‘Get rid of the jerks, fire managers...’: JP Morgan's Jamie Dimon reveals 3 brutal truths that decide if a company survives or collapses

Jamie Dimon, JPMorgan Chase CEO, wants companies to get rid of managers who enable bureaucracy, which, according to him, is a silent killer for organizations that brings with it many other problems. “Bureaucracy, complacency, and arrogance will take down a company,” Jamie Dimon said during the Norges Bank Investment Management’s investment conference, reported Fortune. “Bureaucracy is like the petri dish of politics and everything else.” "Get rid of the jerks", Jamie Dimon has a simple solution for bureaucracy.

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Jamie Dimon's remarks on bureaucracy

According to America's largest bank, JPMorgan Chase CEO, bureaucracy is a silent killer that breeds complacency, arrogance, and internal politics. According to Jamie Dimon, these internal issues are often the biggest reasons in deciding whether a company lives or dies. With JPMorgan Chase employing more than 3,00,000 people across the globe, bureaucracy makes large companies more vulnerable but also emphasises that even smaller firms or divisions can suffer from the same problem.

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What solution does Jamie Dimon have?

The solution, he said, is to tackle the problem from the top down, get rid of them or bureaucratic managers that focus more on the process than the outcome. “They admire a problem. I say they’re like good bureaucrats,” he said. “They like the process, not the outcome. Whereas I like the outcome.”

Alongside this, Dimon criticised “super presentations” that highlight achievements but ignore areas where competitors are outperforming JPMorgan. He also said a key sign of bureaucracy is the withholding of information, stressing that all relevant material should be shared in advance of meetings. “If [information] isn’t shared properly, I generally just cancel the meeting,” he said.

Smaller teams have better accountability

Despite leading one of the biggest banks in the world, Dimon has always been keen on assigning the most important work to small groups, which he likened as having the focus of Navy SEALs. He takes the opposite approach, meaning creating smaller teams which have better accountability.

“Get the people in the room and work it out. Don’t allow it to go back and forth with groups for six months or nine months or a year,” he said.

“I have to earn my trust and respect every day, too. It isn’t like I walk in a room and somehow you have to trust me. You don’t. You’re going to be watching closely—what does the boss do, what does he say, does he really mean it, does he follow up.”