The Incredible Journey of Bobbie
Imagine America in 1923. Yankee Stadium opened its doors for the very first time. Walt and Roy Disney founded The Walt Disney Company. The first issue of Time magazine hit newsstands. President Warren G. Harding died of a heart attack in office, and Vice President Calvin Coolidge became the 30th president. And Bobbie the Wonder Dog trekked 2,550 miles to return home. Of all the stories to come out of 1923, Bobbie’s may be the most incredible. It all started with a road trip. The Brazier family of Silverton, Oregon, decided to take a road trip to visit relatives in Wolcott, Indiana. Mom, Dad, their two daughters, and their Scotch collie piled in the family Overland Red Bird touring car and headed across preinterstate-highway-system America. Several days later, after the Braziers had settled in with their Wolcott relatives, Bobbie the Scotch collie was attacked by a pack of dogs. The dogs scared Bobbie away, and despite a long search around Wolcott, the family was unable to find any trace of the collie. The search continued throughout their stay, but time ran
out, and the Braziers had to return home to Oregon without their beloved Bobbie.
What the Braziers didn’t know was that Bobbie had been searching for his family as well. He may have been scared away, but he was determined to get back home. And so began his incredible journey. He turned his head west and began walking. And walking. With winter setting in, Bobbie had a monumental task ahead. Bobbie swam across numerous rivers. He trekked across the Great Plains and over the Rocky Mountains. While we will never know exactly what Bobbie endured, we know he made it home. Over 2,500 miles later, in February, 1924, a tired and beaten-down pup arrived home in Silverton, Oregon, to a stunned family. Bobbie the Wonder Dog’s story made national headlines. He received a medal and the key to the city, and he became a silent movie star in the film “The Call of the West.” Today, you can visit Bobbie’s memorial near his home in Oregon.
THE RADICAL TRANSPARENCY OF
Ray Dalio’s ‘Principles’
honed over his career. Dalio believes these are the real reason he stands in such a prominent position today.
to understand what makes sense and no one has the right to hold a critical opinion without speaking up about it.” From the outside, it might seem that such an uncompromisingly honest vision would create problems. After all, Bridgewater employees describe “public hangings” of those who don’t rigorously follow Dalio’s rules and meetings that sometimes stretch for hours due to disagreements about a single item on the agenda. But Dalio argues that creating this fluid back-and-forth is a vital component of a healthy organization.
TRUST IN RADICAL TRUTH AND RADICAL TRANSPARENCY
Since its publication last year, Dalio’s book has risen to No. 5 on Amazon’s charts, become a No. 1 New York Times best seller, and been touted as revolutionary by some of the most successful businesspeople of our time. It’s a thick volume of just under 600 pages, but is nonetheless compelling. Dalio’s dedication to the idea of openness in all things is evident through the organization of his life’s work into a detailed and actionable program.
If you grew up in an ordinary, middle-class neighborhood on Long Island, proceeded to found an investment firm out of your apartment in NYC, and went on to make more money for your clients than any other hedge fund in the history of the industry, you would assume there was something uniquely special about you, right? Not according to Ray Dalio, founder of Bridgewater Associates and one of the most successful — and influential, as 2012’s Time magazine attests —men in the world. He’ll be the first to tell you that there’s no secret to his genius. Just open his book and memorize the 200-plus “Principles” he
SYSTEMATIZE THE DECISION-MAKING PROCESS
RECOGNIZE HOWTO GET BEYOND DISAGREEMENTS
Aside from Dalio’s trademark transparency and sometimes brutal honesty, “Principles” has one thread that runs through the whole book: Everything can and should be boiled down and understood with a simple system. By acknowledging how reality operates, you can transform your business and achieve clarity in every aspect of your life.
Dalio’s transparency extends to creating an open forum for disagreement. In an earlier 2011 draft of Dalio’s “Principles,” he wrote of the importance of “creat[ing] an environment in which everyone has the right
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