#155: Ray Dalio’s Playbook — 7 Principles for Building Scalable, Resilient Companies

What if your business ran like a well-designed machine—one that could evolve, self-correct, and outperform your competition over decades?

In this episode, I unpack Principles by Ray Dalio, the billionaire investor and founder of Bridgewater Associates, the world’s largest hedge fund. It’s not a traditional business book—it’s a blueprint for decision-making, culture design, and long-term scaling, rooted in clarity, transparency, and radical self-honesty.

This episode is built for venture capitalists, executives, and operators leading at scale—those who are no longer improvising but building enduring systems.

You’ll hear the 7 most actionable principles Dalio used to scale Bridgewater, reimagined for anyone building the future—from biotech to AI, from global funds to market-leading enterprises.

We cover how to engineer feedback cultures, design for evolution, and drive decisions that compound over time. And we tackle the big question: Can you be both a high-performance machine and a human-centered leader?

Key Takeaways:

1. Think Like a Machine: Build systems that run without your constant input.
2. Get the People Right: Talent isn’t enough—character and growth capacity matter most.
3. Radical Transparency: Trust is built by saying the hard things early and often.
4. Idea Meritocracy: Don’t default to consensus. Weight decisions by experience.
5. Shaper Thinking: Zoom out to vision, zoom in to execution—and toggle constantly.
6. Diagnose the Root Cause: Don’t waste time solving symptoms.
7. Open-Mindedness as Strategy: Challenge your thinking before reality does.

Timestamps:

(00:00) Intro: The Principles
(02:15) Why This Book Matters If You’re Building or Investing in the Future
(04:14) Who Is Ray Dalio?
(06:21) The Snapshot: What Principles Is Really About
(10:05) Build Your Company Like a Machine, Not a Hero’s Journey
(15:29) Get the People Right
(20:40) Radical Truth & Transparency Are Force Multipliers
(26:08) Build an Idea Meritocracy
(32:26) Shapers Win—They Dream Big, Think Clear, Execute Ruthlessly
(37:37) Diagnose Root Causes, Not Symptoms
(44:02) Be Radically Open-Minded
(50:12) Key Takeaways & Personal Reflection

Why Listen:

• Learn how billion-dollar systems are designed and scaled
• Identify blind spots in your leadership, org design, or investment theses
• Equip yourself with 7 operating principles you can implement this quarter
• Reframe your relationship to truth, conflict, and growth
• Decide whether to build a machine—or remain the operator

If these ideas resonate, I strongly recommend reading Principles in full. Or better yet—share this episode with someone you think is ready to level up how they lead and build.

Transcript

00:00:00:00 - 00:00:18:03

Christian Soschner

What if the secret to building $1 billion company was hidden in a hedge fund handbook? And what if the most valuable playbook for deep tech founders came from a man who almost went bankrupt protecting the economy?

00:00:18:03 - 00:00:30:00

Christian Soschner

Ray Dalio is definitely not your typical startup guru. He built Bridgewater into the world's largest hedge fund. Not with charisma but with his system.

00:00:30:02 - 00:00:37:15

Christian Soschner

And here's the kicker. Dalio's greatest innovation wasn't a financial model. It was a way of thinking.

00:00:38:00 - 00:01:01:01

Christian Soschner

He spoke principles, lays out a radical philosophy. Designed your company like a machine. Make decisions based on believability, not politics. Treat pain as a signal to reflect, not retreat and build a culture where truth is prized more than harmony.

00:01:01:01 - 00:01:18:11

Christian Soschner

Most people skim this book for quotes, but under the surface, it's a tactical goldmine for anyone in venture, especially in deep tech, where complexity failure and ego collide every single day.

00:01:18:11 - 00:01:22:10

Christian Soschner

That's why in this episode I will break it down in four layers.

00:01:22:10 - 00:01:36:04

Christian Soschner

First, you will hear the essence of principles, why it matters and what makes it different. Then we will explore how this book applies to investors and founders in high uncertainty industries.

00:01:36:04 - 00:01:46:18

Christian Soschner

Next, I will walk you through seven key takeaways, the ones that shifted how I think about paper systems and failures.

00:01:46:18 - 00:01:55:17

Christian Soschner

And finally, for each take. I will leave you with three coaching questions to take back to your team or fund.

00:01:55:17 - 00:02:00:14

Christian Soschner

You will get stories, systems, and scripts. But here is my real goal.

00:02:00:14 - 00:02:13:04

Christian Soschner

by the end of this episode, I want you to start seeing your company not as a product, but as a decision making machine that evolves faster than the market.

00:02:13:06 - 00:02:14:15

Christian Soschner

Let's get into it.

00:02:14:20 - 00:02:22:09

Christian Soschner

But before we start, let me answer one question. I am sure some listeners will have in their minds right now.

00:02:22:09 - 00:02:28:03

Christian Soschner

Why does this book matter? If you are building or investing in the future.

00:02:28:05 - 00:02:33:03

Christian Soschner

And let's be honest, most founders don't read hedge fund memoirs.

00:02:33:03 - 00:02:43:02

Christian Soschner

And honestly, most of them shouldn't. But principles is different. Dalio didn't just build a fund. He built the decision making machine,

00:02:43:02 - 00:02:49:02

Christian Soschner

one that worked under pressure that better over time and didn't collapse when he stepped away.

00:02:49:02 - 00:02:57:20

Christian Soschner

So if you're a deep tech founder, you're in the trenches with hard science, complex timelines and existential risk.

00:02:57:20 - 00:03:30:03

Christian Soschner

That means your real job isn't pitching, coding, or even managing. Your job is designing a system that makes better decisions than you do, especially when you are tired. Wrong are just absent. If you're an investor, your entire age depends on seeing what Adam Smith's principles gives you a framework to separate the noise from the signal, to triangulate truths faster, and to coach founders without becoming that bottleneck.

00:03:30:05 - 00:03:44:05

Christian Soschner

Dalio doesn't teach you what to think. He teaches you how to think in systems. And that's what's deep. Taking its most. That's why this book isn't just useful. It's mission critical.

00:03:44:05 - 00:03:52:20

Christian Soschner

But before we dive deeper. If you're enjoying this so far, do me a small favor that makes a huge difference for the team of the podcast.

00:03:52:20 - 00:04:01:12

Christian Soschner

Hit that follow button. Leave a quick rating or review and if something resonates. Share this episode with a person.

00:04:01:12 - 00:04:06:07

Christian Soschner

Would love it. Why? Because it helps grow the show.

00:04:06:07 - 00:04:19:13

Christian Soschner

Attract even more world class thinkers. And best of all, it keeps every episode completely free for you. Always. Thank you for being part of this. And now let's get into it.

00:04:19:15 - 00:04:29:07

Christian Soschner

But with Ray Dalio, you probably wouldn't guess that one of the most influential thinkers on decision making started his career as a golf caddie.

00:04:29:07 - 00:04:53:18

Christian Soschner

That's where the idea of first picked up tips from Wall Street traders holding clubs, listening in and making his first stock pick at age 12. Fast forward a few decades, and Ray built Bridgewater Associates, one of the largest hedge funds in the world, managing over $150 billion at its peak.

00:04:53:20 - 00:04:57:21

Christian Soschner

But here is what makes him different and why principle matters.

00:04:57:21 - 00:05:25:21

Christian Soschner

Dalio didn't just outperform the markets. He reverse engineered reality. Built a company around truth and transparency and treated his team like a living decision making algorithm. He called the system an idea meritocracy that the best ideas win, not the biggest titles. And it worked. His fund was ranked by Fortune and Bloomberg as one of the most successful in history.

00:05:25:23 - 00:05:28:06

Christian Soschner

But it wasn't a straight climb.

00:05:28:06 - 00:06:06:22

Christian Soschner

In the early 1980s, he bet everything on a market crash. Every single dollar. And he was wrong publicly. Lost everything. Had to borrow $4,000 from his dad just to pay his bills. Most people would crawl into a cave, but Elliot didn't. He started writing down every lesson he could find. That painful reset became the seed for principles, a manual on how to think clearly, act rationally, and build organizations that don't break under pressure.

00:06:06:24 - 00:06:11:23

Christian Soschner

He spent 40 years refining these principles with brutal honesty.

00:06:11:23 - 00:06:26:23

Christian Soschner

And when he stepped back from Bridgewater, he made them public, not just as a book, but as a playbook for anyone facing complexity, uncertainty or high stakes decisions.

00:06:27:00 - 00:06:49:08

Christian Soschner

Which is why we are here. Because whether you are backing biotech moonshots or building artificial intelligence from scratch, the ability to think clearly under pressure might be your only real edge. Let's get into how Ray Dalio thinks and how you can apply it in your company or fund.

00:06:49:08 - 00:07:22:14

Christian Soschner

Now, some listeners might ask at this point what principles actually about its worth? My time. At first glance, it looks like a self-help book for CEOs. But if you zoom in, principles is something much deeper. It's a playbook for building reality based thinking in yourself, in your team, and in your entire company. Ray Dalio breaks the book into two parts.

00:07:22:16 - 00:07:27:13

Christian Soschner

The first one is Life Principles. And the second one, Work Principles.

00:07:27:13 - 00:07:48:13

Christian Soschner

But don't expect soft philosophy or Ted talk fluff. This is a book building a mental operating system, one that works under stress, under uncertainty, and under pressure to perform. The core idea pain plus reflection equals progress.

00:07:48:23 - 00:07:59:14

Christian Soschner

Ray Dalio believes that every mistake contains a lesson. And if you reflect deeply enough, you can design better decisions, better systems and better outcomes.

00:07:59:14 - 00:08:03:09

Christian Soschner

This concept shows up again and again throughout the book.

00:08:03:09 - 00:08:14:20

Christian Soschner

You will learn to diagnose problems at the root, not just treat the symptoms. You learn to embrace failure as part of building real skill, not as a detour.

00:08:14:22 - 00:08:38:21

Christian Soschner

You learn to build teams around truth, not ego. Frugality, honesty and transparency. And maybe most importantly, you learn that the world doesn't rewards the smartest ideas. It rewards the clearest decisions. That's why Ray Dalio developed tools like belief ability weighted decision making,

00:08:38:21 - 00:08:43:03

Christian Soschner

where not every opinion is weighted equally,

00:08:43:03 - 00:08:48:16

Christian Soschner

but collectors and algorithmic feedback loops to remove bias from evaluations.

00:08:48:18 - 00:08:52:17

Christian Soschner

A culture where disagreement is in conflict. It's a feature.

00:08:52:17 - 00:08:56:16

Christian Soschner

So why should founders and venture capitalists care?

00:08:56:16 - 00:09:31:01

Christian Soschner

Simple. Deep tech is not linear. They're better. Risky. The stakes are high and the ability to think clearly, especially when your assumptions break, is the difference between scaling or sinking. This book isn't perfect. It's long, it's repetitive, and sometimes sounds like an HR handbook written by a hedge fund mark. But inside there is pure gold, especially if you are trying to build something hard, something new, something no one's done before.

00:09:31:01 - 00:09:35:13

Christian Soschner

If you're wondering whether to read the book, this next part is for you.

00:09:35:15 - 00:09:54:17

Christian Soschner

Because we're about to unpack seven of the most actionable founder relevant ideas that run through your system. Each one is a mindset shift. You can apply immediately whether you are investing in a team, coaching a CEO, or scaling your own company.

00:09:54:17 - 00:10:06:16

Christian Soschner

So if you only stay for one more thing, let it be the first principle. It might rewire how you think about your role as a founder or investor.

00:10:06:18 - 00:10:25:12

Christian Soschner

Let's dive into section one. Build your company like a machine, not a hero's journey like in Disney movies. And this might surprise you, but most startups fail not because the product was bad, but because the founders thought they were the hero.

00:10:25:12 - 00:10:36:00

Christian Soschner

You know the story of late nights. Sheer willpower. High pain tolerance. They sprint through walls until they burn out.

00:10:36:02 - 00:10:51:21

Christian Soschner

What they should have been building was a machine that could sprint without them. Ray Dalio puts it bluntly in the book on page 240. Think of yourself as a machine operating within a machine.

00:10:51:21 - 00:11:08:06

Christian Soschner

And that idea hits deep because you are in deep tech, artificial intelligence, biotech, climate defense. You are not just trying to survive. You are trying to scale precision.

00:11:08:08 - 00:11:21:21

Christian Soschner

Heroics don't scale. They win one battle and that's it. Systems to scale. They win the war. The companies that win aren't run by murderers. They are built by architects.

00:11:22:09 - 00:11:27:03

Christian Soschner

So here is the problem. Most early stage teams confuse momentum with structure.

00:11:27:05 - 00:11:32:21

Christian Soschner

The founder is in every single decision. They are hiring reactively.

00:11:32:21 - 00:11:44:19

Christian Soschner

They are constantly doing reality. Designing. It feels like progress because there is a lot of activity. But when the cracks show, there is no system to hold it all together.

00:11:44:19 - 00:11:53:13

Christian Soschner

Now imagine you are raising $100 million fund or backing a founder racing against the clock in a regulated market.

00:11:53:15 - 00:12:20:16

Christian Soschner

If they don't have a repeatable system for product development or hiring or regulatory response, you are betting on chaos. And Dalio says it clearly on page 279. You are not born with the ability to make good decisions. You learn it like anything else by creating systems, refining them and deploying them again and again and again.

00:12:20:18 - 00:12:30:06

Christian Soschner

In other words, your job isn't to muscle for problems. It's to create a machine that solves them without your direct input.

00:12:30:06 - 00:12:50:19

Christian Soschner

So what does the machine mindset look like? It starts with stepping back. Ray Dalio describes it on page 276. Go back before you go forward. Replay the story of where you have been. Then visualize what you and others must do to reach your goals.

00:12:50:21 - 00:13:01:08

Christian Soschner

Dalio literally treats companies like engineering systems. He maps out who does what, when and how success gets measured. Hiring.

00:13:01:08 - 00:13:14:07

Christian Soschner

That's a module. It has metrics, scripts, feedback loops, decision making. He introduces believability weighting and structured disagreements. That system.

00:13:14:07 - 00:13:29:19

Christian Soschner

At Bridgewater in Culture was engineered. Think of your plan as being like a movie script. You go from the big picture and drill down to specific tasks and estimated timelines. You can read it on page 277. In the book.

00:13:29:19 - 00:13:40:20

Christian Soschner

If that sounds extreme, it is, but it works. There is site. He's came one of the most successful hedge funds in history.

00:13:40:20 - 00:13:45:12

Christian Soschner

But not being the hero. He was the architect and engineer.

00:13:45:14 - 00:14:14:03

Christian Soschner

Now let's bring this home. In deep tech, you can't afford fragility. You're building in a landscape full of unknowns. Capital cycles, regulatory traps. If your team relies on gut feeling but last minute brilliance, it will break. Definitely found this win over time to watch the rocket. They step back. That's the machine and let it run. Here is the kicker.

00:14:14:03 - 00:14:42:03

Christian Soschner

Another one from the great planners who don't execute their plans. They go nowhere, but also, on the contrary, create. Execute those without design. They will hit limits pretty fast. The truth lies in the middle. Execution and planning. You are not here to fight fires. You are here to build the fire house. Because in the end, the founders win.

00:14:42:03 - 00:14:47:14

Christian Soschner

Other ones will fire themselves from operations so they can lead.

00:14:47:14 - 00:14:56:09

Christian Soschner

Let's wrap the first section up with my usual three coaching questions to help you reflect on how you can prepare your mind for contrarian thinking.

00:14:56:11 - 00:15:06:14

Christian Soschner

Where in your company often are you still acting like the hero?

00:15:06:16 - 00:15:17:24

Christian Soschner

What's one recurring problem that could be solved better by designing a system? Not working harder?

00:15:18:01 - 00:15:30:12

Christian Soschner

The third one. If someone took over your company tomorrow, would it run a collapse?

00:15:30:14 - 00:15:36:01

Christian Soschner

So let's move forward to section two. Gets the people right.

00:15:36:01 - 00:16:05:16

Christian Soschner

You have probably heard this one. A great deal with the wrong team will fail, and may the correct deal with the right team when waiting. But Rosario says it even sharper. The hole is more important than the what? You can build the best machine, the best system, the best processes. When you don't hire in a team but let it operate by A, B or C team, it will fail.

00:16:05:24 - 00:16:17:14

Christian Soschner

And especially if you're in deep tech where cycles are long, pivots are painful and stakes are high. This isn't just advice. It's pure survival.

00:16:17:14 - 00:16:40:06

Christian Soschner

founders usually love to obsess over tech. We seize love to chase the market. But Bridgewater success was built on a different obsession. People. Dalio spent decades developing a systematic way to see people clearly, not just residents patterns, decisions, accountability and growth.

00:16:40:06 - 00:16:43:17

Christian Soschner

He treated his team like the engine of the company

00:16:43:17 - 00:16:48:20

Christian Soschner

and every engine component had to fit or get replaced,

00:16:48:20 - 00:16:58:20

Christian Soschner

because when the wrong person is in the system, you don't just start, you crash.

00:16:58:22 - 00:17:15:04

Christian Soschner

Most startups fail to scale not because the tech broke, but because the team broke. And the worst part? It happened slowly. Silently. You look around and realize we've been tolerating mediocrity for months.

00:17:15:04 - 00:17:16:18

Christian Soschner

Dalio puts it plainly.

00:17:16:18 - 00:17:27:07

Christian Soschner

It's on page 400. In the book. If they still can't do the job after you've trained them and given them time to learn, get rid of them.

00:17:27:09 - 00:17:58:05

Christian Soschner

But here's what kills founders loyalty bias. You hired your best friend, or you trust the person who was there from day one. Now you're stuck. Not because they are bad, but because the company has outgrown them and you can't face it, Dalio warns on page 231. In the book. Every startup and investment hinges on the team. Getting the right people in the right roles is the key to succeeding at whatever you choose to accomplish.

00:17:58:07 - 00:18:13:17

Christian Soschner

You're building a machine. Remember, if one gear is not turning, the whole thing grinds to Dalio's solution. Run your team like a high performance engine. Assess each single part.

00:18:13:19 - 00:18:17:05

Christian Soschner

Evaluate people against outcomes. If they can't grow,

00:18:17:05 - 00:18:38:21

Christian Soschner

let them go. Here is how he did it. He created and this equals one. Baseball cards for every employee. Literally writing them on key traits and evolving them over time. He measured progress, constantly, made accountability visible, and held no illusion about potential without growth.

00:18:38:23 - 00:19:02:03

Christian Soschner

This wasn't cold hearted, it was canned realism helping people evolve. And if they couldn't, helping them exit. Because in deep tech, misalignment compounds a single mismatch in a core technically higher or on the cap table, that's a 12 month burn.

00:19:02:03 - 00:19:06:24

Christian Soschner

The opportunity cost of one missed hire isn't just salary,

00:19:07:04 - 00:19:14:21

Christian Soschner

It's delayed learning. It's missed pivots. It's investor doubts. It's the morale erosion.

00:19:14:21 - 00:19:33:12

Christian Soschner

Every day you delay the hard conversation, you are putting the company at risk. Dalio writes again. Page 491. If you have the same people doing the same things, you should expect the same results. So if you want to have other results, change the tasks or change the people.

00:19:33:12 - 00:19:40:17

Christian Soschner

Or introduce words. If the results aren't working, you don't change the mission. You change the team.

00:19:40:17 - 00:20:01:16

Christian Soschner

Here is what's the best to do differently. They act early. They measure people against future fit, not just past loyalty. They built a culture where evolving or exiting is part of the journey, not the betrayal. Because the truth is, who you built with will determine what you can actually build.

00:20:01:18 - 00:20:08:06

Christian Soschner

Let's wrap this section two up with my three coaching questions to help you reflect on your team and leadership. Design.

00:20:08:06 - 00:20:21:06

Christian Soschner

So the first question is who on your team is out of sync with your mission? But you're avoiding the hard conversation.

00:20:21:08 - 00:20:40:10

Christian Soschner

Are you designing roles around people you like? Are around the outcomes you need? If you could rehire your current team today, who wouldn't make the cut and why?

00:20:40:12 - 00:20:49:22

Christian Soschner

And this brings us right to section three. Radical truth and transparency are force multipliers.

00:20:49:22 - 00:20:59:21

Christian Soschner

Did you ever sit through a startup board meeting and think everyone here knows what's wrong, but no one's saying it out loud.

00:20:59:21 - 00:21:18:23

Christian Soschner

Yes, Ray Dalio would call that a silent killer. He puts it plainly on page 323. Truth is the essential foundation of any good outcome. In other words, if you are not telling the truth, you are building on sand.

00:21:18:23 - 00:21:30:06

Christian Soschner

Startups are fragile. They don't die from competition. They die from silence, from half truths, from a team pretending it's fine when it's not.

00:21:30:06 - 00:21:46:15

Christian Soschner

Radical transparency isn't about being blunt or old. It's about being real early. Because if your company is a machine trophy stealing, no truth, the gears grind. Then they snap

00:21:46:15 - 00:21:49:08

Christian Soschner

that your sword is first hand at Bridgewater.

00:21:49:10 - 00:22:01:13

Christian Soschner

He didn't just talk about feedback. He institutionalized it. Real time feedback tools, open recordings, postmortems. A culture where nothing important stays unspoken.

00:22:01:13 - 00:22:09:13

Christian Soschner

Most teams run on what style your cards filter, the information people hold back. They protect because they want to look good.

00:22:09:13 - 00:22:20:24

Christian Soschner

On page 352, he says, don't worry about looking good. Worry about achieving your goals. The results in startups that don't care about the truth.

00:22:21:01 - 00:22:31:04

Christian Soschner

Mistakes repeat. Trust erodes. Decisions drift off course because no one had the courage to say that ain't working.

00:22:31:04 - 00:22:41:07

Christian Soschner

the irony. Founders say they want honest culture but flinch at tough conversations. They don't want to tell the CTO their team is too slow,

00:22:41:07 - 00:22:50:18

Christian Soschner

or admit to investors that the milestone won't be hit, or confess to themselves that the product isn't resonating, Dalio warns.

00:22:50:22 - 00:23:18:21

Christian Soschner

Page 309. If you don't talk openly about issues and have paths for working through them, you won't have partners who collectively own the outcomes. And even worse, without truth, people starts to perform for optics. They play not to lose. Instead of playing to win. So what's the antidote?

00:23:18:23 - 00:23:25:04

Christian Soschner

Radical truth plus radical transparency.

00:23:25:06 - 00:23:36:10

Christian Soschner

The idea in his book page 323, being radically truthful and transparent with your colleagues, ensures that important issues are apparent instead of hidden.

00:23:36:10 - 00:23:38:08

Christian Soschner

Here's how that plays out in startups.

00:23:38:08 - 00:23:49:06

Christian Soschner

You run postmortems even when it hurts. An operation failed. Sit down. Provide honest feedback. Google how the Navy Seals teams do it.

00:23:49:06 - 00:23:53:14

Christian Soschner

You update investors with what really happened.

00:23:53:16 - 00:24:24:18

Christian Soschner

Not just their public relations versions. You give teammates feedback before the performance drops, so they have a shot at growing and getting it right. Don't hide your feedback and let them fade in plain sight. Dalio pushed this to the edge at Bridgewater team meetings where recorded feedback was continuous and public. People shared the hardest things first because trust was built on honesty not comfort.

00:24:24:18 - 00:24:36:15

Christian Soschner

But 333 in the book, he says. Share the things that are hardest to share, because if you don't, you will lose the trust and partnership of the people you are not sharing with.

00:24:36:15 - 00:24:57:17

Christian Soschner

Yes, it's uncomfortable. It might upset someone, but you know what's worse? Avoiding the conversation. Watch conflicts go cold and grow in silence, and then observing the company slowly implode.

00:24:58:01 - 00:25:21:03

Christian Soschner

Here is the truth. Radical transparency isn't the culture for everyone. But if you want to build a deep tech company that lasts like Apple, Microsoft, alphabet, OpenAI, I. Feedback is the fuel. Mistakes leads to real change and ideas win over egos.

00:25:21:03 - 00:25:53:13

Christian Soschner

Only then radical truth becomes your competitive advantage. Let's prop up this truth section with free coaching questions to help you reflect on truth, trust, and transparency. First, ask yourself what uncomfortable truths are you avoiding sharing with your team, your board, or even yourself?

00:25:53:15 - 00:26:04:05

Christian Soschner

Is your corporate culture optimizing for feeling good or for getting better?

00:26:04:07 - 00:26:14:01

Christian Soschner

And when was the last time someone gave you as a CEO or the investor, direct feedback and you thanked them for it?

00:26:16:03 - 00:26:22:04

Christian Soschner

Let me ask you one question first. What happens when you combine radical truth.

00:26:22:06 - 00:26:23:07

Christian Soschner

Plus.

00:26:23:09 - 00:27:11:18

Christian Soschner

Radical transparency, plus believability, weighted decision making? You get an idea. Meritocracy. And this is what section four is all about. You think the best ideas win in most companies? That's wrong. They don't. The loudest voice wins, or the most senior title, or the person who plays politics best. Ray Dalio's whole system exists to fight that. He built Bridgewater into one of the most successful investment firms in history by creating something extremely rare a culture where truth wins and ego loses.

00:27:11:20 - 00:27:42:21

Christian Soschner

Now here's the twist. Dalio doesn't believe in flat democracy. He doesn't believe everyone's opinion should carry equal weight. That that would be chaos. Instead, he pioneered a system where decisions are weighted by believability. In other words, who has the most track record and insight in this area? Give the world more weight. He writes in the book on page 321.

00:27:42:23 - 00:28:13:17

Christian Soschner

An idea meritocracy requires that people be open minded and assertive at the same time. This sounds elegant, but it's brutal in practice. It means every team member has to be comfortable being questioned and being wrong. In most startups, decisions are made by the hyper, the highest paid person's opinion. It feels efficient, but it's different. Innovation.

00:28:13:17 - 00:28:51:14

Christian Soschner

The people closest to the problem. Product leaders. Engineers. Researchers. They get all ignored. And what happens? You lose your best ideas. The smartest thinkers stop speaking up and you start executing hard on the wrong problem, and you solve the wrong problem. This is why Dalio warns on page 323. Understanding what is true is essential for success and being radically transparent helps create the understanding that leads to improvements.

00:28:51:16 - 00:29:04:15

Christian Soschner

The fix is not just be nice and let everyone talk. It's structured. Dissent is about creating rules of engagement where disagreement is not just allowed, but required.

00:29:04:15 - 00:29:08:01

Christian Soschner

Dalio describes it like this on page 321.

00:29:08:16 - 00:29:38:08

Christian Soschner

Put your honest thoughts on the table. Have fought for disagreement and abide by agreed upon ways of getting past disagreement. Let's break this down. The first part is put your honest thoughts on the table. No sugarcoating. No hedging. Just say what you believe to be true. And the CEO's job is to make sure that everybody has to say.

00:29:38:08 - 00:29:38:11

Christian Soschner

It

00:29:38:11 - 00:30:01:03

Christian Soschner

It reminds me of what Jeff Bezos said in his speech, where he said when he is the decision maker in the room, he makes sure everybody speaks and he starts with the youngest one lowest in the hierarchy and works himself up the hierarchy until he heard every opinion in the room, then says what he thinks and makes a decision.

00:30:01:05 - 00:30:12:20

Christian Soschner

That's why the second part is important. Have thoughtful disagreement. This isn't a shouting match. It's a deep curiosity about why the other person sees the world differently.

00:30:12:20 - 00:30:28:21

Christian Soschner

And the third one abide by decision rules. In Dallas, world's decisions are often settled by believability. Weighted votes. You track who's constantly right in what domain, and their input carries more weight.

00:30:28:23 - 00:30:35:24

Christian Soschner

This is not theory. It's embedded into Bridgewater software team structure and investment process.

00:30:35:24 - 00:30:42:07

Christian Soschner

Now imagine how this would change your deep tech startup.

00:30:42:07 - 00:30:58:15

Christian Soschner

instead of following the founder's gut, you are testing hypotheses across science, engineering, market feedback and weighting inputs bias. Earned the right to be heard in that arena. That's how you beat competitors.

00:30:58:21 - 00:31:03:24

Christian Soschner

Look behaving born genius. But by systematically extracting truth from your team.

00:31:03:24 - 00:31:18:07

Christian Soschner

Dalio puts it plainly on page 201. It's smaller and ultimately better for you to be open minded and have faith. That's the consensus of belief in others is better than whatever you think.

00:31:18:07 - 00:31:39:19

Christian Soschner

Here is what this really is. It's a system for fighting your own ego. You don't have to be right. You just have to care more about getting it right. Then being right. And when a startup commits to that, you unlock something most companies never access. Compound in the actual leverage

00:31:39:19 - 00:31:46:19

Christian Soschner

the kinds that can only come from multiple brilliant minds working in harmony, even while disagreeing.

00:31:46:21 - 00:31:51:05

Christian Soschner

The idea says the best ideas win, not the best. People.

00:31:51:05 - 00:32:11:10

Christian Soschner

So let's wrap up with another free coaching question to help you reflect on how you are making decisions in your fund. A company. The first one. Where in your company are decisions still driven by hierarchy instead of evidence?

00:32:11:12 - 00:32:20:00

Christian Soschner

Who on your team should have more say but gets overlooked because of politics or personality?

00:32:20:00 - 00:32:31:00

Christian Soschner

What's one decision in the last 30 days where people viability weighted approach would have changed the outcome?

00:32:31:02 - 00:32:55:04

Christian Soschner

And having said that, let's move to part number five. It's all about the personalities of the founders that have built the biggest companies in the last 30 years. The shapers. Sector five. The tide list shapers. When they dream big things clear and execute ruthlessly.

00:32:55:06 - 00:33:11:17

Christian Soschner

You know the founder who always seems to pull off the impossible. The one who gets funding even when everyone doubts the idea and then turns that idea into a product. Nobody's succumbing. That's not luck. That's not magic.

00:33:11:17 - 00:33:20:13

Christian Soschner

That is what Ray Dalio calls a shaper. And in deep tech, you need them more than anyone else.

00:33:20:15 - 00:33:45:11

Christian Soschner

Those shapers, they are rare. They dream audaciously and execute relentlessly. They can see the big picture and obsess over the tiny key as they question the status quo. Not for the sake of rebellion, but because they actually see a better version of reality, and they are determined to build it. Writes on page 230.

00:33:45:11 - 00:33:55:07

Christian Soschner

Shapers like Steve Jobs get both the big picture and the tiny little details right. They can easily navigate back and forth between the two.

00:33:55:07 - 00:33:59:03

Christian Soschner

This is what makes them so dangerous in the best way.

00:33:59:03 - 00:34:07:07

Christian Soschner

Most founders lean on one way or the other. Either they are the visionary or they are the detail oriented personality.

00:34:07:07 - 00:34:14:13

Christian Soschner

Most founders lean one way or the other. Either they are visionary, stuck high up in the clouds,

00:34:14:13 - 00:34:27:06

Christian Soschner

Or they are the operators so deep in the weeds they can't see where they are going. In martial arts we say it's the dragon high up in the sky and the tiger grounded on earth.

00:34:27:08 - 00:34:28:06

Christian Soschner

NBC's

00:34:28:06 - 00:34:40:14

Christian Soschner

the often rewards the most polished deck or the strongest pedigree. Instead of identifying the rare shapers who can hold conflicting ideas in their mind and thrive in total chaos.

00:34:40:14 - 00:34:43:21

Christian Soschner

But here is what happens when you don't bet on shapers.

00:34:43:21 - 00:34:47:12

Christian Soschner

Your company plateaus. Your team stays comfortable.

00:34:47:12 - 00:35:10:05

Christian Soschner

Dalio's research, found that every single exceptional founder he studied, from Steve Jobs to Elon Musk, had a specific combination intense curiosity, independent thinking and need to dream big. Practicality and the compulsive need to make sense of things.

00:35:10:05 - 00:35:13:00

Christian Soschner

It's in the book on page 230.

00:35:13:09 - 00:35:26:07

Christian Soschner

What you want are people who can toggle between first principles and messy operations, between deep science and public storytelling, between big goals and day to day accountability.

00:35:26:07 - 00:35:49:19

Christian Soschner

And when you find them, don't box them in. Don't over process them. Let them build. Let them break things. Let them shape us. On page 230, literally. Put it this way, people wired with enough of these ways of thinking that they can operate in the world and shape us are very rare,

00:35:49:19 - 00:35:55:20

Christian Soschner

but they could never succeed without working with others who are more naturally suited for other things.

00:35:55:20 - 00:36:06:00

Christian Soschner

Because here is the twist. You don't need to be a shaper to hire one, but you do need the humility to recognize them and the guts to back them.

00:36:06:00 - 00:36:20:03

Christian Soschner

Dalio even built his firm to attract them. He says on page 293, I wanted people around me who could challenge me, who would disagree with me and help me see what I couldn't see.

00:36:20:03 - 00:36:45:03

Christian Soschner

Shape us. Thrive when surrounded by belief. People willing to challenge their thinking, and when systems are in place to track reality, not just hope. Here's the deeper insight. Shapers are not immune to doubt or failure. They just use those moments as fuel. Evolve faster to reflect deeper. To stay connected to the ground while building in the sky.

00:36:45:05 - 00:36:57:14

Christian Soschner

And if you are serious about winning in that, you need to ask are you shaping the world or reacting to it? Because those are not the same path.

00:36:57:14 - 00:37:06:12

Christian Soschner

So let's wrap up this section with my three questions to help you think about who the real shapers in your orbit are.

00:37:06:12 - 00:37:07:22

Christian Soschner

The first one?

00:37:07:24 - 00:37:19:11

Christian Soschner

Who in your portfolio or company shows signs of being a true shaper? And how are you empowering them?

00:37:19:13 - 00:37:40:07

Christian Soschner

The second one. What power deviation are you avoiding because it feels too ambitious or too risky? And the third one where in your own thinking are you favoring party over progress? And how could you shift back into shaping mode?

00:37:40:07 - 00:37:48:17

Christian Soschner

Having said that, let's move on to the sixth part. Diagnose root causes, not just symptoms.

00:37:48:17 - 00:37:59:09

Christian Soschner

So what does that mean? Bad. Not root causes. Not symptoms. Ray Dalio says in the book page 482. If you don't go deep, you will solve the wrong problem.

00:37:59:09 - 00:38:04:22

Christian Soschner

Have you ever experienced that? That you fixed something and you just broke again?

00:38:04:24 - 00:38:40:06

Christian Soschner

A team problem you thought was solved comes back a product issue that keeps resurfacing, right? I would say you didn't go deep enough. You treated the symptom. You didn't solve the root in deep tech. Surface level fixes are seductive. A deadline slips, so you work late, the prototype breaks, so you patch it. But if you don't ask why it happened, if you don't figure out what system produced that failure, you are just spinning the hamster wheel.

00:38:40:08 - 00:38:43:02

Christian Soschner

Darabont's on page 175.

00:38:43:02 - 00:38:47:13

Christian Soschner

Focus on the what is before deciding what to do.

00:38:47:15 - 00:39:22:12

Christian Soschner

Because when you jump straight to the action, you are often solving the wrong thing. It's like playing chess when you just use your first reaction and move. There's a higher chance of failure if you follow the process that you ask yourself after your opponent moved. What's the threat here? What's the weakness they created? What's my opportunity? What's a better move?

00:39:22:14 - 00:39:32:11

Christian Soschner

And is there even a better one? And then move. If you don't do that, you will probably lose the game. But if you do that, you increase the odds of winning.

00:39:32:11 - 00:39:34:00

Christian Soschner

And solve the right thing.

00:39:34:00 - 00:39:44:07

Christian Soschner

The problem is, founders and teams often move fast. A lot of activity going in no direction. Speed is their default. Reflection feels like a luxury.

00:39:44:07 - 00:39:50:22

Christian Soschner

But what actually happens when you treat every fire as an isolated event?

00:39:50:22 - 00:39:53:09

Christian Soschner

You react to surface level pain.

00:39:53:09 - 00:40:11:23

Christian Soschner

Instead of fixing the machine that caused it died, you developed a whole playbook for this. It starts with a simple road by 275. Diagnose problems to get to the core of it, to get to the root causes. And the hard part.

00:40:11:23 - 00:40:26:11

Christian Soschner

root causes are emotionally uncomfortable. They often involve you. Your hiring mistake, your lack of process, your tendency to avoid confrontation. Dalio puts it plainly

00:40:26:11 - 00:40:34:08

Christian Soschner

Everyone has at least one big thing that stands in the way of their success. Find yours and deal with it.

00:40:34:10 - 00:40:43:23

Christian Soschner

Because if you don't, you will see the same issues with different names, different people, and this same headache.

00:40:43:23 - 00:41:07:11

Christian Soschner

Leaving your relationship. You can't leave yourself. You might just end up in the same situation with a different person. So what's the solution? Always start with the five whys. Literally ask why five times to drill a little bit deeper with every single answer.

00:41:07:11 - 00:41:18:21

Christian Soschner

Why did the launch get delayed? It's the first why? Because she wasn't ready. Don't stop there and don't fix the QA.

00:41:18:21 - 00:41:44:12

Christian Soschner

Ask why wasn't QA ready? To answer because the scope changed. Last minute. Don't stop here. Why did the scope change? The answer? Because priorities weren't clarified in planning. I think you get the idea. Now. Ask why? Keep asking.

00:41:44:14 - 00:42:12:13

Christian Soschner

Practice it every single day in your company. The suggests this technique in history. Down method. Page 492 to 493. Quickly inventory all the core problems in your company. Be very specific. Don't generalize or use weak name names. Then identify the deep seated reasons behind the actions that caused each problem.

00:42:12:15 - 00:42:21:12

Christian Soschner

Yes, it's very uncomfortable. It will challenge your ego and the ego of every single person in your company.

00:42:21:12 - 00:42:28:05

Christian Soschner

But ignoring it guarantees one thing you will keep solving this same problem.

00:42:28:05 - 00:42:42:04

Christian Soschner

But never, ever will you change the results. The value remains us. Most problems happen for one of two reasons. It isn't clear who the responsible party is, or two.

00:42:42:06 - 00:42:45:24

Christian Soschner

The responsible party isn't handling their responsibility well.

00:42:45:24 - 00:43:13:20

Christian Soschner

Here is the deeper truth. Diagnosing root causes isn't just operational hygiene. It's a superpower. It's teaches your team how to think, not just react. It builds a culture where progress is earned, not assume. And it helps you grow faster because you are honest about what's not working between now and then. Is it working through it? Period. Great idea.

00:43:13:20 - 00:43:17:19

Christian Soschner

Puts it very beautifully on page 501 in the book.

00:43:17:19 - 00:43:46:19

Christian Soschner

Root cause analysis is that working through each phase. You can't rush things into existence. You have to work for it. And it's the only way to build something that lasts. Again, we're at the end of the section three questions. What issue has come up more than once in the past year, and did you ever actually diagnostic?

00:43:46:21 - 00:44:05:19

Christian Soschner

Where have you been fixing symptoms when you should have been redesigning the system? What's the one big thing you know is in your way, but you haven't dealt with it yet?

00:44:05:21 - 00:44:08:01

Christian Soschner

Let's move on to the final section.

00:44:08:03 - 00:44:22:00

Christian Soschner

Be radically open minded. Or as Ray Dalio puts it. Sincerely believe you might not know the best possible path. Swim in the unknown. Page 188.

00:44:22:00 - 00:44:45:13

Christian Soschner

Here's the weird part about smart people. The smarter they are, the harder it is for them to stay open minded. Because intelligence is seductive. You're used to being right in your field, and if you're building a deep tech company or running a fund, you probably get rewarded for being right for yes.

00:44:45:15 - 00:44:59:10

Christian Soschner

But in frontier tech and venture, your ability to say, I might be wrong, I don't know everything about everything is what actually makes you powerful.

00:44:59:10 - 00:45:09:21

Christian Soschner

Guide your calls. It's the ego barrier, the instinct to protect your ideas even when they are wrong. And the blind spot barrier.

00:45:09:21 - 00:45:14:20

Christian Soschner

That inability to see flaws in your own thinking. Here is the scary part.

00:45:14:22 - 00:45:43:11

Christian Soschner

Okay, 284 even the most intelligent people behave this way and it's tragic. He explains that every one of us is basically two people. The logically higher level you and the emotional lower level you. When someone challenges your thinking, your amygdala doesn't say, oh, cool, let's explore that. It says.

00:45:43:13 - 00:45:44:13

Christian Soschner

Attack.

00:45:44:15 - 00:45:52:19

Christian Soschner

Defend, control. This is biology at work. And if you don't recognize it, it owns you.

00:45:52:19 - 00:46:16:14

Christian Soschner

The antidote is putting a little bit of Viktor Frankl in your behavior between the stimulus and your reaction. You create a space to think, and this gives you the power to respond in different ways appropriate to the situation and not just reacting to it.

00:46:16:14 - 00:46:47:13

Christian Soschner

And here is the problem. As a founder or VC, you're supposed to be confident. But overconfidence. That's dangerous in complex environments. And let's face it, the science is never settled. The market is never predictable, and the people around you often see what you miss. Dalio puts it plainly again. Page hundred and 88. Most people are so certain they are right that they don't allow themselves to see better alternatives.

00:46:47:13 - 00:47:24:16

Christian Soschner

Closed mindedness hides in plain sight or on social media these days. Dalio lists the science. You make more statements than questions. You feel annoyed when challenged. You focus more on being understood, then understanding it. You say things like, I could be wrong, but. And then ignore other views. Check it out. In the book on page 296, he says open minded people are more curious about why there is disagreement.

00:47:24:18 - 00:47:27:18

Christian Soschner

They feel compelled to see things through other sides.

00:47:27:18 - 00:47:40:03

Christian Soschner

Dalio trains for open mindedness, like a mental discipline. Practice fought for disagreement. Triangulate with believable people. Assume your first answer is incomplete.

00:47:40:03 - 00:47:42:15

Christian Soschner

Ask more questions than you. Give answers.

00:47:42:15 - 00:47:51:13

Christian Soschner

Meditation helps slow down and let your higher level, said fleet. Dalio describes it on page 199.

00:47:51:13 - 00:48:20:20

Christian Soschner

What's the benefits of meditation in decision making in high risk positions? Are and it's not only meditation. Also running books on the. You don't have to accept every critique, but you do have to genuinely explore it and be grateful for it. If you're surrounded by yes, people are afraid to hear the tough stuff. You will make the same mistake you made in 1982.

00:48:20:22 - 00:48:44:10

Christian Soschner

He bets the firm on a big market call. He was wrong and he lost everything, so he had to rebuild from scratch. And. But this time he learned his lesson from his mistake. He says, I realized how wrong I could be. So I began to seek out fault for disagreement, like oxygen.

00:48:44:10 - 00:49:05:19

Christian Soschner

Open mindedness is not weakness. It's strategic humility. A way to get stronger by absorbing perspective without losing your edge. Dalio says on page 288 you can't make a great decision without first swimming in the unknown. So here is your test.

00:49:05:21 - 00:49:13:22

Christian Soschner

Are you the smartest person in the room? In your company or your fund?

00:49:13:24 - 00:49:20:14

Christian Soschner

Then you're in the wrong room. Or you hired the wrong people. It's a harsh truth.

00:49:20:14 - 00:49:25:20

Christian Soschner

That's why we go now to the free coaching questions. So that you have some

00:49:25:20 - 00:49:42:16

Christian Soschner

think to reflect on to fix the issues in the company. The first one, who's the most credible person you've recently disagreed with, and did you really explore their point of view?

00:49:42:18 - 00:49:52:06

Christian Soschner

What what's it believe you're emotionally attached to that may no longer be true?

00:49:52:08 - 00:50:23:22

Christian Soschner

And the third question. Have you built a culture at your fund or company where people are rewarded for challenging your thinking, not just agreeing with it? That was the final section. Now let's move to the final part of this podcast. The key takeaways. My personal reflection on the book and critique and the closing remarks. Let's get into the key takeaways.

00:50:23:24 - 00:50:57:00

Christian Soschner

Let's land this plane with seven powerful takeaways that can sharpen how you build. In West, I lead in deep tech. Remember the first key takeaway? Build your company like a machine, not a hero's journey. Don't improvise your way to greatness. Architected designed systems that run without you. Most importantly, is the second key takeaway. Get the people right. A great idea with the wrong team is a dead end.

00:50:57:02 - 00:51:01:06

Christian Soschner

Dalio reminds us the whole is more important than to what.

00:51:01:06 - 00:51:05:07

Christian Soschner

The third takeaway. Practice radical truth and transparency.

00:51:05:07 - 00:51:37:09

Christian Soschner

Most startups fail not from bad markets, but from people avoiding hard conversations. Name reality faster than others. The fourth point create an idea. Meritocracy. Rank opinions. Buy credibility, not title. That's truth, not politics. Lead your decision making the fifth one. Find or become a shaper. Shapers can hold conflicting thoughts. They zoom out to vision and zoom in to execution.

00:51:37:11 - 00:52:11:05

Christian Soschner

That's rare. And that's what wins. And the second one. Diagnose root causes, not symptoms. If a problem keeps repeating, you're not being honest about what's actually broken. Keep asking why until it hurts. And the final part's the seventh one. Be radically open minded. Feedback isn't a threat. It's your survival strategy. Builds the habit of fought for disagreement. All successful companies get that.

00:52:11:05 - 00:52:30:03

Christian Soschner

It's the winning formula of all big companies that won in the last three decades. Whether it's Nvidia, whether it's Amazon or Netflix, they all practice radically and honest disagreement.

00:52:30:03 - 00:52:36:19

Christian Soschner

Each of these seven takeaways is a building block for systems level leadership.

00:52:36:19 - 00:52:41:00

Christian Soschner

Now here is the parts that stuck with me. And maybe.

00:52:41:00 - 00:53:02:11

Christian Soschner

It struck you too. The idea is entire worldview is built on rationality, precision, and systems thinking. It doesn't just lead with logic. He institutionalized it, and it's incredibly effective. Just look at Bridgewater. Bridgewater didn't become the world's largest hedge fund by accident.

00:53:02:12 - 00:53:22:23

Christian Soschner

His approach principles, algorithms, radical truth. It works. It's proven. Bridgewater is the result. But as I read through the book, I kept asking myself, what's the emotional cost of this system? Because the world doesn't exactly use warmth.

00:53:22:23 - 00:53:26:11

Christian Soschner

There is very little in this pages about how people feel.

00:53:26:11 - 00:53:34:23

Christian Soschner

It's about alignment, performance, accountability, not belonging, trust or love. And this isn't just my personal beat.

00:53:35:00 - 00:54:06:12

Christian Soschner

Back in 2016, The New York Times reported that a Bridgewater employee described the company as a cauldron of fear and intimidation. The Wall Street Journal details how employees rate each other in real time on whether they are living up to the firm's principles, a system designed for transparency but one that can feel deeply scrutinized think even Dalio himself has admitted that this environment is definitely not for everyone.

00:54:06:14 - 00:54:17:00

Christian Soschner

For a hedge fund, that trade off might be worth it. Precision trumps sentiment, but in a startup, a biotech lab, a venture firm.

00:54:17:00 - 00:54:29:11

Christian Soschner

Could a slight touch of more emotional intelligence build more loyalty, spark more creativity, prevent more burnout? And actually, at the end of the day, deliver better results?

00:54:29:11 - 00:54:41:08

Christian Soschner

I don't have the answer, but I do know this tension between the head and the heart is something every founder and investor should sit with.

00:54:41:10 - 00:55:11:18

Christian Soschner

The video shows what happens when you optimize for truth and outcomes, just purely driven on logic. The question I ask myself, and maybe you too. Where do we draw the line between precision and humanity? Let's wrap this one up with my final reflection. Do you want to be the best performing organization?

00:55:11:20 - 00:55:21:14

Christian Soschner

Or do you want to be known for building the most human powered? Or is there a middle ground?

00:55:21:14 - 00:55:25:07

Christian Soschner

Is it possible to be both at the same time.

00:55:25:09 - 00:55:25:15

Christian Soschner

And.

00:55:25:20 - 00:55:30:20

Christian Soschner

Have better results than what Rideout describes in his books? Principles?

00:55:30:20 - 00:55:53:12

Christian Soschner

If this conversation made you curious, reads the book. Dalio doesn't offer fluff. He offers a framework, and if you are leading a company or deploying capital, you need one. You can get principles through the link in the show notes. It supports the show and gives you a front row seat into how one of the most influential investors of our time thinks.

00:55:53:14 - 00:56:03:04

Christian Soschner

And if you have already read it, maybe read it again with new eyes. Look not just for what Dalio says, but for what he leaves out.

00:56:03:04 - 00:56:14:22

Christian Soschner

Thanks for tuning in to this deep dive into Ray Dalio's principles. If this episode sparked a shift in how you think, here is how you can give back.

00:56:14:24 - 00:56:35:09

Christian Soschner

Just click follow, leave a review, or share this episode with one founder or investor in your circle. It helps more than you think. It grows. The show brings in even more amazing guests, and most importantly, it keeps everything inside a completely free for listeners, always and forever. I guarantee it.

00:56:35:09 - 00:56:44:12

Christian Soschner

In the next episode, we are going to switch gears from systems to stories and explore another podcast where we talk about climate change.

00:56:44:18 - 00:56:47:03

Christian Soschner

It's with Janusz Pastor.

00:56:47:03 - 00:56:56:08

Christian Soschner

Until then, design smarter. Think deeper and don't forget to question your own principles. See you next time.