 592 |
| ISBN | 978-1-5011-2402-0 |
| Website | principles.com |
Chapter summary
This outline follows the Simon & Schuster hardcover edition (2017; ISBN 978-1-5011-2402-0).[1][2]
I – Where I'm coming from
🚀 1 – My call to adventure, 1949–1967.
🚪 2 – Crossing the threshold, 1967–1979.
🕳️ 3 – My abyss, 1979–1982.
🧗 4 – My road of trials, 1983–1994.
🏆 5 – The ultimate boon, 1995–2010.
🎁 6 – Returning the boon, 2011–2015.
🧭 7 – My last year and my greatest challenge, 2016–2017.
🔭 8 – Looking back from a higher level.
II – Life principles
🌍 9 – Embrace reality and deal with it.
🛤️ 10 – Use the 5-step process to get what you want out of life.
🧠 11 – Be radically open-minded.
🧬 12 – Understand that people are wired very differently.
🎯 13 – Learn how to make decisions effectively.
🧩 14 – Life principles: putting it all together.
📋 15 – Summary and table of life principles.
III – Work principles
🗂️ 16 – Summary and table of work principles.
🏛️ 17 – To get the culture right ....
🔍 18 – Trust in radical truth and radical transparency.
🤝 19 – Cultivate meaningful work and meaningful relationships.
🧪 20 – Create a culture in which it is okay to make mistakes and unacceptable not to learn from them.
🔁 21 – Get and stay in sync.
⚖️ 22 – Believability weight your decision making.
🕊️ 23 – Recognize how to get beyond disagreements.
👥 24 – To get the people right ....
🧑🤝🧑 25 – Remember that the WHO is more important than the WHAT.
📝 26 – Hire right, because the penalties for hiring wrong are huge.
📊 27 – Constantly train, test, evaluate, and sort people.
⚙️ 28 – To build and evolve your machine ....
🕹️ 29 – Manage as someone operating a machine to achieve a goal.
🚫 30 – Perceive and don't tolerate problems.
🔬 31 – Diagnose problems to get at their roots.
🛠️ 32 – Design improvements to your machine to get around your problems.
✅ 33 – Do what you set out to do.
🧰 34 – Use tools and protocols to shape how work is done.
📜 35 – And for heaven's sake, don't overlook governance!
🗺️ 36 – Work principles: putting it all together.
📘 37 – Conclusion.
🧱 38 – Appendix: Tools and protocols for Bridgewater's idea meritocracy.
Related content & more
YouTube videos
CapSach articles
References
- ↑ "Principles". Simon & Schuster Canada. Simon & Schuster. 19 September 2017. Retrieved 10 November 2025.
- ↑ "Principles : life and work". WorldCat. OCLC. Retrieved 10 November 2025.