A review by captaintimecrunch
The Fund: Ray Dalio, Bridgewater Associates, and the Unraveling of a Wall Street Legend by Rob Copeland

dark informative lighthearted slow-paced

3.0

Copeland exposes in detail the workings of Bridgewater, from when it was first started by Dalio to where it is today. 


The scandals revealed in the book make for an interesting, if not necessarily objective, read. Dalio  (purportedly) structured an Orwellian organization with employees encouraged to rate each other in real time, contributing to a toxic work culture where rank-and-file employees are incentivized to down vote their peers when given the chance to do so. Not sure if this remains the case now and if organizational improvements are in store. 

Also not surprised that Dalio is ego-centric. What else would you expect from a man who writes his own Life Principles (which employees were forced to memorize and which Dalio tried to sell to other organizations). An autocratic trait that probably explains his love for China too. 

That being said, there must be a reason Bridgewater grew to what it is today and the author doesn’t provide that side of the story, which makes this read feel more like a paparazzi expose than an objective account.