As you’ve likely heard, the podcast is up and running – spreading our story and message to curious investors around the world. We’re thrilled with the success of the launch and encourage you to listen to all four episodes when you can find the time. All feedback is welcome. We offer the following write up as a teaser for Episode 4.

When most athletes transition from the sports world to the business world, the process is painstakingly slow. For Dave Butler, it took 24 hours.

After attending the University of California-Berkeley, Butler was drafted by the Boston Celtics in the 1987 NBA draft. But a player’s strike and a torn calf muscle cut his hoops career short. After a final stint with a pro team in England, Butler marched into his coach’s office, told him he took a job on Wall Street, and hopped on a flight to New York the next morning.

Since trading his basketball jersey for a suit, Butler has built an impressive career, ultimately leading him to his current role as the Co-CEO of Dimensional Fund Advisors. Today, more than two decades after stepping off the hardwood, Dave Butler joins Matt Hall on episode 4 of Take the Long View: the podcast that nudges you to reframe your thoughts about your money, emotions, behavior, and time.

Listen to the episode here via Apple or here through other platforms.

Key topics discussed:

• Introducing Dave. [00:42]

• Dave’s background in professional basketball. [04:10]

• Dave’s transition from basketball to finance. [06:14]

• Dave’s early days in finance. [07:17]

• Starting out at Dimensional. [11:04]

• The origins of indexing. [14:02]

• Early days of Dimensional and the 9-10 fund. [16:10]

• Setting and meeting expectations. [18:35]

• Philosophical alignment. [19:45]

• Dan Wheeler’s influence. [21:52]

• Dimensional’s reach and its growth over the years. [26:17]

• Finding balance between work and other areas of life. [30:14]

• Dave’s favorite part of working at Dimensional. [33:32]

• Dimensional as a visionary in the field. [35:57]

• Investing philosophy. [38:25]

• Talking finance at parties. [42:08]

• Current projects. [44:23]

On a wintry February morning in St. Louis, we were honored to spend time with Dave Butler, Co-CEO of Dimensional Fund Advisors. Over breakfast, we were reminded why Dave is the type of leader we’d all work for. That’s saying something, as we’re picky about who we’d follow.

We’ve been collaborating with Dimensional since we launched Hill Investment Group, but this was the first time we heard Dave’s own story about how he discovered his life’s calling there.

Dimensional is now one of the largest mutual fund companies in the world, with 1,300+ employees, 13 global locations, and over $500 billion in global assets. But it was a fraction of its current size when Dave joined them back in 1995. At the time, he was working on the East Coast, and wanted to return to his California roots. He sent his résumé to this nascent fund manager in response to a Wall Street Journal ad he spotted, and beat out over 300 other applicants to get an interview.

Knowing very little about Dimensional, Dave told us he’d contemplated skipping the interview. Fortunately for all of us, the Santa Monica office was on his way to something else, so he showed up for the scheduled meeting after all.

Minutes into the interview, Dave was invited to have lunch with a Nobel Prize laureate who was part of the Dimensional team. His impression of the firm changed quickly that day; he could almost physically feel the team’s enthusiasm for its novel approach to “applying academic research to practical investing.” From that day on, he was hooked.

We are grateful to be surrounded by a similar level of enthusiasm in our own firm and among our key strategic alliances, like Dimensional. They and we are mindful of who we work for – our clients, that is – and how exciting it is to help them put the evidence-based odds of successful investing on their side. We’re also very glad Dave made it to his interview!