I love TED talks. Although, I may be a little biased.

I recently watched the TED talk by Raymond Dalio “How to build a company where the best ideas win.” Ray Dalio is a very successful investor, hedge fund manager, and philanthropist. He is commonly known as the founder of Bridgewater Associates, one of the world’s largest hedge funds.

As an entrepreneur, he has been quite successful. He defines a successful entrepreneur as someone who bets against consensus and is right, which is not easy.

A highly probable and frequent outcome of betting against the consensus is that you may have made a mistake and are, in fact, wrong. Mistakes will happen, they are unavoidable, however, they don’t always have to be painful.

Ray suggests a unique perspective towards mistakes as a puzzle. There is a solution, and you can take different methods of achieving that solution, some of which will be more effective than others.

Ask yourself, what will I do in the future to avoid mistakes? The answer to that question includes gems that will serve as guiding principles for your next bet against the consensus.

Another key is how you view success. Instead of thinking “I’m right thinking” think “how do I know I’m right?” This demands rational and humility, you may find you lack a rationale for your solution. This internalization is a necessary step to vetting whether your bet against the consensus is good.

Hearing these points in Ray’s TED talk was a good reminder of what qualities you need to be a successful entrepreneur.