📖Li Lu

Know Your Limits

🌱 Beginner★★★★★

Stay within your circle of competence.

💬

The most successful investors stay within their circle of competence. Know what you understand well and resist the temptation to venture outside it.

— Li Lu Columbia Lectures,2010

🏠 Everyday Analogy

A process is like a pilot checklist: discipline prevents simple mistakes when pressure rises and keeps outcomes more repeatable.

📖 Core Interpretation

Li Lu advocates a repeatable process: define criteria, execute consistently, and review decisions against evidence. Process quality drives outcome consistency.
💎 Key Insight:Self-awareness about knowledge limits prevents costly mistakes.

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❓ Why It Matters

Without process, there is no reliable feedback loop. Structured execution and review improve decision quality over time.

🎯 How to Practice

Run a decision loop of research, thesis, execution, and post-mortem; document assumptions and update playbooks with evidence, not hindsight bias.

⚠️ Common Pitfalls

Having opinions without execution criteria
Reviewing outcomes but not decisions
Abandoning rules during volatility spikes

📚 Case Studies

1
BYD Early Investment (2003)
Li Lu, through Himalaya Capital, invested in Chinese battery and EV maker BYD before mainstream recognition, analyzing its engineering strength and founder quality.
✨ Outcome:BYD grew into a global EV leader; the multibagger return validated concentrated, owner‑like investing.
2
Post‑Crisis BYD Volatility (2011)
After initial success, BYD’s stock price fell sharply amid concerns over growth, competition, and China’s EV policy shifts.
✨ Outcome:Li Lu maintained a concentrated stake, emphasizing intrinsic value; the company later recovered and reached new highs as EV adoption accelerated.

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