“I have to confess, I’m not used to speaking in front of 12,000 people,” Dimon told the audience of marketers, practitioners, and executives. 

During the fireside chat, Adobe CEO Shantanu Narayen asked Dimon what helped him develop as a leader, to which he responded, “I think there are four quick things.”

His first piece of advice: “Assess everything, honestly, directly, forthrightly. A lot of companies don’t do that.” Companies that don’t follow those guidelines are not honest about their performance, and get complacent, he said. “Don’t try to use numbers to prove what you think,” he said. “Try to use numbers to understand what you are doing.”

Secondly, you need an effective leadership team. “A lot of people who run stuff, they’re like a hot mess,” Dimon said. Always late and not doing their job, he said. “They may be great people, just don’t let them run something because they’ll be a disaster,” he added.

Dimon’s third piece of advice is to have humility. “People know when you care about them,” he said. “They know if you’re real.” And people know when you’re not genuine, he added. You wouldn’t want to work with someone who blames everyone else if something goes wrong, and takes credit when things go right, Dimon explained. Or someone who “doesn’t treat everyone across the company with respect, whether it’s the person cleaning the bathrooms in the office or a CEO,” he said.

His fourth leadership tip: “You’ve gotta have a little bit of grit.” Especially when you’re managing things that are coming at you all day. “You have to say ‘absolutely not,’ or ‘absolutely, take the chance—go for it,’” he said.

Driving innovation

Dimon is at the helm of the nation’s largest bank, which manages $4 trillion in assets and moves over $10 trillion around the world every day. With the bank having about 300,000 employees, Narayen asked him what he thinks about innovation for a company of that scale.

Technology has driven change for mankind, Dimon said. It has influenced everything from agriculture, printing, steel, ceramics, the internet, and “I put AI in the same category,” he said.

Technological innovation should be brought to the table for leadership to discuss, Dimon said. Lori Beer, global chief information officer at JPMorgan Chase, “who runs an empire,” reports to Dimon and the president, he said. When they come to the table, Dimon asks questions like: “What are you doing? What are you building? How are you competing? How are you using new technology? How are you using Adobe?”

The bank has expanded into lifestyle businesses, like Chase Travel. “We have a travel agency to make your life better,” Dimon said. “And unlike some other companies out there in social media, we want to offer you what you want,” and not “just bombard you with ads,” he said.

And Dimon offered another piece of advice: “A business should always look at itself from the point of view of the consumer.”

Sheryl Estrada
sheryl.estrada@fortune.com

Leaderboard

Kevin Bradley was promoted to CFO of Alarm.com (Nasdaq: ALRM), a provider of smart home security services. Bradley joined Alarm.com in May 2009 and has served in various accounting and finance roles, including director of financial planning and then VP of financial planning and analysis. He previously worked at Morgan Stanley in New York City. 

Rick Klenk was promoted to CFO of The Penn Mutual Life Insurance Company (Penn Mutual), effective March 17. Klenk has over 35 years of experience. Most recently, he served as CFO for Life Insurance and Annuities for Penn Mutual. Klenk started his career with Penn Mutual as an actuary and has held leadership roles at Nationwide and Lincoln Financial Group, including corporate chief actuary and chief risk officer. 

Big Deal

The Federal Reserve kept rates steady as expected on Wednesday. But signaled that two cuts remain on the table this year. Stocks jumped after Fed Chair Jerome Powell said the economy remains strong, though he emphasized the central bank will adopt a wait-and-see approach when it comes to the economic agenda of President Donald Trump, Fortune’s Greg McKenna reported.  

As in December, Fed policymakers penciled in a median of two interest rate reductions in the famous “dot plot,” which shows where individual officials see rates headed. Eight of the 19 participants had rates unchanged or only being cut once, however, up from only four who maintained that hawkish posture at the end of last year.

Going deeper

“Gender pay gap in U.S. has narrowed slightly over two decades,” a report by Pew Research Center, finds that in 2024, women, on average, earned 85% of what men earned. Pew conducted an analysis of median hourly earnings of both full- and part-time workers. In 2003, women earned 81% as much as men, according to the report.

Overheard

“The organizations that thrive will be those that see skilling as an ongoing journey, not a one-time event.”

—Kelly Monahan, managing director of Upwork’s Research Institute, and Alexandra Levit, CEO of Inspiration at Work, write in the Fortune opinion piece, “Rigid work models won’t survive AI. Here’s what will.”