Joe cites Bridgewater Associates as the extreme example: they videotaped every meeting. If you discussed someone in a meeting, that person received the recording. The principle was “transparent markets are efficient markets.”
Lawyers predicted disaster — all that evidence would create lawsuits. The opposite happened: fewer lawsuits, because people behaved better when they knew everything was visible. The politics dropped because there was nowhere to hide.
The tradeoff was harsh: roughly 66% of new hires left within 18 months. But those who stayed built an exceptionally solid core team. You had to be able to hear “here are three ways you could have done better in that meeting” without getting defensive.
Joe doesn’t advocate for Bridgewater’s specific approach — he thinks every culture needs to be tailored to its context. But the principle holds: when you can say things directly, vulnerably, and with an open heart, politics dissolve. Saying things “tactfully” doesn’t mean saying them “politically” — it means saying them directly with compassion.
Related Concepts
- Feeling seen dissolves politics
- Suppressed wants become politics
- Nice cultures breed passive aggression