- The app is part career adviser, part life guru with a dash of Bridgewater cheerleading.
- Besides having a copy of the book, the app comes with extra features like self-assessment quizzes, a folder to save your favorite Dalio principles, and animated cartoons.
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We scrolled through hedge-fund billionaire Ray Dalio's new app, which is filled with personality quizzes, bite-size life advice, and Nickelodeon-like cartoons. Here's what we found.
Ray Dalio, founder of hedge fund Bridgewater Associates, has launched a free app based on his best-selling book "Principles."
Ray Dalio principles app
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Billionaire Ray Dalio manages the most successful hedge fund on the planet and he can now be your personal life coach.
Principles in Action is a free app designed around Dalio's 2017 book " Principles ," which has sold over 2 million copies worldwide. The app not only has a full copy of the book, it's peppered with videos, koan-like career advice, and general pearls of wisdom collected from the writings of the Bridgewater Associates chief.
Dalio founded Bridgewater Associates in 1975 out of his Connecticut home. Since then, it's become the world's most successful hedge fund, with $150 billion in total assets under management.
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One of Dalio's core principles is having "radical transparency," or total openness, within his company. This gave him the idea for his first app , Dots, which let employees rate each other on a 1 to 10 scale live during meetings.
There's no live monitoring going on in Principles in Action, but you do have the chance to step inside the mind of Ray Dalio through his books, meetings, and speeches. We took a look at the app and highlighted some of its more interesting features.
"Principles in Action" opens up on a homepage that includes two of his books
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In addition to having all 898 e-pages of "Principles," you'll find several other features on the app's homepage.
There's a "Coach" section to guide you through career challenges that's a kind of FAQ for Dalio's principles. There's a "Case Study" section to help you assess your personality strengths and weaknesses, and how they impact your work life. There's also a "My Principles" section where you can save the best of Dalio's advice, while adding a few principles of your own.
The books pages now include videos of Bridgewater meetings
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When scrolling through "Principles," you'll find short videos peppered throughout the text that give a behind-the-scenes glimpse of life at the secretive Bridgewater headquarters.
On page 171, for example, there's a video of a Bridgewater meeting from January 2011 in which staff discuss the company's successful "Pure Alpha Major Markets" program. Dalio listens while others praise what Bridgewater has accomplished. At the end, he offers his own advice: "We could all be here celebrating, but I think we should be here worrying."
This brings up one of Dalio's principles: "Ring the bell," a term he uses to celebrate when a team has achieved its goals. However, he adds another core principle: "Don't mistake the trappings of success for success itself."
The app lets users see Dalios human side
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Ray Dalio/Principles in Action
In addition to Bridgewater meetings, you'll get to see the annual "Family Reunion" (page 248) for employees who have been with the company for at least 10 years.
For Dalio, this is an emotional occasion. He says in the video, "I didn't behave any different to the people I work with than with my kids."
You can save your favorite principles while youre reading, and then go back to them later
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Ray Dalio/Principles in Action
Dalio has a lot of core principles in his book, and this app lets you type in keywords to find ones pertinent to any situation. You can then save your favorites for later use.
The "Coach" section lets you search through possible solutions to life problems
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Ray Dalio/Principles in Action
Instead of searching through principles, you can find solutions to decision-making problems, management issues, and general life woes under the app's "Coach" section.
You can scroll through a series of topics like "Values and Principles Fundamentals" or "Mistakes, Weaknesses, and Feedback." You'll get a few principles that serve as answers to your questions.
The app dishes out bite-size versions of Ray Dalio's most important mantras. They read like excerpts from "The Art of War," except your enemies aren't marauding hordes: they're your own personal failings.
The "Case Studies" section is a little more like an online class
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The most interactive section, "Case Studies," offers over six hours of self-assessment quizzes and videos of Bridgewater workers discussing how they employ Dalio's principles.
You can get to know yourself in the "How are you wired?" case study. I found a series of questions based on my left and right brains, or whether I'm more logical or emotional. On a scale of 1 to 5, for example, I'm more of a right-brained person (emotional).
You can also work through more pressing issues with the "I constantly fail" case study. I found that I fear failure just as much as I fear not succeeding (as the app puts it, not achieving my dreams).
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Dalios 30-minute cartoon summarizing his book is also included, and its like a cuter version of a TED Talk
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The eight-part mini-cartoon series based on "Principles" takes some of the key moments from the book and animates them. It felt like watching a Nickelodeon animated show, except the plot was about how to be successful in business and possibly become a billionaire.
The series, which was first released in 2018 and is 30 minutes long, outlines some of Dalio's core principles in a quick, digestible manner. The entertaining (but perhaps not fully essential) format is aimed at recent college graduates who may not know where to take their careers.
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Dalios animated video "How the economic machine works" is there, too
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Ray Dalio/Principles in Action
If you look around the "Economic & Investment Studies" folder in the "Books" section, you'll find Dalio's 2013 cartoon called "How the economic machine works."
The 30-minute video outlines the basics of economics, from supply and demand up to how nations manage debt. This animation is charming, like the "Principles" animated series.
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One of the highlights: learning that the total amount of credit in the United States is about $50 trillion, but the total about of money is only $3 trillion.
Dalio has even teased his next book, "Economic & Investment Principles," on the app
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Ray Dalio/Principles in Action
In the same section, "Economic & Investment Studies," you'll find an introduction that mentions Dalio's new book , which he expects to release "sometime soon."
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This section also contains Dalio's last book , "Principles for Navigating Big Debt Crises," and a few other papers, which means this app is a good hub for Dalio's most essential writings.
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SEE ALSO: Hedge-fund billionaire Ray Dalio says 'the American dream is lost'
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