People cannot be given the privilege of receiving information and then use the information to harm the company, so rules and procedures must be in place to ensure that doesn’t happen. For example, we provide great transparency inside Bridgewater on the condition that Bridgewater citizens do not leak it outside; if they do, they will be dismissed for cause (for unethical behavior). Additionally, the rules for how issues are explored and decisions are made must be maintained, and because different people have different perspectives, it’s important that the paths for resolving them are followed. For example, some people are going to make big deals out of little deals, come up with their own wrong theories, or have problems seeing how things are evolving. Remind them of the risks that the company takes to give them that transparency and their responsibilities to handle the information that they get responsibly. I have found that people appreciating this transparency and knowing that they will lose it if it is not handled well leads them to enforce good behavior with each other.
Provide transparency to people who handle it well and either deny it to people who don’t handle it well or remove those people from the organization. It is the right and responsibility of management, and not the right of all employees, to determine when exceptions to radical transparency should be made. Management should restrict transparency sparingly and wisely because every time they do, it undermines the idea-meritocracy and people’s trust.
Don’t share sensitive information with the organization’s enemies.
Both inside and outside of any organization, there are some people who will intentionally cause the organization harm. If these enemies are within your organization, you need to call them out to resolve this conflict through the organization’s system for achieving such resolutions, because working with enemies within your “extended family” will undermine you and the “family.” If the enemies are outside your organization and will use the information to harm you, of course don’t share it.
Meaningful relationships and meaningful work are mutually reinforcing, especially when supported by radical truth and radical transparency.
The most meaningful relationships are achieved when you and others can speak openly to each other about everything that’s important, learn together, and understand the need to hold each other accountable to be as excellent as you can be. When you have such relationships with those you work with, you pull each other through challenging times; at the same time, sharing challenging work draws you closer and strengthens your relationships. This self-reinforcing cycle creates the success that allows you to pursue more and more ambitious goals.
Cultivate Meaningful Work and Meaningful Relationships
Meaningful relationships are invaluable for building and sustaining a culture of excellence, because they create the trust and support that people need to push each other to do great things. If the overwhelming majority of people care about having an excellent community, they will take care of it, which will yield both better work and better relationships. Relationships have to be genuine, not forced; at the same time, the culture of the community will have a big influence on how people value relationships and how they behave with each other. To me, a meaningful relationship is one in which people care enough about each other to be there whenever someone needs support and they enjoy each other’s company so much that they can have great times together both inside and outside of work. I literally love many of the people I work with, and I respect them deeply.
I have often been asked whether relationships at Bridgewater are more like those of a family or those of a team, the implication being that in a family there is unconditional love and a permanent relationship, while in a team the attachment is only as strong as the person’s contribution. Before answering this question, I want to emphasize that either is good by me, because both families and teams provide meaningful relationships and that neither is anything like a typical job at a typical company, where the relationships are primarily utilitarian. But to answer the question directly, I wanted Bridgewater to be like a family business in which family members have to perform excellently or be cut. If I had a family business and a family member wasn’t performing well, I would want to let them go because I believe that it isn’t good for either the family member (because staying in a job they’re not suited to stands in the way of their personal evolution) or the company (because it holds back the whole community). That’s tough love.