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Key Takeaways JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon says the one trait that predicts failure is insecurity.
Secure leaders have “these innate skills to trust people, to get the best out of people, to not get embarrassed by not knowing,” Dimon said.
Meanwhile, insecure leaders create an echo chamber filled with yes-men that distorts reality, he said.
Jamie Dimon has been CEO of JPMorgan Chase since January 2006, holding the role for more than 20 years. In that time leading the largest bank in the U.S., Dimon has watched many executives sink or swim. He says that the one trait that predicts failure isn’t arrogance; it’s insecurity.
The JPMorgan Chase CEO recently spoke on The Master Investor Podcast. He said that there are two types of people who “get a big job” — some are insecure and others are more secure.
The problem is a structural one, Dimon said. Each promotion diminishes the percentage of the job that someone understands. He gave the example of a star mortgage trader who suddenly receives a promotion to run all of a bank’s trading.
“Now he’s got equities, commodities, fixed income, Asia,” Dimon said. “He’s an expert in mortgages, but not in the other ones.” One more promotion, and 36 people report to him. “It induces insecurity,” Dimon said.
True leaders who are already secure in themselves respond to that feeling in a particular way. They have “these innate skills to trust people, to get the best out of people, to not get embarrassed by not knowing,” Dimon said.
Insecure leaders create an echo chamber
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