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March 26, 2006
Morgan's Jamie Dimon and the Art of Bullshit
The current Fortune contains a lightweight but interesting piece on J.P. Morgan CEO Jamie Dimon. Already an iconoclastic legend in an industry full of unique personalities, the Fortune piece adds to the stories -- and more than a few early-stage companies could learn from how hands-on he is:A huge operation "can get arrogant and full of hubris and lose focus, like the Roman Empire," says Dimon. To prevent J.P. Morgan from falling into that trap, he has imposed rigorous pay-for-performance metrics and requires managers to present exhaustive monthly reviews, then grills them on the data for hours at a time."He jumps into the decision-making process," says Steve Black, co-head of investment banking. "If you just want to run your business on your own and report results, you won't like working for Jamie."
To be sure he's getting the real story, Dimon buttonholes staffers in the elevators and calls suppliers out of the blue like a hyperactive gumshoe, collecting scraps of information he can throw back at executives. "In a big company, it's easy for people to b.s. you," he says. "A lot of them have been practicing for decades."
... He's had the same inspirational effect on the people who have worked for him over the years, many of whom have followed him from job to job. "Jamie's strength is that he's a leader, not a classic manager," says Charlie Scharf, who started with Dimon at Commercial Credit in the 1980s and is now head of retail banking at J.P. Morgan. "He can't help himself," adds Heidi Miller, chief of treasury and securities services at J.P. Morgan. "He can be a total pain, overdemanding, but you'd trust your life to him."
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Thanks Brad. I could argue that I've always thought Mack and Dimon were separated at birth, but I've just fixed the piece instead.
He must have a lot of free time and no need to talk to his actual customers, if he has time to call suppliers to doublecheck info from his subordinates. Sure sounds like the profile of a meddling boss.
I recommend he go back to school to become a fact-checker; it sounds like his first true love.
When times turn bad, everyone will turn on him and later we will find out that he was not respected, but despised.
He explodes at this daughter because a partially empty ketchup bottle was thrown away. Puhlleaze. He does not sound like a man to be respected.
It also sounds like he cares more about being the star than making the company the focus of attention.
I worked for a subsidiary of Citibank when Sandy Weil was the CEO - Worst experience of my life!
Sandy should have gone to jail for Conflict of Interest when he bribed Jack Grubman (oh, I'm sorry the million dollars to get Grubman's kids into a elite pre-school was a "donation"). Weil only avoided jail time by the skin of his teeth.
Jaime Dimon is cut from the same dispicable cloth as Sandy Weil. He has the same crass, cheap, mean-spirted, ends justify the means as his mentality as his mentor.
He needs to be careful because the story that may not have yet been written is that he winds up with the same ending as Sandy, only this time Jaime ends up in jail.
Hey Jaime, they only get one roll of towels a week in prison - you will LOVE the place!
He sounds like one, mean-spirited guy to me. Sandy Weill sure was. I guess you can't escape from the mold you inherited from a long-time mentor, no matter how smart one is.
From what I hear, Jamie is a bit better than Sandy in the sense that he's more strict on ethics - but then the whole financial industry is so screwed up with greed that sometiems their ethical standard seems to be some where way down, deep in the sewage with dirt water scums.
He sounds a passionate, strategic, visionary that pays attention to detail. What a great boss!
I like this guy Dimon. I would have enjoyed working for him as a young turk on Wall Street. No bullshit, just get some gross. GROSS what a great word right up their with SIZE. And, you don't need an MBA to work for this guy I hope.
Dimon is a greedy sob. He only cares about how much more he can screw the customers out of. As a employee of his evil empire I have to endure being moved around to departments I hate being in and day by day see customers get screwed by not receiving their statements nor having their payments posted. Yes they do have statement holds and yes they do hold payments. Dimon is a sorry excuse for an American and he needs to be banned to Manilla where the latest call center was opened. Time and time again I have to apologize for the call centers in India nad Manilla because the reps have no freaking idea what they are talking about. The land and milk and honey went away when the Bank One merger took place. Dimon gives the restpected name of Chase a bad name.
This guy is a total nightmare. All the negative stated is true. As a former grunt of JPMC, I raised my hand to get the hell out before he changed the severance package AGAIN. My call centers where all taken down and now I'll call the current Manila and Mumbai centers just for a chuckle. These guys are clueless (no fault of their own); but Mr. Dimon seems to think its OK. 2 managers he brought over from BankOne (a father and son act) are both gome. One escorted out in cuffs, the other left to "pursue other opportunities". His empire will eventually totally fall and I'll just stand by and laugh.
Sounds like he has little remorse for the hundreds of people that he has layed off, he should be an incentive leader instead of a business tyrant.
Man, I am seeing all of these remarks on JP Morgan Chase as well as Jamie Dimon. I have had a horrible experience with this company. I lost my job and have been waiting on my pension and payout for over 6 months. I have spoken to hundreds of people through their customer service line and they are TOTALLY cluelss. They have all been fairly polite. Dimon needs to invest in some training for his people. I was given incorrect information everyday(I DO MEAN EVERYDAY) that I called them questioning my money transfer and IRA rollover. They always tell me, it will be the next day. Well, that next day has never come. This has been a complete nightmare. My family is now pulling all of their funds from JP Morgan. I hope each person I dealt with rots in hell including Dimon. They LOVE TAKING your money but obviously, HATE GIVING it back to you. I am DONE with this entire firm!!! THanks for all of your interesting comments. I feel better knowing I am not alone! Little advice, use another investment firm!
Editor alert - in the first sentence you mean "JP Morgan's CEO."