I saw Jamie Dimon (CEO and Chair of JP Morgan Chase) speak at Fuqua today. I didn't take notes, but a couple observations from memory:
- very frank. Doesn't bullshit around. But from the guys I know at JP, they say he's a nice guy... could have a beer with him
- has three daughters, all of whom went to Duke
- Loves "Too Big to Fail" - great writing. Says the author got his part correct.
- He reads voraciously (and ticked off about 10 publications he reads regularly, including Foreign Affairs and some other policy papers).
- When talking about leadership, he said "get rid of the assholes." Our dean asked "what's an asshole?" And Dimon responded "everyone knows an asshole when you see them. You all know who I'm talking about. It's the guy in class who speaks and then everyone covers their faces because they know what's going to happen. And the funny thing is, he doesn't KNOW he's an asshole. That's an asshole for you."
- 10-15% of the world are bums who can't be straightened out.
- Dimon said that there are a lot of smart people in the world. The real differentiator is those who can clarify issues. From my Leadership class, this is "contextual" leadership - simplifying issues and bringing coherence of purpose and task.
- Big proponent of taxing the hell out of energy to change consumer behavior. Or a de-politicized cap and trade. Dimon says "one of these two things must happen."
- Predictable answer: "greed was a part of Wall Street, but greed is a part of everything."
- And of course the obligatory: "do what you love. Don't go for money. I remember graduating from HBS and agonizing over whether to take the $37K job that I liked vs. the $42K job that I didn't. TAKE THE 37K - the money DOESNT matter."
- Dimon is in favor of a "catch all" financial regulatory agency.
- Our dean asked Dimon "some people have called you a socialist." Dimon responded with a quizzical look "I am definitely not a socialist"
- Dimon's entourage was relatively small to the other big whig CEOs that come to Fuqua. I like his style.
- Extremely harsh about ethics. Said he would fire someone for fudging an expense report. Then again, he HAS to say this as the CEO.
- "The problem is not our politicians. The problem is you (pointing to the crowd), or rather 'me'. We vote these guys into office, so unless we decide to vote competent leaders up to Washington, then we're to blame."
- On campaign finance reform and whether or not corporations should be able to lobby: "it should be fair, whatever the solution is. Unions can make campaign donations. Corporations can't. Is that fair? People on the left get upset about people on the right about the same things. The two sides should just shutup and get over themselves."
Interesting remarks, especially about assholes. A number of years ago I attended a speech given by Jack Welch, who was CEO of GE at the time. He said there were three types of managers and gave the appropriate response for each. Guys who are good and "make the numbers" -- easy, promote them. Guys who fail to make the numbers, give them a second chance and then kick them out of they still fail. The third category were jerks who make the numbers but accomplish it in a heavy handed fashion and grind down on their employees. Those were the worst types and absolute cancers to an organization which had to be removed immediately.
ReplyDeleteI also think he is correct about greed as an explanation -- everyone is greedy, not something unique to Wall Street.
As for energy taxes, it seems that energy should be taxed commensurate with the level of externalities (pollution) it produces. But the goal should not be to promote a certain type of behavior. Simply tax it enough to cancel out the externalities and then let the chips fall where they may.
I think Dimon would agree with your comment about energy taxes. He cited two examples of where taxes were linked with externalities: 1) buildings account for 30-40% of greenhouse gasses, so tax them (he didn't get into specifics). 2) European example of taxing gasoline, which changed behavior.
ReplyDeleteOverall, Dimon was really exasperated that we (Americans and the rest of the world) haven't truly addressed energy issues. Of all the issues he talked about, this is one that he got most irritated with - "why haven't we dealt with this issue yet? How many more energy crises is it going to take for us to do something?"
On another note, we just finished studying Jack Welch's evolution as a manager. At the beginning of his CEO tenure, he was very concerned with the decisions of the business (which businesses to kill/keep, etc.). At the end of his tenure, he saw his job as a "gardener of talent" where he creates the conditions for people to thrive. His change in management philosophy stems from realizing that the best ideas often come from the line, and not from management.
ReplyDeleteAlthough this isn't a groundbreaking philosophy, it is very important. Especially in industries that are constantly changing, managers are often too slow to react simply because they don't know what the issues are. On the other hand, line employees are more in touch with the market/customers.
The Army came to the same realization when a tool called CompanyCommand, which links company commanders to share advice within their "area of practice", gained a lot of popularity. The larger point is that in a changing world, a flat organization can react more quickly. http://blog.excelgov.com/2006/07/how_blogging_is_transforming_t.html