Jamie Dimon: I think the free-enterprise system has been great for soc...

Companies that grow for the sake of growth or that expand into areas outside their core business strategy often stumble. On the other hand, companies that build scale for the benefit of their customers and shareholders more often succeed over time.

Jamie Dimon

growth organization hands

I've always wanted to help build a better society and build a better company, and I always wanted a healthy, vibrant company, a healthy, vibrant society. We take care of our people, we provide them with opportunity. But I've always believed business is here to serve your clients, your shareholders, your communities. If we do this well, everyone benefits. We have to do a good job for all of them.

Jamie Dimon

opportunity jobs people

Don't do anything stupd. And don't waste money. Let everybody else waste money and do stupid things; then we'll buy them.

Jamie Dimon

banking waste stupid

And if you're going to be a leader, you know what I ask myself? Would I want to work for you in this job? Would I let my children work for you? Would I give you this job if I wasn't there to provide oversight? If you went to run another company, would I, as an investor, invest in that company?

Jamie Dimon

running jobs children

Just because you have a good hand today doesn't mean it's good tomorrow. And some of the things we're doing may become very disadvantageous at some point.

Jamie Dimon

may mean hands

My daughter asked me when she came home from school, "What's the financial crisis?" and I said, it's something that happens every five to seven years.

Jamie Dimon

daughter home school

The toughest are people mistakes, when you put the wrong person in a job. Sometimes you're too slow to move them out. Or not getting the right people involved to solve a problem, or doing something out of anger; you learn, just don't do that. But I'd have to say the Whale was one of them, and I would also have to put Bear Stearns and Washington Mutual on the list at this point.

Jamie Dimon

mistake jobs moving

We were a land of opportunity. You can never have equal outcomes, but you can have equal opportunity.

Jamie Dimon

equal-opportunity equal opportunity

We have built a very good company, and we're proud of it. We also recognize that much of it has been built on the shoulders of the thousands of employees and leaders who have worked here before us.

Jamie Dimon

good-company proud leader

Remember that banks aren't markets. The market is amoral. The market doesn't care who you are. You're a trade to the market. The market will sell you if they think you're riskier. Banks didn't do that

Jamie Dimon

care remember thinking

You never know exactly how new policies are going to work. That doesn't mean you shouldn't try them.

Jamie Dimon

going-to-work trying mean

No one can forecast the economy with certainty.

Jamie Dimon

forecasts economy certainty

JPMorgan is a very good franchise. And the way you should look at a franchise, a business, is from the standpoint of the customers.

Jamie Dimon

should looks way

We're going to do the right thing for the company and our customers, all things considered.

Jamie Dimon

company leadership all-things

On Wall Street, there is no "Wall Street"; there are individuals.

Jamie Dimon

streets individual wall

I always tell people, "There's a book on everyone." I get some of that book before I do anything. If I want to deeply understand someone's reputation, I'll talk to their friends, their former bosses, their peers, and I'll learn a lot about them. I want them to be trusted. I want them to be respected. I want them to give a s - -. Then there are the intangibles: physical and emotional stamina, the ability to confront issues. I can ask all I want about those things, but I also have to see a lot of it.

Jamie Dimon

issues emotional book

We're trying to win business by doing a good job for the clients, as opposed to, "We think being big and universal is just a great, wonderful thing." It's not a morality thing. It's a "Does it work for the client?" thing. Everything we do is because a client uses us. Everything we do is because a client chose to use us of his own free volition.

Jamie Dimon

winning jobs thinking

When the secretary of treasury, the head of the central bank, the head of the FDIC (Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.), and the head of the New York Fed say, "We want you to do this because we think it's in the best interest of the United States of America," you know, we're like the Japanese. We're a little patriotic that way. We said, "Yes, sir!"

Jamie Dimon

patriotic new-york thinking

Businesses can be opaque. They are complex. You don't know how aircraft engines work either.

Jamie Dimon

opaque risk management

I hate the word universal, because I don't know exactly what it means. The question is, does it work for the client? Travelers was a diversified, financial conglomerate that did very well. The businesses had nothing to do with each other.

Jamie Dimon

hate doe mean

I think the free-enterprise system has been great for society. That doesn't mean it's completely perfect. And also, when people say capitalism, I'm not really sure what they mean.