Jamie Dimon Biography

Usually when someone gets to be as influential as JPMorgan Chase & Co. (JPM) CEO Jamie Dimon, he starts to watch his words, ever mindful that people are listening and that every word can be scrutinized for hidden meaning. For Dimon however, fame hasn’t stopped him from speaking his mind and being as honest as possible.

“If I grow earnings and the branches are expanding, and I provide a lot of jobs, that’s what really matters. The rest is BS.” 

Context: Dimon is not one to play golf or attend charity dinners. While CEO of Bank One in Chicago, he refused to do as the other CEOs did and the business society felt he wasn’t performing a part of his job.

“If management ruined their companies, their boards should have been fired, management should have been fired, [...] I support the clawbacks. I think that’s perfectly fine. The American public would have received some sense of justice being done. [...] If you said to me, how do I feel about some of these CEOs who walked away with $50, $100, $150 million and their company blew up? Terrible. It’s outrageous. I agree with them. Everyone says that’s bad. If this company went bankrupt, we should all give back the money we earned in the last five years or more. You wouldn’t have to ask me.”

Context: Dimon is talking about how all of the banks that took Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) money were vilified in the media and he agrees that some banks are too large and can be detrimental to the economy. He continues on to explain that he found it horrible that executives got huge salaries while their firms were going bankrupt. (See also: When Wall Street Loses, CEOs Still Win.)

"I just took out that old white pad: Maybe I want to be an investor. Maybe I want to be a teacher. Maybe I want to write books. Maybe I want to stay home and be with my kids when they're growing up. I thought about all of that, and I was very open-minded about it, and what I came to is: My craft is financial services. Right or wrong, that's what I know, and I'm pretty good at it."

Context: In a February 2002 interview, Dimon reflects on his 18-month period of unemployment and provides helpful advice to all of us: figure out what you like doing and what you’re good at doing and then pursue that thing with all the confidence you have.

All told, Dimon’s advice would be to be yourself and don’t worry about the status quo.