Reflections on Resilient Leadership with Jamie Dimon

ladies and gentlemen to introduce this afternoon's keynote session please welcome president and chief executive officer Cushman & Wakefield Edward forced good afternoon everyone I hope we have a great afternoon evening in a start to this tremendous week and thanks for the opportunity to be with you Li I have to say it's a bit daunting to be here to be the warm-up act for really one of the famous rock stars in the history of business Jamie Dimon who's done for JP Morgan what Mick Jagger did for the stones in fact this is probably as good as it gets to introduce Jamie now while it's true there were some unforgettable acts for the stones some of you may love rocket 88 Freddie Randall any hands rocket 88 nobody on the iPod okay there were some others though there were more famous and happy The Beatles The Beach Boys James Brown Marvin Gaye and on Ananta Jamie Jamie who start his career at American Express in 1982 as the assistant to the President and over the course of three decades held just about every senior job at major firms including travellers Solomon Smith Bharti's Citicorp Bank 1 and for the last decade leading JP Morgan Chase and since the moment he arrived at the firm in 2004 he has led its transformation and it's one of the best run companies in the world when he was named CEO JP Morgan had a market cap of 76 billion dollars and today it's almost three times that but more importantly than the mathematics surrounded Jamie is a leader who cares he cares about getting out into the field he cares about his clients he cares about his customers he cares about his people because he wants to build and reinforce the right culture his firm he also wants to learn firsthand from these experiences and I'll tell you in one of what I think is the the ultimate anecdote about corporate leadership about a Wall Street exact same e has literally gotten on buses and done several road trips including one 1,200 mile road trip on a bus from Seattle to San Diego and another 550 mile trip in Florida now folks that's 1,800 miles bus miles that's not what any of us are used to and he took along some key leaders and they visited branch's operation centers all throughout Florida and some off the path kinds of locations like the credit card center in Lake Mary Florida population 14,000 along the way Jamie catalogued meetings with 5,000 employees and hundreds of clients from retail customers to Fortune 500 CEOs from elected and appointed officials through the state talking about lending expanding the job base and moving Florida forward now what I've heard from some of the folks on these trips and what he found most rewarding was taking people along on the bus maybe hijacking them bringing tellers branch managers personal bankers with him and the ride-along gave those people the chance to give Jamie feedback to help drive a better JPMorgan Chase now this is for a guy that travels around the world a lot it really says something though he'd get his team together on the greyhound and move across America but you know that's what a leader should do one whose business is rooted in the communities they serve and I'd say Jamie does it with exquisite humility I've had the privilege of leading our firm for nine or ten months Jamie I marvel at leading his firm for a decade he's built it into a global powerhouse leaving 260,000 JPMorgan Chase people while he grows in challenging economic and regulatory environments he's a great leader of a firm that's rooted in American history from 200 years it's my honor to welcome a wise and authentic CEO Jamie Dimon joining Jamie on stage today is gonna be Bill Ferguson and he's the chairman and CEO Ferguson partners he's also the chairman and CEO of FPL advisory group and what they do is they look for the best CEO and director leaders anywhere and help position them in the right firms he conducts board assessments succession planning assignments and generally is that the right hand of many Hooton to make change happen at the most important firms he was at Russell Reynolds for a decade in their Chicago office Co managing their national real estate business please give a bill as well a warm welcome to the to the event well Jamie thank you welcome appreciate your coming this afternoon for sure I thought what we would do is start talk a little bit about the business environment out there and then segue into something that's near and dear to my heart which is the subject of leadership but it's been I think about seven years since the global financial crisis be interested to get your perspective on the health of the financial sector today right so first of all welcome everybody it's a pleasure to be here bill Thank You Andrea thank you well the the United States financial system is completely recovered totally properly capitalized you know making loans doing all the things that's supposed to do and I'm including banks investment banks life insurance property kateri venture capital the whole mosaic of financial companies including a lot of you you know I would call non bank financials and a lot of illegitimate businesses and so the the financial center on the world is not as recovered like the European system has a ways to go the America moved much quicker the banks were better capitalized to begin with the Federal Reserve took much more drastic action and and you see it here you know you you you you might some of you might complain about not get alone here they are I think mortgage credit is too tight for consumers for you know the reps and warranty issues but pretty much it's wide open we don't hear complaints about people lack of getting credit or and the capital markets are also wide open Jamie what do you see as far as the both the growth and the challenge in the global economy so the global economy I'll just give you a quick quick little tour around the world China in my opinion is going to meet its objective so when they say they're gonna do you know seven five seven percent or something they'll meet it they're very smart they have four trillion dollars of basically in the bank mostly Treasuries so they have the financial assets they move very quickly they have serious problems I mean I think you know five years out and ten years out you know they have they really have they need real market reform real corruption reform state-owned enterprise reform and those three things are directly correlated they have to bring out the democracy they're very few there's no developed nation in the world that kind of it isn't a democracy there may be one or two exceptions and so there will be bumps down the road but it's not going to be a bump that the rails the economy the next year or two Europe is the sick one it's not sick with pneumonia it's not you know it's sick that is it's not growing and it's a it's hard to do business they are all the problems are structural I know Mario Draghi is trying to do great things you know seventeen nations trying to do the right stuff for good reason you know the European Union I think was a was a unbelievable concept for human beings to try to accomplish but it's hard for them to do all the things they need to do a particularly structural reform so I think they're kind of stuck and if we're lucky a low growth environment and then you're gonna have scary times or just today it's a little scary if people have reacted to the market you'll have times where they take action and people can feel better so Europe is is one Japan I mean Japan's been an enigma to me my whole life literally my almost my whole professional career though I think the leadership is now doing bolder and braver things but they also have structural problems they just population going down women they want women to go to the workforce but that's going to be a huge cultural change for them their immigration policy is none zero they allow some migrant immigrant workers and in the United States you know I'll give you the short run in the long run right now they're the corporate sectors in great shape middle market sectors in great shape real estates in good shape small businesses in better shape to consumers in good shape the consumer debt and debt service bount ratios which people are terrified about in o7 are back to where they were in 1985 ok wealth is way up home prices are going up housing has turned the corner it's in short supply in certain markets household formation will eventually go up as people you know we've had a 10 million people working there's no real weak spot here so in my opinion America's gonna chug along with the two and two and a half percent it should be more and I think it's you know a lot of bad policies why it's not more Europe may slow it down a little bit Ukraine will not slow it down I think Russia is gonna slow down Europe but then then slow down us a little bit and to give you a long-run picture so the United States has the best hand has ever been dealt and I'd say that today it's that we have the the best military in the planet we have the best universities on the planet you know the great universities overseas but this is still the place for science technology engineering math we have great innovation from the factory floor to Steve Jobs and innovation is improving productivity is embedded in America we all try to make things better and quicker that's not true around the world we have very low corruption we have the widest and deepest the most transparent capital market the world's ever seen and again the whole mosaic private equity real estate investment banks non-bank shadow banks you name it great businesses exceptional businesses and again you have some exceptional business Japan and Europe and around the world but America's still got the best so I would say the long-term outlook from America still very good you know I I tell the Warren Buffett borders first dock in 1942 we had been in depression but 20% unemployment for 12 years and you know the situation around the world at that point so I'm a long-term bull in America I think the short term will probably be okay I should also point out by the way that we don't we run the company to do well and good times and bad times so it's not like if I'm wrong here JPMorgan will suffer a lot it won't because we don't know what the future you know we always are careful about predicting the future Jamie what about the Middle East you've got oil prices that if not all-time lows at least over the last five years what's your view of what's going on the Middle East well you know I don't think I've got any better insights the rest of you surprised I met with some Saudi Arabian businesses and recently and they're doing fine so is Abu Dhabi so is Kuwait so it's kind of a mixed bag if you look at oh by the economy if you talk about the politics of the region well obviously that's complicated and difficult in bed you're not going to derail the financial system oil and oil prices you would have to make a long list of who it's good for and what's bad for I would say net net is probably a plus for American consumers and it's the consumer whose income is being squeezed a little bit that you know this can put another five hundred thousand dollars in their pocket so it you could argue as a plus it's not a plus for marginal oil producers you know which is think of anyone who produces oil at $80 a barrel or the cost of seventy so think of the Gulf of Mexico certain oils ship sands and stuff like that but you know it's not a negative or if we were sitting here and we had the reverse the oil are gone from you know 110 to 170 we'd be talking about how bad that is for global economy right Jamie in the aftermath of the financial crisis we had extensive regulations and reporting requirements that ultimately were implemented what has been the real impact of these on JP Morgan Chase let me first start by saying we needed something that we had a real crisis and there was a response and the response was huge and it still taking place so I actually and I think some are good so if you ask me like the basic ones more capital more liquidity more transparency more involved boards active risk management committees those will base the good things for financial system this financial system is really really sound and I think the regulators to take more credit for that they should be out there saying that our system is solid and it is you know some of the things have real effects which you're gonna feel - I mean some of the rules are very specific on liquidity drawers how we deal with operating deposits certain leverage loans and so it is affecting things in the marketplace and and I do think it's worse in Europe Europe needs to do a little more deleverage they need more capital they warned and some of the banks one is conservative accounting so I think it is there there's been huge deleveraging and we still think the European Bank you still have the leverage a little bit which obviously is not good for growth here we're almost back to normal I ain't give you a good look at oh nine and 2010 and 2011 it probably reduced growth a little bit but I think real academics will have to look at that you know years now and study all the full effects and he or I also think mortgage credits too tight so if you are a first-time buyer if you got a credit problem before if you're self-employed it's just hard to get a mortgage and and it shouldn't be and it's hard because the litigation around and their reps and warranties and and a bunch of policies which they're talking about changing though it is six years later and they should have been changed three or four years ago so it's been a net positive on the global banking system you'd say I think it's been a net positive in the US banking system it's probably slowed down some global growth a little bit but you know I think the regulators would tell you if they were here if makes a better system with lower growth they'd be very happy all leaders in financial services have had their struggles with the administration how would you say the administration is doing today you know I I'm a great believer like a classic collaboration and compromise and figure out the answer to things and stuff like that politics is a really tough thing you know in a little bit I've been involved it's just tough so I'm sympathetic in some ways to all sides of the parties here you know I wish they would just all go out and have a few sketches together and get to know each other a little bit and you know find some way to balance it and I think the the political system I think the and I'll give George Bush credit and Geithner and Paulson and and President Obama early on they stopped America from getting far worse I think that since then so think of 2010 2011 2012 there's a series of things that had they taken place we'd be growing faster and I can sit here and blame either party and by the way both parties would probably agree with me so immigration reform okay immigration I think it's a moral issue but I also think that if we had immigration reform and Senator McCain and Senator Schumer came up with something that actually would probably pass both the Senate in the house we would be growing 0.3% faster maybe even point 5 and for 10 years that's a huge that solves all problems we've been talking about corporate tax reform you know we both sides agree that our having a tax bill clinton was talking about having taxes at 35 percent when the rest of the world is ten percent lower either on gap rates or effective rates or it would however you look at it it's just it's just bad for america we're driving capital overseas we're driving brains overseas we're driving capital overseas and the inversions is a piece of it it's also true for foreign direct investment is true for you know companies investing you know of a new research and development center or a new subsidiary and some of that's permanent so corporate tax reform you know I think intelligent infrastructure spending would have been wise thing to do you know and of course you know the counter you would get from everybody who doesn't like that is that it'll just become a Christmas tree for political reasons in Washington and that may be true but in reality proper investment in highways grids schools hospitals you know you should be able to project forward and do properly and all those things would be great for growth and they may happen so I you know I might get says if I was sitting here five years from now something would have triggered some really good growth and you know this kind of morose sour attitude would be gone and I do think part of the road sour attitude is due to income inequality so you know I which I've studied you know I usually people just say things and they're not really true if you look at the facts and then we often we pay policy on it but if you look at the middle income and many multiple ways and look at tax changes and household formation changes and and age and adjust for everything middle-income households have actually gone down there are a lot more transfer payments cash payments that the you know the bottom end but I think that has led to a sour politics which hurts everybody and again there are solutions stat to you know the solutions aren't to say that companies can't compete for talent the solutions would be more around jobs training skills training education vocational training better or earned income tax credits a whole series of policies that would help fix and alleviate the fact that middle-income households are doing worse than they were doing ten or twelve years ago and politics may not get better until that's fixed so what what advice did the administration both take and not take from banking leaders during the recession well I think the advice would I just spoke about all those things I mean I think that you know if you speak to a bunch of people the administration they want immigration reform they would like to do kappa tax reform they like to do infrastructure spending and so they would say they've taken it they can't get it done you know as opposed to that they haven't taken there were specific things which I won't get in like you know banking rules or mortgage rules or you know how certain things got treated that probably had a negative effect you know more on banks than on you but but that's water under the bridge okay Jamie talk to us a little bit about innovation to meet consumer demands what initiatives and technologies are JPMorgan exploring so innovation is an unbelievable thing it's what unbelievable thing and it's everywhere and it's more today than it ever was before so people who would talk about what's the next wave that's gonna change things you know we had the we had the light bulb and then we have the electric engine and we had the car and it's everywhere it's healthcare and nanotechnology solar who would have thought about fracking you know ten years ago there were only two people that I know if we're talking about like ten years ago and it's and it's cumulative it's so you know the Apple iPhone wasn't just one invention it was ten years of people doing 1g 2g 3G 4G touchscreens lithium batteries powerful semiconductors and that's that stuff is just starting so it's it's everywhere and every 10 years it we're going to be blown away by something and sometimes it's lots of little things on top of each other it's not going to be like one technology and you know for us you know banks are huge users of technology so you know if you look at banks today you can deposit checks with this phone you can move money if you're a corporate treasurer you can move money on this phone you know 35 million of our clients do online banking you can deposit checks at an ATM used to be you know they're only for taking cash out so we have huge technology I forgot that 90% of the foreign exchange trading is electronic you know and a lot of trade is moved to electronic trading is instantaneous the cost of it has come down it's a tenth of what it was 20 years ago to trade almost anything which is good for issuers and investors and so we have to use the deserves Apple pay is something we just did you know that's a piece of it where you know you're gonna be able to join it 200 thousand merchants today like physical locations we're all you gonna do if you have your your you know your phone your code in or use your thumbprint you know basically wave the phone and then act like the credit card and it's safer because it's gonna have what we call tokenization it will not use your credit card number it'll send your credit card number to us will it replace it with a token that's been authorized that token will make the payment and think of it it'll disappear so it can't be stalling safer for the merchants is safe for the consumers saving for the bank and so we think there'll be tons of things like that easier ways to move money easier ways for corporate treasurers do things quicker you know even the things we're torching with people today like we have kyc I'm sure you're I'm sure your banks are torturing you over AML kyc certain things like that we're gonna try to automate a lot of that so that you know there's a kyc you could know your customer utility that could do it once for you and it's usable by multiple banks as opposed to you have to fill out the same form for 10 different banks so we're going to come with different ways to use technology to serve our clients and always do a cheaper and faster and better where when and how they want okay let's talk a little bit about corporate social responsibility JP JP Morgan has launched numerous initiatives relative to corporate social responsibility you got your a hundred thousand jobs mission the Global Health Initiative among others why is this so important to you and so valuable to the bank yeah so remember it's part of the heritage of old bet almost all banks and a particular chemical Chase Bank one for Chicago JP Morgan and think of it as and this is the same way I think about customers by the way which is we want to be here permanently wherever we do business we want people to say we were better off for JPMorgan Chase haven't been here so when I go to Saudi Arabia or or France or or anywhere in Asia or any city Austin Texas that they say we're better off you're being here now most what we do is commercial you know small business consumer middle market real estate lending things like that but we participate in all those communities we want our people to participate and it's not just philanthropic so we give away 200 million dollar which is like the seventh largest philanthropy giving of all philanthropies out there but it's also our brainpower and our knowledge so we help we help cities and schools through job training we've hired 7,000 veterans and this hundred thousand jobs mission was now a two and a thousand jobs mission 7,000 veterans and you know there are a million who are going to need jobs over the next couple of years and we did it by not just saying let's just hire veterans we formed a group we studied it we do it at old levels in the company we know how to bring them in and we train them we give them help where they need it we try to give them a proper jobs we try to place them properly so the retention goes up so we and we're doing some unbelievable stuff in Detroit so we sent the team into Detroit not just to give money to ask the mayor and the governor who I think are doing an exceptional job what what could JPMorgan do that you need that's different and they said well we're trying to rehab homes but people won't make loans to rehab homes and we don't know where all the homes are they need before closed so we gave money to scope out all the properties so they know which ones to demolish and create a park or Enterprise Zone and which ones to rehab have new communities and then we gave kind of first lost money to a local bank to do a rehab loan you could their auction what these homes for thirty thirty five thousand dollars they're very nice homes but they need another thirty thousand dollars replaced the toilets and the copper and the wires and the lights and and you know and that's just started so and then we're doing the same thing for small business venture and we're doing the same thing for you know they're gonna have a rail between uptown and downtown where you know we did some of the seed funding for that and that brings a university crowd into the city and as you know cities blossom with universities and Wayne State is I forgot it's two miles away from downtown and so you know we and the mayor and the governor of what we did and we may wear an accelerant and our sixty people are going back to seeing what's working what's not working so we'd like to be a good corporate citizen in addition trying to be in just a great corporation doing our job for clients let's segue into the subject of personal leadership if we can if you could sit down with any leader pastor president first of all who would it be and what one question would you ask of him or her that's the you know I said that's a real tough one I mean it would probably be you know I mean I and I think we lobby would say the same would be an Abe Lincoln and just because I think that when I read everything he wrote how he treated people how he dealt with the problems he had it's just he's an amazing individual and one of the things I love about Abe Lincoln is he never he never diminished other human beings he never claimed that God was on his side effect there's a great quote where some lieutenant says we're gonna win this war because God is on our side and he said son let's hope that were in the side of God you know he did not he was humble that way and he didn't you know unlike the politics today he didn't excoriate other the other side and then and he uses famous then used to do is like he would write a letter kind of like he saying what he wanted to say and then put it in the drawer and forget it so he could kind of get it out of his system and stuff like that so I would have a million questions for him about how he got through it all leadership and how he kept it all together during those I mean imagine those dark times and this is civil war you know the future of America a lot of people dying and of course he lost a child while I was in office and so yeah so he didn't push that send on the email prematurely home we call that drunk berry really don't send emails after you've had a drink how about two drinks yeah as you look into the future how would you like to be remembered as a leader you know the funny thing about Wall Street is that you know like a lot of us know each other and I know a lot of New York real estate guys in this room and obviously a bunch of I see a bunch of JP Morgan and Chase folks here you know they have this attitude that somehow these Wall Street chieftains are just tough sons of it's all about money and and how hard we are and you know we're more like lovers you know we want to compromise and get things done and make clients happy and you know you got a you got to stand firm you got to be tough on certain issues but but but I what I think about it I I just want when I'm done with JPMorgan Chase you know and that people say you know we're gonna miss the son-of-a-bitch and that we're better off for him having been here and he treated us with dignity and he he he held our heads high in addition to his own and he admitted his mistakes and he admitted our mistakes and once it wanted to get better all the time and it wasn't you know we'll never be perfect and that's all that's the best I could do to make it a better world you know and when I do something different you know maybe I'll get more involved in directly making a better world but I think the best thing I can do is run a great company hire people hire vets serve clients help you guys build your buildings you know develop communities around the world you know we are in a hundred countries and you know and when I travel around you know these countries love us being there and we bring them capital and brains and companies and and so in every country you know I want them to feel that we've done that and I've done my job you know to make just a better place I was there right because you know if you if you look at how how often you're quoted in the media you know running one of the largest corporations in the world maybe people certain have certain perceptions of you as an individual how do they get you wrong how do they misperceive you well I think one of the big ones is is you know what you see is what you get I'm the same person privately publicly I say the same things to the town halls that I say everywhere else and I'm just trying to do the best I can you know and and I don't like meanness I like people to work together I'll be tough on stuff like you know if you are a jerk I will tell you you're acting like a jerk or you're selfish or you're a politician or you know and and you know we have to force the company to act properly and stuff like that so but you know for the most part you know I every now and then you know as younger because he would yell every now and then and and I remember my secretary 10 years ago saying I've never ever ever heard you yell you know into it just gets repeated over and over then she said oh yeah that was that one time you know and there was it one time that I remember where I did yell to top my long as its own on the phone but then during the middle of the crisis and I think for good reason but but it's just very different than people act you know and not just it's not just corporate folks it's business people you get people get characterized you know all the time and so despite if you so does media sometimes as Otis everybody did this classing we overdo it we don't allow human beings to have have the full breadth of being a human being you know like what's it like to be a person and you know do you get scared and you you avoid conflict of course I avoid conflict sometimes I don't like it either you know so the people who work with me you know that sometimes they laugh when they see an article that says he's decisive and he makes all the decisions because they see the other side of that which is I'll say hey Bill could you send me that thing again and let's tweet do it again and let's get like three more people in the room and I'm let's think let's think this over you really sure like the indecision with fear about making the wrong decision which you know if I make some wrong just as I make it would be devastating for individuals of the company and so they see that they don't see this the exact decisiveness they do see the rigor we bring to in the discipline but not you know like not like we're not guessing a decision making we actually are constantly unclean that onion trying to forget the right thing to do so looking back over your career and we did put a little bit of a career profile on you with on all the chairs in the audience what would you say what in events influenced you the most you know I I think a lot of what you are you know you did get from your parents and you know you're part of your basic morality and humility and and you know some people change and some don't and John Weinberg has a great quote he said when Goldman Sachs years ago that when someone gets a big job some grow into it and some swell into it and I've seen that to it and it's amazing you give some people power what happens to them it's truly amazing and they actually think that somehow all of a sudden they are God's gift to mankind and they do know all the answers and they don't have to listen to me you have to say and and you couldn't possibly be wrong about something and and they make snap judgments about people and they have a very narrow view about who's good who's bad they can't see the strengths of that individual versus that one and so I think a lot of it is that but you learned the whole way I learned by watching tons of people George crosses in the room I remember George Ross doing due diligence on real estate we bought traveler's I mean that due diligence you know knowing but what would we like with the boiler the environmental conditions that the roof has a crack in it yep like because he did do deals in portfolio we bought from traveler we bought traveler's insurance and actually learn from everybody along the way and and hopefully you continue to that your whole life and you also learn from some people not to do there are a lot of things I've seen that I just it just makes me cringe when I see people treat someone that way or make a decision that way because I just think it's a bad way to do it right and then also looking over your career what would you say has been your most you flirt you like you've never seen me publicly go after and exactly we left the company even if they're going after me ever you know and I've always had the attitude that look you know if I've asked someone to leave and they've been in the company for 20 years I I walk for them a party that other people want to say thank you what you've done I may not think you deserve your job anymore I may think there's time for a change but the company I've done that many sometimes they you know tell me to take a hike but I never treat them really brutally even when their quotes in the press that I think it just completely lies forget it let them go on with their lives you know I have a job they don't and and you know no no I meant you know I meant that respectfully that they're know they're in a more difficult position and there's no reason for me to make it harder for them you know and and you know I've been the I was fired once and that you know it's just it's just a terrible thing when people are coming start going after you you know over a bunch of stuff because it makes them feel better and you know just just move on and treat people with respect looking back what would you say has been your most important leadership lesson you know there look there are many many many so I'll list a few making people decisions is where you can make the biggest mistakes for an organization the most so if you can sometimes you do battlefield promotions you have no choice I got the bank one I was there by myself I made a lot of changes I didn't know I was making all the right changes now it's a much more thorough process we make fewer mistakes it's far less you know damaging to the company every a lot of people get involved it's not that's a committee base but it's it's it's a far better done I think I have any humility you know people say to me well Jamie not a you're not a humble person I'm not I don't have a humble personality but I think humility is that you treat everyone properly from the mailroom person to the you know to the CEOs and I do I treat them the same and everybody like every Christmas I give personal gifts to the people clean the bathrooms and I invite people you know I fight them into my office and thankful to do for the company and try it one day they'll say they have the love and cry and they've never been thanked by the chairman there are these invisible people who do stuff in the middle of night and and it's just it gives me great joy and they're so proud of the company and they're so proud of what we do and you know that and they feel part of it and so and it changes a company by the way so you know you you can walk into a company feel a place where no one likes each other like in the elevator and then in another place you know we're in the elevator talking to you they Pat me in the back they say hi to the receptionist the receptionist says what can I do to help you and another company it's like nasty the receptionist treats the visitors like the enemy in their book and so you know I just think there's over there's you I've learned that you should do that and do it right and there's no reason not to and you know doesn't it's costless and it's the right thing to do right you've made a lot of hard choices over your career and along the way what choice do you not regret oh you know two big ones I made I joined Sandy while out of business school at America's press I don't regret that I had a like I had went through the job at a lot of jobs I to companies so that commercial credit bought all those other companies I never left until I got fired and then I Bank one was my second company so I'm kind of like that's my I put the Jersey on and that's it I'm not a hired gun I'm not a hired hand I have no interest in doing that you know these are my brothers and sisters and friends and and I owe them everything I'm gonna do everything I can to help everyone in the company and our client stuff like that and so one hard decision was going to bank one which Andrea recruited me at it was I think it's hard for them to and thank God Andrea got a board to hire a 42 year old you know maybe tough New York I was never an investment banker but Wall Street type to run a Midwest Bank you know and and the hard part was just moving taking on a big trouble company my kids were like twelve ten and eight but but it was a great experience to move and I love Chicago and that I think the family is better off for it the company had enough good stuff there that we you know were able to fix it and the second was merger with JPMorgan so now you had two companies neither which was a great performer yet so you know some people thought we were putting together two troubled companies they weren't troubled but they weren't neither one was performing among the best in any of its businesses and mergers are really tough and now I knew I was signing up Bank One and you know this is it I don't normally feel anxiety but I remember the board had voted both sides I'm signing the document I'm alone in a room and and knowing that what I'm about to subject you know the 70,000 people work at bank one to a merger and what it does to management teams and layoffs and consolidations and and I don't regret it I think JPMorgan Chase today is an exceptional company unduplicated bold with fabulous people and we've hired tons of people and every city that I got complaints in excited to go to every city where we had to lay people off and explain it and apologize we have probably higher head counts we had before hired more people so Chicago Indianapolis Dallas you name it you know we're respected in those towns and we're bigger than we were before and you know more important Jamie one last question this session is about leadership resilience you and your family have faced a very difficult challenge with your cancer diagnosis I think we would all benefit from not only what you've learned but what's giving you the strength and the courage to move forward yeah so I'll tell you what I know I think it's a journey and I'm still kind of going through the journey and what I say today might be different than when I say in six months or so it's terrifying and to hear it and it's in some ways it's very solitary to go through it you know because you're sitting in those radiation rooms and on the other hand you got the village your family you know and who's going through the same goddamn thing and maybe a worse way because there and you feel like you subjected them to it and it's hard so it's really hard to family and I didn't learn that that's the most important my family's always been the most important thing to me and I've always said family here country right below it JP Morgan here and I really mean it like in my own moral system you know and because you know your family you brought into the world and you hold them everything and I love the United States of America now JP Morgan I want to make the best it can I've been 80 hours a week you can't spend a lot of time you know you my kids are off doing their own thing and I think early on I mean it's just literally I'm not I wouldn't call it courage I wouldn't call it anything like that because you have no friggin choice and you know you just wanted to start and deal with it and and step just one step ahead of the other that's it through all those that times you know and and you of course you feel worse and worse and worse and both emotionally and physically and you know and physically it knocks the hell out of you and just one step in from the other like I went to work not every day I'm not a fanatic I I went to work almost every day other than the days I had to spend a full day in the hospital to quite a few but I didn't do anything I didn't see anyone and there were times I mean I literally sleep three or four times and on the couch so I wasn't trying to be a Superman it's just yeah I my alterus in at home and watching TV like the news like Isis and and I could kind of get myself even at the worst moment a little preoccupied sometimes because the management team is there and they were coming in and you know they they had an off site without me and they came in and briefed me and they made a bunch of decisions and they were kind enough to take me through them quickly you know like so I was doing things in like 30 minutes I mean normally spend three hours on because I just couldn't spend the three hours and you know now I'm on the other end and the prognosis is very good it hasn't changed what I want to do with my life yet you know could it could you know I still love what I do and I still have to do something I still want to make it a better world and I still really believe that making JPMorgan Chase a great company makes America and the world a better world I'm helping we're helping people all over the place of all different sorts I think when I'm done with this I may do it more directly so there are people who've done unbelievable things like I don't want to go on a charitable board just to raise money for them but there might be a charity these might help but needs someone like me to help them become better and fix it you know or or something that you've fallen in love with and and there are things I will do like I always do a little bit of business I love to teach so maybe I'll do a little bit of teaching of some sort and so we'll see and I'm still you know you use you just still wake up every day with that reminder they have cancer or had you know and and that's that's quite a quite a thing to have and and maybe in some ways it's that blessing too because you you as some of my friends have told me many times you every day is a little different and yeah ladies and gentlemen give Jamie Dimon a big round of applause

Channel: Urban Land Institute

Views: 60,352

Rating: 4.7345133 out of 5

Keywords: ULI, land use, real estate, cities

Id: NrkFAb3E7qE

Length: 43min 54sec (2634 seconds)

Published: Mon Oct 27 2014