JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon says business travel is essential for leaders who don’t want to fail

Business travel, long a vital part of a CEO’s job, is rebounding to pre-pandemic norms despite the increased use of videoconferencing tools.

And for good reason, says JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon, who admits he’s constantly on the road because executives must prioritize face-to-face interactions with their employees, customers, and clients.

“Leaders have to get out. They have to get out all the time. They have to be curious; ask a million questions,” he recently said on LinkedIn’s This is Working series.

Corporate travel, according to Dimon, also allows leaders to identify and learn from competitors about their company’s market position, as well as client needs and criticisms. “I always tell a client, when you complain to us, you’re doing us a favor. If we’re torturing you, we’re probably torturing another 10,000 or 100,000 people,” he said.

The banking chief swatted away the excuse from any leader who thinks they’re too busy to leave their desks. “They’re making a huge mistake. If you don’t have an accurate assessment of the real world out there—what’s changing, what they’re doing, what the ideas are—you will eventually fail.”

Companies with such leaders become stagnant, bureaucratic, and complacent. The opposite of those attributes, said the Wall Street titan, is curiosity, grit, and heart. He cited the bank’s venture into AI around 2012.

That year, he sent his top consumer banking team to China and set up meetings with major companies, including Ping An, WeChat, Tencent, and Alibaba. “You can imagine how it opens their eyes,” said Dimon. “They didn’t realize what’s going on over there in terms of super apps, and so it changes your own ability of what you can do here.”

The CEO said he’s often amazed by how many leaders lack a realistic assessment of what’s going on beyond their limited scope in both the public and private sectors. This leads to the creation of poor policies.

“Complacency and politics is the petri dish of death. And the antidote to that is that you’re always learning, always curious,” Dimon said.

Leadership lessons

In May, Dimon hinted at retiring within the next five years. Though CEO appointment decisions fall to the board, he spoke to LinkedIn about the attributes he’d want in a successor and his top career advice. 

Work hard and smart. “So many people are so inefficient.”

Develop emotional intelligence. “A lot of people have plenty of brains, but EQ is, do you trust me? Do you communicate well? When you walk into a room, do people feel good you’re there?”

Take on new roles. “Careers are changing. The world is faster…Be willing to move around. Be willing to try different things.”

Source: GWFM Research & Study