> "Having your cake and eating it" is a really bad attitude
Ray Dalio says the following in his book Principles:
“When faced with the choice between two things you need that are seemingly at odds, go slowly to figure out how you can have as much of both as possible. There is almost always a good path that you just haven't figured out yet, so look for it until you find it rather than settle for the choice that is then apparent to you.”
He credits this approach to helping his firm spearhead risk parity as well as other successes. Sometimes, trying to have your cake and eat it too leads to being able to do just that.
At an old job, I worked with an eng manager who believed software quality and time to market were mutually exclusive. You decide which one is important to you and you go for that one.
In his thinking, he then constantly failed to identify options that were both fast to build and good, usually due to significant simplification. He could never find these things because in his mind you couldn't have both.
Later on, I worked for Ray for a few years and would always think of this dude whenever I encountered this principle.
Ray Dalio says the following in his book Principles:
“When faced with the choice between two things you need that are seemingly at odds, go slowly to figure out how you can have as much of both as possible. There is almost always a good path that you just haven't figured out yet, so look for it until you find it rather than settle for the choice that is then apparent to you.”
He credits this approach to helping his firm spearhead risk parity as well as other successes. Sometimes, trying to have your cake and eat it too leads to being able to do just that.