Jamie Dimon, who has a long list of frustrations with meetings, offered a set of strategies to make them better.
In his 2024 annual letter to shareholders released Monday, the JPMorgan CEO said he wants to “kill meetings” because they “slow us down.”
But when meetings must happen, they need to start and end on time. They should also have a leader, a purpose, and a follow-up list, Dimon wrote.
He emphasized the importance of reading before a meeting — he said he does it. Dimon also recommended that employees prepare to discuss a new product in a meeting by first writing a press release. This helps them focus and identify questions that may be asked.
Once in the meeting, pay attention, he said.
“I see people in meetings all the time who are getting notifications and personal texts or who are reading emails,” Dimon wrote.
The CEO added that there is no need to include people who are not necessary.
“Sometimes we think we’re just being nice by inviting people to a meeting who don’t have to be there. Sometimes we over-collaborate,” he wrote.
Dimon also repeated his long-held ire with side meetings, in which executives approach him afterward to discuss a matter they didn’t want to bring up in front of others.
“That’s not acceptable. Don’t bother. I’m not their messenger. Lay it on the table in real time,” he wrote in Monday’s letter.
In the wide-ranging 58-page letter, Dimon dove into recent tariffs and how they will impact the US, the investment bank’s performance, and leadership lessons, including mistakes he has made in his career.
Dimon, who has led the bank since 2006, has repeatedly expressed his pet peeves about certain kinds of meetings and how they encourage bureaucracy.
In February, in a leaked internal town hall about the importance of in-person work, Dimon aired his frustration with virtual meetings.
“A lot of you were on the fucking Zoom and you were doing the following,” Dimon said in the recording, “looking at your mail, sending texts to each other about what an asshole the other person is, not paying attention, not reading your stuff.”
Clips of the audio recording, which is filled with anecdotes and profanities defending return-to-office, gained millions of views on social media.
Zoom meetings are not the only kind Dimon hates.
In last year’s letter to shareholders, the CEO took aim at companies’ Annual General Meetings and complained that they’ve become places of “spiraling frivolousness” and “showcase of grandstanding” that need to be reformed.
Annual meetings are required for public companies so investors can vote on the board of directors and corporate changes. These meetings range from staid company conferences to splashy events in exotic destinations. Berkshire Hathaway’s annual meeting draws thousands of devotees from around the world to Omaha.
