References to Principles have been appearing in many of my favourite blogs and newsletters for a while now, and all the bits and pieces I managed to pick up from them were thought-provoking. The blurbs feature Bill Gates and Tony Robbins. So, expectations from the book were sky high, and I was looking forward to reading it!
Did it deliver? Yes, in parts. Speaking of parts, the book is divided into two – life and work, with more pages devoted to the second. The book begins though, with a “Where I’m Coming From” section that gives the reader a background of the author’s life and does a good job of setting context for both the life and work sections.
I really liked the Life section. Some of it could be confirmation bias because it validated my decision making process and thinking style to a large extent, and gave me new ways to sharpen them. It also gave me insights on why conflicts happen between styles of thinking and tips on how to resolve them while working towards a common goal. The different personality frameworks can also be quite useful in both life and work situations.
The ‘work’ section, however found me frowning quite a bit. The principles here too, are an extension or perhaps a rendition of that in the ‘life’ section, but when applied to a group of individuals, feels quite stifling and oppressing. However, in a group environment, it gave me a creepy, Big Brother feel, when everything an employee says and does is captured, reviewed, judged and shared with others. While it might be working fine for Bridgewater Associates (though it has its share of criticism online, including a bad Glassdoor score), I don’t know how many people would be comfortable with what massively seems like an authoritarian culture, despite all the statements in the book to the contrary – an idea meritocracy. Having said that, this portion of the book is not without its own share of useful frames.
I’d recommend this for the life section for excellent insights, and the work section for a radically different perspective.
