Ray Dalio/YouTube
Ray Dalio and Sean "Diddy" Combs embrace in front of Diddy's California home.
- Billionaire Ray Dalio, founder and co-chairman of Bridgewater Associates, released a recent mentoring session he had with rap mogul Sean "Diddy" Combs.
- Dalio publicized the interview on Twitter and released it on YouTube.
- Diddy sought Dalio's mentorship "to help take his great success to another level," according to Dalio.
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You can watch the full interview here:
Dalio-Diddy is the pairing you never knew you needed.
Billionaire hedge funder Ray Dalio gave viewers an inside look into a recent mentoring session he had with his new protégé, none other than the rap mogul Sean "Diddy" Combs.
This unlikely pairing took center stage in a thoughtful interview Dalio publicized on Twitter and released on YouTube.
A representative for Dalio confirmed for Business Insider that the pair met at the Forbes 100 Greatest Business Minds Summit.
"I'm thankful that my last name ends in a C and yours ends in a D, because that's how we met," Diddy told Dalio in the video. "I was in front of you when we went to take the big picture."
Diddy asked Dalio a few key questions based on Dalio's best-selling book "Principles," which outlines the Bridgewater founder's integral success ideas. Dalio even released a free app based on the book.
Diddy sought Dalio's mentorship "to help take his great success to another level," according to Dalio.
Here's what Dalio candidly told Diddy he had to do to make this happen.
Ask: Am I harvesting the best?
In defining radical transparency, Dalio advised Diddy to be open-minded, yet assertive at the same time.
"Don't give up your assertiveness, but be curious," Dalio said. "Am I harvesting the best?"
This involves the ability to hear other peoples' ideas (harvest them, if you will), and then place them through the rigorous filter of your own mind. Dalio says the biggest problem people have is that they become so tied or blocked by their own opinions that they can't take in those of others.
"The worst problem, the worst tragedy of mankind, almost any individual, is that they're attached to opinions that are wrong, and they don't want them to be stress-tested," Dalio said.
Radical transparency means going to the brightest minds with what you know and asking them to stress test your beliefs so that you can move forward with some level of confidence.
Dalio told Diddy that this was important for him to move to the next level in his career.
"The key is to find out what you're not good at," Dalio said, adding, "then you get the people who are good at those things, and then you get the great leverage, right?"
Finding the right people
Diddy brought up the point that in searching for talent, some people interview well, but actually lack the essential qualities needed to do the job. He asked Dalio how to find the right people.
Dalio uses personality profile testing, background checks, and resumes to filter through candidates, but the key process is what he calls "reverse-360." This involves finding out about the candidate from everybody who knew them in the past.
Then, within the specs sheet, the focus shouldn't just be on skills, according to Dalio - in fact, he identifies it as the least important thing. The other two qualities that take precedence are values and abilities.
"First, what are their values?" Dalio said. "If you're not values-aligned, you're gonna have a problem. How are you going to be with each other?"
Then comes differentiating by the abilities that people have innately, like creative thinking or dependability.
"Each person has a natural ability and abilities that they've gone on to develop," Dalio said. "Those are the things that make you excel or bad at things."
Last comes skills, which are learned.
When the candidate comes in for the interview, they're tested, and the testing continues every day they're on the job.
Getting personal
Diddy brought Dalio's advice on team-building home when he got personal and shared his own situation with Dalio:
I had to step away from the game because it got to a point where I didn't feel like I was playing with players of my caliber. I felt like I was investing so much time in the now, and the art piece of it, that when it came time for my investment my future as far as my business team and the team of executives around me, it kind of got away from me.
I was having so much success in so many areas that I wasn't paying attention to making sure that I was still nurturing the team.
When I had to come back out of tour and I had to come back into business mode, I realized that I had outgrown my team. It wasn't that they were bad, it's just that they weren't at the level of excellence that I was at.
That level of excellence is very, very high for me.
Dalio told Diddy that he should "absolutely" not compromise on excellence.
However, at the same time, finding the right path is about finding the right partners and having them fill in the gaps in your own skillset.
Dalio told Diddy that once he found the right people, it would be a "kick," or a joy, to work with them.
"Whatever you want in your life, you have to ask, 'Who's going to be capable of giving it to me?'" Dalio said.
The mindset transition should be from that of player to captain - and the leader doesn't have to do everything themselves.
"That right there is the definition of a mentor-mentee relationship for me," Diddy said, responding to Dalio's advice. "I have my marching order, I know what to do with that."