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That’s a great hypothetical that may apply in some places. What made Bridgewater a one in a million company is precisely that we all opted in to operating in th

That’s a great hypothetical that may apply in some places. What made Bridgewater a one in a million company is precisely that we all opted in to operating in this transparent and “harsh” way. I never worked at a place with as much “psychological safety” as BW because the culture was explicitly “you must say what is in your mind”. Every other place that I heard talk about psychological safety has so much walking on eggshells that real problems couldn’t be called out.

JadeNB 3y ago
> What made Bridgewater a one in a million company is precisely that we all opted in to operating in this transparent and “harsh” way. I find this very hard to believe. I can buy that everyone knows, and even accepts, the risks coming in, but that doesn't mean that everyone opts into it, except in the weakest possible sense of opting in (the sense in which I opt in to cookie collection, for example, but weaker—because I just want to get to a website, whereas the people 'opting in' to this feedback system have to get a job, and may not have the resources to pick and choose).
- xyzelement 3y ago
  // whereas the people 'opting in' to this feedback system have to get a job, and may not have the resources to pick and choose That's just not what it is in practice. The kinds of people these companies hire have a lot of choices. Nobody is in position where the only company that will hire them is the world's premier and most selective hedge fund. In reality most people who entered BW, were either "poached" from top-tier financial firms (and more recently FAANGS) or were graduates of top schools who had other offers. Materially nobody faces the choice between unemployment and "living the principles" - people opt into BW from among their choices because the culture appeals to them.
  - deleted 3y ago
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  - bumby 3y ago
    By your own admission though, BW is considered the “premier” hedge fund. So I’d be willing to bet some people dislike the culture but find it a worthwhile tradeoff for the status of working at BW. I’ve witnessed a similar dynamic at organizations like NASA. In private, people will talk about how they don’t much like the culture but find it hard to take a different job because it feels like a step down on the status ladder. Human incentives and biases can’t all be distilled to a simple model of “it must be a great culture or else people with options would leave”

JadeNB 3y ago

> What made Bridgewater a one in a million company is precisely that we all opted in to operating in this transparent and “harsh” way. I find this very hard to believe. I can buy that everyone knows, and even accepts, the risks coming in, but that doesn't mean that everyone opts into it, except in the weakest possible sense of opting in (the sense in which I opt in to cookie collection, for example, but weaker—because I just want to get to a website, whereas the people 'opting in' to this feedback system have to get a job, and may not have the resources to pick and choose).

xyzelement 3y ago
// whereas the people 'opting in' to this feedback system have to get a job, and may not have the resources to pick and choose That's just not what it is in practice. The kinds of people these companies hire have a lot of choices. Nobody is in position where the only company that will hire them is the world's premier and most selective hedge fund. In reality most people who entered BW, were either "poached" from top-tier financial firms (and more recently FAANGS) or were graduates of top schools who had other offers. Materially nobody faces the choice between unemployment and "living the principles" - people opt into BW from among their choices because the culture appeals to them.
- deleted 3y ago
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- bumby 3y ago
  By your own admission though, BW is considered the “premier” hedge fund. So I’d be willing to bet some people dislike the culture but find it a worthwhile tradeoff for the status of working at BW. I’ve witnessed a similar dynamic at organizations like NASA. In private, people will talk about how they don’t much like the culture but find it hard to take a different job because it feels like a step down on the status ladder. Human incentives and biases can’t all be distilled to a simple model of “it must be a great culture or else people with options would leave”