Learning Management from Rahul Dravid

I recently had the privilege of hosting and interviewing InCred’s Brand Ambassador Rahul Dravid. This was our first in-person event for clients and investors since the pandemic lockdown and turned out to be a wonderful evening.

Rahul was relaxed, candid, grounded, articulate, entertaining; everything we’d expect of the man we’re proud to have had as InCred’s brand ambassador since inception.

Less obviously, it later struck me that Rahul Dravid is not just InCred’s brand ambassador, he is also our management guru. So many of Rahul’s reflections on cricket are relevant to the way we run InCred.

Here are some of Rahul’s insights, and InCred’s interpretation of what they mean for business:

1.??????On scoring 95 in his test debut at Lord’s?

Rahul made his test debut at Lord’s in 1996. He was out for 95 in his first knock, achingly short of a century on debut at the home of cricket. In the same match, fellow debutant Saurav Ganguly completed a century.

Rahul’s perspective on this poignant moment was, “If you had told me on the morning of the match that I would be in the playing eleven, and that I would score 95, I’d have grabbed that with both hands.”

To him, his debut was a stunning success, given that he was not even expecting to be in the playing eleven.

InCred’s interpretation of this perspective is that we measure ourselves against our own goals.

We’re frequently asked about how we benchmark with, say, an ultra-successful neo-bank in Brazil, or a BNPL disruptor from Australia, or a payments unicorn in India. We don’t.

We set ourselves a high bar. We measure ourselves against it. While we’re always interested in learning from other innovators, we run our own race. We don’t get distracted by the successes and failures of others.

2.??????On coaching a team of great players

Rahul is now the coach of a team which features great players like Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, R Ashwin and Jaspreet Bumrah. These players already know everything there is to know about technique. I asked Rahul what a coach can teach players of this stature.

Rahul’s response was that “at the under-19 level, I had to do a lot of work on technique. At the national level, my job is to create a culture, an environment, where great players can go out and excel.”

That sounds like a soft answer, but it isn’t.

At InCred, we obsess about culture. It is central to our success. Peter Drucker once put it succinctly, “culture eats strategy for breakfast”.

Every CXO knows that there are several people in his or her team who know more about technique than him or her. This is as it should be. A leader’s role is to orchestrate the work of the many capable experts, scattered across their broader organization, to maximize impact. A leader’s role is to create a culture of excellence.

3.??????On the inevitability of failure

Rahul is known in as Mr Dependable. But even Mr Dependable has had his share of failures. Like in 2007, when he was captain and India was knocked out of the World Cup unexpectedly early. I asked Rahul how he absorbed these disappointments and came back fighting.

Rahul’s answer was that “every cricket player has to deal with more disappointments than successes. If I define a failure as a score less than 25, and a success as a score of over 50, I’ve failed more often than I’ve succeeded. Every player at the national level has already worked out how to put many failures out of his mind and come back to the field fully expecting to succeed.”

At InCred we believe that dealing with failure is essential to growth. As an innovative young company, we inevitably bump into failure. We actively cultivate a culture where failure is not merely tolerated but celebrated, where we’re looking to “fail fast but learn faster”.?

4.??????On becoming a wicketkeeper

Rahul Dravid became a keeper because nobody else wanted the job.

Here is his story on how he learnt to keep: “It was the easiest way to get into the school team. All the boys trying out for the team were lined up. The coach asked, ‘who knows how to keep wickets?’ Nobody put their hand up. He asked again, ‘Does anybody want to keep wickets?’ I wasn’t sure. I put my hand halfway up.?As a result, I was selected and guaranteed a place in the playing eleven.”

At InCred, this is how we develop our business strategy. Every one of our verticals wants to be like Dravid the wicket keeper - offering services to underserved market segments that very few other companies can or want to address.

We don’t enter “red ocean” market-segments where many other companies have lookalike products and are competing fiercely for a share of a limited pie. We pick our spots. We play in spaces where very few other companies offer similar products or value propositions. Our experience, like Rahul’s, is that that is the most effective way of serving our stakeholders .

5.??????On keeping wickets for India

Rahul Dravid kept wickets in one of India’s most memorable matches. This was the Natwest Trophy final at Lord’s in 2002, when Yuvraj Singh and Mohammad Kaif, batting at #6 and #7, took India home to an unforgettable victory.

Rahul said, “My keeping wickets allowed us to play a quality batter like Kaif at #7”. He also self-deprecatingly smiled and said, “This is me trying to take credit for that victory”.

However, InCred’s interpretation is that Rahul keeping wickets deserves much more than a self-deprecating shrug. It is an essential part of how Rahul has contributed to the team, and to the game.

There are many contexts in which doing the right thing - e.g. taking on the extra workload of keeping wickets - doesn’t obviously lead to a better outcome. But often, that right thing generates an extra 1%, which is impossible to measure or predict, but which is the difference between defeat and victory.

This is the way InCred runs its businesses. There are many contexts in which doing the right thing – improving customer service, giving employees a better experience, tightening a risk control parameter – doesn’t directly result in a better outcome. But InCred does the right thing anyhow. Because we’ve learnt from Rahul’s experience that that can be the difference between defeat and victory.?

6.??????On using data-analytics????????????????????????

Data-analytics has now become a part of every coach’s toolkit. I asked Rahul how he uses these tools.

His view was: “It can be very powerful. Say a young player needs to improve his sweep shot but isn’t admitting it to himself. Data-analytics can make it super obvious to him that he underperforms on that shot compared to his peers and make him more receptive to coaching.

However, you can’t use data-analytics in a formulaic way. Say, data-analytics says a particular bowler is well suited for a batter matchup. Should you bowl him? It depends. The captain needs to look in the bowler’s eyes, look for the fire burning there, and then trust him with the ball or protect him. Data-analytics can’t do that for you.”

InCred couldn’t agree more. We’ve been very committed to data-analytics since inception. Our use of data-analytics has been within a contextual understanding, and based on judgement and intuition. We’ve always believed that data-analytics makes a very good servant but a very poor master.

7.??????On balancing success and integrity

Rahul has a reputation for being one of the most decent and gentlemanly players.

One of our clients asked Rahul if this decency had ever cost him or slowed down his career. Rahul paused, and then replied with “No, I’ve never had to face any tension between being decent and succeeding in cricket”. The pause was because the thought of making a trade-off between living by his values and succeeding professionally was so alien to Rahul that he had to slow down to grasp it.

Again, we couldn’t agree more. InCred has been founded and managed on that same premise, that there is no trade off between our corporate values of Integrity and Winning.

8.??????On India’s future

Rahul was India’s under-19 coach and has worked intensively with a lot of India’s younger players.

One of our clients asked Rahul if he would like to pick out a promising youngster as a future superstar. Rahul’s response was “There are so many outstanding youngsters coming through that there will be many future superstars. India now has an assembly line of outstanding young talent, especially in batting and fast bowling, that is totally unprecedented. I’m glad the IPL has expanded to ten teams because that creates opportunities for so many more of India’s youngsters to shine.”

In Rahul’s view, India’s future as a cricketing nation is bright.

InCred too is founded in the belief that India’s future, as an economy, is bright. Yes, there will be many challenges along the way. Yes, we believe these challenges will be overcome. India already is one of the most creative and enterprising economies in the world, our young people are our greatest asset, and we’re honoured and excited to be a part of the India story.

__________________________________________________________________________

In conclusion, we are proud and happy that our brand ambassador Rahul Dravid so powerfully embodies our aspirations and management style. We look forward to building a great company that Rahul Dravid is proud to be associated with.