Quote of the day: Ray Dalio, American billionaire investor, hedge fund manager and founder of Bridgewater Associates LP is active on social media and has shared his principles, life lessons and other investment gems with his followers over the years.
In some recent advice he’s published for entrepreneurs, he considers collaboration to be like playing jazz and notes that you need to listen to your teammates. We take a look at what Ray Dalio had to say and what it could mean for you.
Quote of the day by Ray Dalio
“Great collaboration is like playing jazz… To do the right thing at the right moment, you really have to listen to the people you’re playing with to understand where they’re going.”
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What does Ray Dalio’s quote mean?
In a post on social media platform X (formerly Twitter), which Dalio called his “principle of the day,” the ace investor said great collaboration is like playing jazz, with the underlying message being that one must listen to one’s teammates.
Explaining his thought process, the American billionaire wrote: “In jazz, there’s no script. You have to make things up as you go. Sometimes you have to sit back and let others run things; other times you shout it out yourself. To do the right thing at the right moment, you really have to listen to the people you’re playing with to understand where they’re going.”
The thing is, playing your tool (your strength) without considering what others on the team bring to the table could lead to discord. In order to be a symphony, all players must play in their measured moments and pay attention to their entrance and exit on stage.
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Dalio added, “All great creative collaborations should look the same. Combining your different skills, such as different instruments, creative improvisation, while submitting to the group’s goals, results in great music being played together.”
Here he notes that teamwork and cooperation require that the goals of institutions be placed above personal and egoistic desires.
But there’s an art to it, especially in larger numbers, he added: “It’s important to keep in mind how many collaborators will play well together: A talented duo can improvise beautifully, as can a trio or quartet. But get ten musicians together, and no matter how talented they are, they’re likely to be too many if they’re not carefully orchestrated.”
Here, Dalio emphasized the importance of leadership (as with a conductor for an orchestra) and direction, especially for larger teams that may not or cannot always know what end goals the other moving parts of a broad entity are moving toward.
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Who is Ray Dalio? About the legendary investor
The American billionaire, born Raymond Thomas Dalio on August 8, 1949, is the co-investment director of Bridgewater Associates, which he founded from his bedroom in New York in 1975. In 2013, it was the largest hedge fund in the world.
Notably, Dali’s late Italian American father Marino Dallolio (1911–2002) was a jazz musician.
Dalio has also written a number of books over the years, including Principles: Life & Work (2017), focusing on corporate management and investment philosophy; and The Changing World Order (2021), which explored why nations fail or succeed.
In 2024, he was ranked 124th on Forbes’ list of the world’s richest people, with a net worth of $15.4 billion. The current Bloomberg Billionaires Index estimates his wealth at $19.9 billion and ranks him 128th on its list.
He holds a bachelor’s degree in finance from CW Post College of Long Island University; and received an MBA from Harvard Business School in 1973.