Dimon Goes to War on JPMorgan Bureaucracy, Isn't Hot on Meetings

(Bloomberg) -- Someone recently told Jamie Dimon during a JPMorgan Chase & Co. leadership gathering that bureaucracy is a necessity in a complex company.

“This is hogwash,” Dimon told shareholders in a letter on Thursday, recalling the exchange. “Bureaucracy is a disease. Bureaucracy drives out good people, slows down decision making, kills innovation and is often the petri dish of bad politics.”

The head of the largest U.S. bank said he's going to war on bureaucracy across the firm. There are even “war rooms,” set up by its operating committee last year to find ways to streamline certain tasks, such as signing up new clients and managing vendors.

So for staff, here are some other tips from the boss's letter:

• Meetings “can be a giant waste of time and money.” If they're absolutely necessary, “the organizer needs to have a well-planned, focused agenda with pre-read materials sent in advance.”
• “You can take any part of your business and re-imagine it.”
• “Complacency is another disease.” The only way to fight it “is to always analyze our own actions and point out your own weaknesses.”

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To contact the reporter on this story: Sonali Basak in New York at sbasak7@bloomberg.net.

To contact the editors responsible for this story: David Scheer at dscheer@bloomberg.net, Dan Reichl

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