Thinking about making a big decision at the end of a long week? JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon says it’s worth waiting.
“Making big decisions on a Friday when you’re tired is a really bad idea,” Dimon said in an interview with NPR’s “Newsmakers” on Tuesday.
The comment came as part of a broader answer about what he wishes he knew earlier in life, after nearly 22 years running the world’s largest bank by market capitalization and after he turned 70 last month.
Alongside tactical advice, Dimon pointed to emotional discipline as a key leadership skill.
“Anger doesn’t help,” he said, describing the kinds of habits that can quietly undermine judgment.
He framed these insights as lessons “learned and relearned” over time.
“I still make some of those mistakes, unfortunately,” Dimon said.
Have a ‘purpose in life’
Dimon said he was raised to “have a purpose in life, treat everyone well, do the best you can, leave the world a better place,” and “that hasn’t changed.”
He also pointed to his latest annual letter to shareholders, released Monday, which highlights the USA’s upcoming 250th anniversary as a moment to “rededicate ourselves to the values that made this great nation of ours — freedom, liberty, and opportunity.”
In the NPR interview, Dimon said the idea of happiness in the phrase “the pursuit of happiness” has often been misunderstood.
“When they said the pursuit of happiness, they didn’t mean happiness like we mean happiness,” he said, seemingly referring to the authors of the US Declaration of Independence, but rather “purpose.”
Dimon said that the idea of purpose can take many forms — from business and politics to everyday life.
“That purpose could be an artist, politician, reporter, you know, business person,” he said. “You could be just a caregiver, a mother.”
He recalled reading an op-ed about a Medal of Honor recipient who, decades later, came to see that the real heroes were those who quietly helped others every day — though he did not specify which piece he was referring to.
“They never gave up, and they did it through health and sickness and things like that,” Dimon said.
“So that’s the purpose. You made the world a better place in the way you can contribute,” he added.
