The Management Playbook

David Kline shares management lessons drawn from his experience at Bridgewater and other companies, then explains how he and his wife moved into running a business and teaching management. He argues that effective management is leadership: empower people, give them ownership, and delegate to build the team’s capacity. He recommends taking initiative, running one-on-ones around clear goals, seeking focused feedback, and making promotion ambitions explicit. For managers, he advises investing in high performers, addressing underperformance by checking support and role fit, and using candid coaching to help people change.