Jamie Dimon is chairman, president, and chief executive officer of JPMorgan Chase, and Time has named him one of the world’s most influential people on four separate occasions, particularly because of his great leadership.
In a LinkedIn article, Dimon shares his thoughts on what goes into great leadership.
“Good people want to work for good leaders,” Dimon says. “Bad leaders can drive out almost anyone who’s good because they are corrosive to an organization.”
Here he shares some of the essential hallmarks of great leadership.
Jamie Dimon on the Hallmarks of Great Leadership
Discipline
Great leadership means the person in charge must constantly strive for improvement. This means holding scheduled business reviews, talent reviews, and team meetings.
“Leadership is like exercise; it has to be sustained for it to do any good.”
High Standards
Standards of integrity and high performance are not intrinsically embedded in an organization. It’s up to the leader to set those standards—“at a detailed level and with a real sense of urgency.”
Perhaps the most important standard is to treat customers and employees the way we want to be treated ourselves.
Face Facts
Self-delusion has no place in the leader’s make-up. They must seek and fix “the negatives” whenever possible (while, of course, celebrating key successes), and guide efforts toward problem resolution.
Openness
“The best leaders kill bureaucracy—it can cripple an organization—and watch for signs of politics, such as sidebar meetings after the real meeting because people wouldn’t speak their minds at the right time.”
The right people and the right structure. Effective leaders ensure the right people are in the room, throughout the organization. Setting up the right structure also minimizes the need for “political” decisions—a recipe for failure, not success.
Building Morale
Employee morale is boosted when workers see problems get fixed and issues are dealt with directly and honestly.
Loyalty
Dimon advocates loyalty to the institution, not to an individual (“frequently another form of cronyism”). Because leaders demand so much from employees, they should be loyal in return—by “building a healthy, vibrant company; telling them the truth; and giving them meaningful work, training and opportunities.”
Fair Treatment
Everyone within the organization deserves to be treated properly and respectfully, “because everyone’s collective purpose is to serve customers.”
In Dimon’s view, great leadership means they are always working to build something both they and their employees can take pride in.
These leaders “set high standards because as long as leaders are going to do something, they are going to do the best they can.”
What traits do you see for great leadership?
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