Want a near-guaranteed way to infuriate JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon? Tell him you’re entirely loyal to him.
Dimon, known for his blunt approach to leadership, said on Thursday that he has little patience for anyone at JPMorgan who is primarily focused on gaining his favor.
“If people try to please me, it pisses me off. That is not the goal of an organization,” Dimon said at the America Business Forum in Miami. “Even when people say they want to be loyal to me, that gets me a little upset, too, because I say, ‘Don’t be loyal to me. Be loyal to the principles for which we stand. Be loyal to the company, their clients.'”
It’s important, he said, to “weed out” those who aren’t honest or forthcoming. And Dimon said he notices people aren’t speaking up during one of his famously short, purposeful meetings. They might be shy or embarrassed, he said, and it takes “empathy” to seek out what they have to say. A leader’s EQ, or emotional intelligence, is crucial for their management skills, Dimon said later in the interview.
Yet he reiterated on Thursday that he doesn’t usually tolerate informal “meetings after the meeting.” (Dimon also bashed the stealthy meeting-after-meeting in his annual letter.)
Despite sitting at the top of the country’s biggest bank by assets, Dimon said on Thursday that he doesn’t let colleagues filter information, however difficult to swallow, before it reaches his desk. And he tries to be as direct with his employees.
“It can’t be corporate papal,” he said. “It’s got to be words people actually understand. The stuff that comes out of my office is written by me. There’s no corporate bullshit in it.”
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