It takes one to know one. I saw an article where Ray Dalio, founder of Bridgewater Associates, shared some things he learned from getting to know top movers and shakers like Elon Musk and Bill Gates.
Main point: “Dalio often sees common threads in these leaders’ personalities.”
Things to consider:
- “‘Quite often, you have people with imagination who are not practical, and people who are practical with not much imagination,’ Dalio said. People like Musk and Gates ‘had both of those things.'”
- “They were passionately, unwaveringly committed — so that it’s a high — to make discoveries,”
- “…their real advantages come from knowing how to deal with what they don’t know more than anything they know”
What he concluded:
- “Dalio calls these standout leaders ‘shapers.’ A shaper is ‘someone who comes up with unique and valuable visions and builds them out beautifully, typically over the doubts and opposition of others.'”
- “Those people with leadership qualities are often ‘simultaneously creative, systematic and practical. They are assertive, open-minded at the same time.’”
- “…shapers often display a passionate creativity and are not afraid to stand their ground, as they are ‘independent thinkers who do not let anything or anyone stand in the way of achieving their audacious goals.’”
One challenge for our own personal development is how to identify the tangible things we can do to become shapers in our own right. Some thoughts that came to mind:
- I wonder if we can weave those threads our own calling.
- Determining our own capacity takes honest self-reflection.
- A singular focus helps avoid discouragement.
- Knowing what to do when you’re in uncharted waters.
- Brings sculptors and other artists to mind.
- Artists use the right tools to realize their vision.
- Living in the paradox of being open and unyielding at the same time.