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• Case | HBS Case Collection | 2013

  Bridgewater Associates

  Jeffrey T. Polzer and Heidi K. Gardner

  Bridgewater Associates was the world's largest hedge fund with approximately $120 billion in assets under management in mid-2012, and its leaders attribute its record-beating performance to the firm's culture of "radical transparency." The founder, Ray Dalio, was instrumental in developing this unique culture, but at the time of the case he was transitioning out of the firm's leadership and attempting to institutionalize the culture. For example, Dalio codified his personal and management principles in a 123-page document that was not only mandatory reading for all employees, but also formed the basis for nightly "homework" assignments that quizzed people on their understanding of the principles. The case offers the opportunity to explore the unusual practices that underpin Bridgewater's culture (e.g., videotaping meetings, publicizing every employee's performance review, interrupting investment meetings to provide personal feedback to individuals in front of dozens of colleagues). Class discussion prompts students to critically examine whether, how and to what extent the practices foster high performance and to debate their associated tradeoffs.

  Citation:

  Polzer, Jeffrey T., and Heidi K. Gardner. "Bridgewater Associates." Harvard Business School Video Case 413-702, May 2013.

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• Teaching Plan | HBS Case Collection | 2013

  Bridgewater Associates (TP)

  Jeffrey Polzer and Heidi K. Gardner

  Citation:

  Polzer, Jeffrey, and Heidi K. Gardner. "Bridgewater Associates (TP)." Harvard Business School Teaching Plan 413-115, May 2013.

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• Article | Psychological Science | January 2013

  Not Just for Stereotyping Anymore: Racial Essentialism Reduces Domain-General Creativity

  Carmit Tadmor, Melody Chao, Ying-yi Hong and Jeff Polzer

  Individuals who believe that racial groups have fixed underlying essences use stereotypes more than do individuals who believe that racial categories are arbitrary and malleable social-political constructions. Would this essentialist mind-set also lead to less creativity? We suggest that the functional utility derived from essentialism induces a habitual closed-mindedness that transcends the social domain and hampers creativity. Across studies, using both individual difference measures (in a pilot test) and experimental manipulations (Experiments 1, 2a, and 2b), we found that an essentialist mind-set is indeed hazardous for creativity, with the relationship mediated by motivated closed-mindedness (Experiments 2a and 2b). These results held across samples of majority cultural-group members (Caucasian Americans, Israelis) and minority-group members (Asian Americans), as well as across different measures of creativity (flexibility, association, insight). Our findings have important implications for understanding the connection between racial intolerance and creativity.

  Citation:

  Tadmor, Carmit, Melody Chao, Ying-yi Hong, and Jeff Polzer. "Not Just for Stereotyping Anymore: Racial Essentialism Reduces Domain-General Creativity." Psychological Science 24, no. 1 (January 2013).

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