Good morning, friends!

You may remember that I published a Profile Dossier on Mark Bertolini in August 2021. I interviewed him about leadership, radical transparency, and his time so far at Bridgewater.

I will be publishing more original interviews over the next month so make sure you’re subscribed to my YouTube channel here.

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Earlier this year, Mark Bertolini was named co-CEO of Bridgewater Associates, the largest hedge fund in the world. With $150 billion under management, Bridgewater is known for its unusual culture around “radical transparency.”

Bertolini saw this in action during his first board meeting at Bridgewater. There was a discussion around conflict of interest, but Bertolini wasn’t participating. Suddenly, he got a notification on his iPad from a fellow colleague that gave him a rating of “4” and a message that read, “You know more about this than all of us put together. Open your mouth.”

This is an example of Bridgewater’s famous “Dot Collector” system at work. It allows anyone in the organization to give managers and colleagues alike real-time feedback.

“You get scored every time you open your mouth,” Bertolini told The Profile in an interview. “The idea of radical transparency is not to be brutally truthful, it’s to share your thinking and make your thinking accessible to everybody.”

To Bertolini, company-wide transparency is important for two reasons. One, he says, you could make an insight that would better serve clients, and two, getting live feedback forces you to sharpen your thinking and learn.

Bertolini and his co-CEO Nir Bar Dea inherited the top job from Bridgewater’s billionaire founder Ray Dalio. Bertolini was an interesting choice for the role because he doesn’t come from the world of asset management.

Prior to Bridgewater, he was the CEO of health insurer Aetna. During his tenure, Aetna experienced an average of 20% annual growth of earnings per share, and the company’s revenue was up about 85%. Prior to leaving the top post, Bertolini shepherded a $69-billion sale of Aetna to CVS Health.

Though he comes from corporate America, Bertolini doesn't match the image you have of a buttoned-up, clean-cut Fortune 500 CEO. Known for sporting tattoos, leather jackets, and a large skull ring, Bertolini is a self-described "radical capitalist."

Radical capitalism refers to the actions he took in the workplace before it was cool to do so. He raised the minimum wage, waived out-of-pocket costs, paid back student loans, and invested further in the development of his employees.

But he wasn’t always this enlightened leader. In his early career, Bertolini was unapologetically competitive, aggressive, and at times, ruthless. He was so well known for his bare-knuckled, iron-fist leadership that his employees had given him the moniker, "Darth Vader.”

"People used to hum the Darth Vader tune when I walked through the building because I was exacting,” he says.

In this conversation, we talk about the two life-altering wake-up calls that forced him to change his leadership style, why he’s inspired by Eastern philosophy, and what he hopes to achieve at Bridgewater in the coming years.

Read the Full Article Here

🎧 LISTEN.

Bridgewater Co-CEO Mark Bertolini on the Value of ‘Radical Transparency’ and Taking Over From Ray Dalio By Polina Marinova Pompliano Podcast episode

🎬 WATCH.

MARK YOUR CALENDAR: On Wednesday, August 31 at 1 p.m. EST, Jacob Goldstein, the former host of popular podcast Planet Money, will participate in an hour-long, live "Ask Me Anything" with premium readers who are part of The Profile's members-only Telegram chat. Goldstein now hosts a podcast called ‘What’s Your Problem,’ in which he gives listeners the inside scoop on how innovators are facing their business problems head-on. He’ll answer questions live, and we’ll discuss everything from entrepreneurship to audience-building to storytelling, and more. Become a premium member, and join us on August 31.

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PROFILES.

— The crypto geniuses who vaporized a trillion dollars [**HIGHLY RECOMMEND**]
— The youngest head coach in the NFL
— The mountaineer who survived a 1,000-foot fall
— The fake Tom Cruise
— The veterans-turned-beekeepers

PEOPLE TO KNOW.

The crypto geniuses who vaporized a trillion dollars: Three Arrows Capital was once perhaps the most highly regarded investment fund in crypto, but it collapsed in an excruciating and embarrassing fashion. The firm’s implosion, a result of both recklessness and likely criminal misconduct, set off a contagion that not only forced a historic sell-off in bitcoin and its ilk but also wiped out a wide swath of the cryptocurrency industry. Meet the Three Arrows Capital founders Su Zhu and Kyle Davies, who are now in hiding. (New York Magazine)

“I suspect they might be 80 percent of the total original contagion.”

The youngest head coach in the NFL: At 30, Sean McVay became the youngest head coach in modern NFL history when he was hired by the Rams in 2017. He is also the youngest head coach ever to win a Super Bowl, which he did at age 36. Only recently has McVay been able to catch his breath after the most fun and stressful months of his life. He’s trying to enjoy the life he's built through a game that he bent to his will — and that he knows might destroy him. (ESPN)

“I wake up at 2:30 and I'm just laying there. Why should I just lay there?”

The mountaineer who survived a 1,000-foot fall: In May 2021, four mountaineers attempting to summit Denali, North America's tallest peak, experienced the worst day of their lives after their friend Adam Rawski got sick and fell 1,000 feet. Everyone thought he was gone, but Rawski didn’t die that day. He's one of the only climbers known to have survived a fall down the Autobahn, a notoriously dangerous icy slope that descends 1,000 feet. But that's not where the story ends. What none of the climbers knew then was that six months later, one of them would be criminally charged and brought before a judge — and they'd all have to relive the worst day of their lives. (Business Insider)

"I didn't hear his ice axe hit the ground. I didn't hear his body tumble. I didn't hear a yelp from him.”

The fake Tom Cruise: Miles Fisher had it all: talent, charm and the face of a movie star. Problem was, it was a very specific movie star. After years of resenting the resemblance, Fisher embraced it through viral TikTok deepfakes that demonstrate AI’s astonishing power to deceive. (Hollywood Reporter)

“Has anyone ever said you look just like a young Tom Cruise?”

The veterans-turned-beekeepers: Hives for Heroes is a Houston-based nonprofit that helps veterans take up beekeeping by matching them with experienced mentors. The project tackles two disparate problems: the mental health risks that veterans face when they separate from service and the declining population of honeybees. It was launched in 2018 by Marine Corps veteran Steve Jimenez, a Houstonian whose rough transition back to civilian life was transformed by beekeeping. Here’s how the non-profit is working to save pollinators while helping teach the participants mindfulness. (Texas Monthly)

“Man, I’d rather do that than go to the bar.”

✨ This installment of The Profile is free for everyone. If you would like to get full access to all of the recommendations, including today’s audio and video sections, sign up below.

AUDIO TO HEAR.

Lewis Howes on adapting to your circumstances: With more than 2 million Youtube subscribers and 5 million podcast downloads, Lewis Howes gives off the impression of a media mogul who has it all figured out. But just over a decade ago, this wasn't the case. As an injured football player living on his sister's couch, he realized he had no promising prospects—except one. "In 2008, people weren't hiring grads, let alone guys who took 7 years to barely finish college," says Howes. "So I quickly said, 'How do I make my life a sport?' All I know is sports. I need to figure out how to do this like it's a sport. And that's what I did early on." (Link available to premium members.)

Alexis Ohanian on the trials of being a 'business dad': The paradox of the working parent is one that's yet to be fully understood. Reddit co-founder and investor Alexis Ohanian offers his take on what it feels to be a working father who also wants to be present for his family. "I want my daughter to see me put in work in something I really care about," he says. "But I've also spoken to so many older, successful businessmen who are dads and granddads now. Every single one of them talks about how much they either appreciated or regretted time either spent or not spent with their children." (Link available to premium members.)

VIDEOS TO SEE.

Julia Galef on why our minds weren't built for truth: Our brains like stories full of vivid details and descriptive language. Although we have a capacity for reason (which separates us from other animals), humans are pretty irrational beings. In this video, Julia Galef, the co-founder of the Center for Applied Rationality, explains why so few of us actually seek out truth and we prefer to rely on the stories we create to fit our belief narrative. (Link available to premium members.)

Cheryl Strayed on coming to terms with reality: The first time that author Cheryl Strayed tried heroin, she thought she had found "the cure" she had been looking for. "It provided the thing I was seeking, which was a sense of relief," she says. "It made me feel like I was OK even though my mom was dead. It wasn't a cure at all; it just spun me further into despair and desperation." In this talk, Strayed reflects on how her rock bottom moment transformed her life. (Link available to premium members.)

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