- Billionaire hedge-fund founder Ray Dalio loves answering questions.
- Dalio held a LinkedIn AMA session on Monday, opening up about his work principles, which he honed after founding the world’s largest hedge-fund, Bridgewater Associates.
- Users also asked Dalio about everything from how his principles apply to women to how to go about introducing what he calls “radical transparency” in a less-accepting workplace.
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Billionaire hedge-fund founder Ray Dalio loves answering questions.
Dalio held a LinkedIn AMA on Monday, allowing users to ask Dalio questions about everything from his 2017 best seller, “Principles,” to his future plans for sharing his knowledge, including a training course Dalio said was “in the works.” Dalio previously held a Reddit AMA last May.
Read more: 8 highlights from hedge-fund billionaire Ray Dalio’s Reddit AMA session
Dalio honed his work principles after founding Bridgewater Associates, the world’s largest hedge-fund, in 1975. Bridgewater Associates currently holds about $160 billion in assets under management.
Dalio answered questions about one of his most well-known principles, something he he calls "radical transparency": The idea that employees should be completely honest with one another to ensure success, while remaining respectful. He also discussed "idea meritocracy," which involves having the courage to make the best decision in difficult circumstances, regardless of opinion.
"I particularly want to explain how a great idea meritocracy with radical truth and radical transparency really works," Dalio said in a video attached to the post. "But feel free to ask me any questions you have about work principles."
Here are some of Dalio's best responses from his latest round of online Q&A.
One of the first questions came from organizational psychologist Adam Grant, who knows Dalio personally. Grant wanted to know some strategies for disagreeing with someone thoughtfully.
Read more: Adam Grant explains why introverts will make better leaders in the future
Another LinkedIn user asked Dalio about two perennially elusive skills: time management and calendar-planning.
Another asked two questions. The first was about whether Dalio's 2012 diagnosis of possible Barrett's esophagus — a pre-cancerous throat disease — was stress-related. The second was whether Dalio's principles could apply to women.
Dalio talked about some of the tools Bridgewater uses to ensure radical transparency, including the "Dot Collector" app, which employees use to rate one another during meetings.
One user asked about implementing Dalio's principles in a workplace that may not readily accept them.
Another user asked Dalio the same question, but wanted him to boil his principles down to just two.
Dalio answered one user's question about implementing his principles in government agencies, like education.
One user asked if Dalio was working on a training course, which gave Dalio a chance to plug his app, "Principles in Action," based on his 2017 best seller, "Principles."
