Rahul Sharad Dravid has been a great ambassador for the game of Cricket. His contribution to the world of cricket is unparalleled. As much as he has contributed to the game, he has also provided an immense contribution to everyone by the very nature of his being. Sachin Tendulkar once quoted him as a perfect role model for youngsters. His performance as a coach to India A team looks as if the little master just knew about the future.

In this Trivia, let’s look at what disciplines we can learn from Rahul Dravid. As Charlie Munger says, it’s important to learn from various things from various people and subjects.

“For some odd reason, I had an early and extreme multidisciplinary cast of mind. I couldn’t stand reaching for a small idea in my own discipline when there was a big idea right over the fence in somebody else’s discipline. So I just grabbed in all directions for the big ideas that would really work.”

~ Charlie Munger

  Top 3 Investing Disciplines from the Life of Rahul Dravid

 Temperament

Rahul Dravid seems to have mastered temperament. A career with almost no fights with anyone on the field and he never lost to anyone’s view about him both on and off the game of cricket. Australians had once said that he is mentally the toughest cricket they have encountered. He was never like the flamboyant Virat Kohli or a genius like Sachin Tendulkar. Yet, he had a solid control on his game and would never play a shot just to show off. Which is the reason why, when an opener was out, no cricket fan ever panicked as they see Dravid walking the crease.

Exactly in the same way, to be a successful investor, it’s not necessary to have a high IQ. Warren Buffet has repeatedly said that any IQ above 130 is practically useless for an investor. Also, being a wizard at mathematics or finance is not really important. The promoters of Long Term Capital Management (one of the great failure stories on wall street) were all doctorates in mathematics and finance. By temperament, it simply means having a common sense on how the world of investing really works.

Almost everyone knows that if a particular stock which seems good today, will not remain as good tomorrow. Yet, there is a great urge to buy something which was fantastic yesterday as some expert told on television. If the outcome is positive, then an investor gets more greedy and if the outcome is negative, then the very same investor becomes fearful. An investor’s view of the equity market changes with a slight change in his temperament. That’s why the results are mostly never in their favour.

2. If it’s boring, it’s beautiful

As a cricket fan, watching Sehwag in a Test Match against Pakistan is a real treat. He would play them across the park. Just like VVS Laxman who would eat a different breakfast while he was playing with Australia. When it comes to Rahul Dravid, with that solid defence techniques often times it looked boring. Often times, bowlers would just not want to bowl against Dravid. He played few shots which made him difficult to get out. He would tire them out through the day and once he saw that bowlers have lost their steam, he would whack them everywhere on the cricket ground. For most part of his innings, he will be standing there like a Wall.

Same goes with the game of Investing. It’s super boring. It’s not about scoring off every opportunity. Infact, just like the game of cricket it can be super dangerous. Discipline of investing comes from taking fewer actions. Not trading on a daily basis. Sometimes, even sitting for years on an investment. When the power of compounding kicks in, it is then becomes beautiful. However, for a large part of an investment remains boring. There are days when there is no movement. It’s imperative for an investor to simply ignore the noise and focus on his own money rather than everyone else.

3. Grit to be Great

In the book, Rahul Dravid : Timeless Steel chapter 4, Sanjay Manjrekar talks about how Dravid maybe the least talented of the masters which India had produced before him with the likes of Sunil Gavaskar and Sachin Tendulkar. However, when a cricket fan talks about Dravid amongst them in a single breath, it shows his immense dedication to preparation and work ethic. Manjrekar goes on to say something brilliant ~ “I must confess, Dravid’s attitude at the start of his career concerned me. As young cricketers we were often reminded to not think too much – and sometimes reprimanded by our coaches and senior team-mates for doing so. Being a thinker in cricket, it is argued, makes you complicate a game that is played best when it is kept simple. I thought Dravid was doing precisely that: thinking too much about his game, his flaws and so on. I once saw him shadow-play a false shot that had got him out. No problem with that, everyone does it. Just that Dravid was rehearsing the shot at a dinner table in a restaurant! This trait made me wonder whether this man, who we all knew by then was going to be the next No. 3 for India, was going to over-think his game and throw it all away.”

Even the best Investors of the World today were not born to be that way. They struggled, worked very hard and put in immense dedication to their craft to fulfil their dreams. How often, the word ‘Genius’ has been loosely used for them. It makes a retail investor induced into believing that others are born with that skill or just have an immense amount of luck working for them. Investing is a really hard game. It includes tonnes and tonnes of reading and gaining an insight into how the markets actually work. Warren Buffet still reads around 500 pages everyday. Unbelievable as it may sound, it has helped him to create a great wealth for himself. But still, most retail investors rely on a tip from someone to create their wealth. In that sense, the grit to be great is lost.

To sum it up, Harsha Bhogle once spoke about how he wants to retire and yes, he mentioned Rahul Dravid.