JP Morgan CEO Jamie Dimon reveals the career goal he adopted as a 28-year-old assistant
Before becoming America’s most powerful banking CEO, Jamie Dimon, the chief executive of JPMorgan Chase, set himself a simple professional rule that seems almost radical in the age of personal branding: Keep your mouth shut.
As a 28-year-old Harvard MBA graduate, he works as an assistant American Express President Sanford “Sandy” Weil, Damon was not focused on “showing up” or participating in every meeting, but rather on absorbing everything.
“My first goal was to learn something and not say anything so I could add some value,” he said. luck In a profile early in his career that has resurfaced on social media.
At press time, the Harvard MBA had just been promoted to vice president — rising from Will’s associate in less than two years — when he shared career advice.
Prior to that, he had already helped analyze multi-million dollar deals and negotiate major acquisitions. However, his instinct was still gaining the right to speak.
It paid off: A year later, he followed his former boss Will to Commercial Credit Company, where he became its CFO when he was just 30 years old.
Jamie Dimon’s motto for Generation Z: “Learn, learn, learn, learn, learn, learn.”
Now, Dimon has led JPMorgan as CEO for 20 years — and even though the world of work in that time has become louder, and increasingly online, he still asks young people to listen more.
The billionaire banking chief told Gen Z that if they wanted to move forward, they should shut down their TikTok and Instagram Applications and learning through osmosis.
“You only learn by reading and talking with others. There is no other way yet,” Damon said He told the crowd of students At the Financial Markets Quality (FMQ) conference at Georgetown University in 2024. “People waste a tremendous amount of time…turn off TikTok, turn off Facebook.”
The simple advice may seem counterintuitive in an age where young employees are trained to build personal brands from day one and contribute consistently.
But in fact, some experts say that talking less, especially by being active Listen, Pause Before speaking and avoiding Unnecessary details– It can make a person look older.
Damon’s rule: listen first; Be vocal later – something many other leaders have recommended as well.
Even after achieving success, Apple’s Steve Jobs still prioritized listening first
L’Oréal US’s chief human resources officer advised new Gen Z employees to be the person who raises their hands and volunteers. Have their manager’s coffee Or take notes in meetings.
Instead of making you look like a newbie, she points out that it gives you access to rooms with senior leaders where you can watch and learn how they work.
“If you’re the one who’s going to record the actions from the meeting and the next steps, and you’re listening and observing, that’s not necessarily a negative thing,” explained L’Oréal CEO Stephanie Kramer. “You’re in the room and you’re absorbing what these points are going to be. You’re developing reasoning skills.”
Even after building the trillion-dollar tech giant, Apple Steve Jobs She never pretended to have all the answers. He remained, as his former design head said, really open to learning from others until the end.
Jony Ive worked alongside the late co-founder for nearly 15 years designing iconic products like the iMac, iPod, iPhone, iPad and Apple Watch.
Reflecting on their partnership in a recent letter, he wrote that they spent most days having lunch together and then brainstorming ideas in the afternoon.
“For Steve, the desire to learn was much more important than the desire to be right.”
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