Jamie Dimon, CEO of JPMorgan Chase, demonstrates Trumanesque plainspoken wisdom in his 2010 shareholders letter, a 32-page classic that is crystal clear, far seeing, insightful and about as subtle as a baseball bat.
Jeff Cunningham
Here are some examples from the letter:
The U.S. legal system: “Actions against big companies, justified or not, have the potential to deliver large payoffs. This lack of balance and fairness too often results in outrageous claims.”
Dealing with regulation: “Our ability to compete may be hampered in some instances but actually helped in others. For example, the cost and complexity of all the recent regulations, ironically, could create greater barriers for new entrants and new competitors.”
Mistakes: “Unfortunately, we make mistakes. And unfortunately, and infrequently, sometimes someone in our company knowingly does something wrong. And when it does happen, we take immediate and firm action.”
Regulation: “The Durbin amendment is a terrible mistake— price fixing at its worst. It is arbitrary and discriminatory.”
Bank failure: “Banks should pay for the failure of banks.”
Group think: “We need to beware backward-looking models and ‘group think’ and suspect of what will happen when all market participants essentially are using the same models.”
Optimism about the future: “I remain, perhaps naively, optimistic. As Winston Churchill once said, ‘You can always count on Americans to do the right thing—after they’ve tried everything else.’”
Jeff Cunningham is managing director and senior advisor to NACD. He is nationally known for his views on boards and corporate governance. Prior to starting Directorship magazine, he was publisher of Forbes and managing partner of the U.K. private equity firm Schroders. He has served as an independent board chair or director of 10 public companies.