JPMorgan CEO speaks at Harvard, but mum on TARP
BOSTON (Reuters) - JPMorgan Chase & Co (JPM.N) Chief Executive James Dimon on Wednesday shared his personal plan for success with Harvard business graduates but stopped short of discussing real world issues facing U.S. banks.
Dimon, who earned a Harvard business degree and now runs the second-largest U.S. bank, ticked off a long list of attributes required for success in the business world.
Discipline, fortitude and openness are critical, Dimon told the graduating class at its Class Day festivities. It is also important to avoid playing politics, set things up for success and to look at the facts in a "cold-blooded way," Dimon, named one of Time Magazine's 100 most influential people, said.
Speaking freely and quickly, Dimon dug into his past to describe the day he was fired from Citigroup but offered only little advice about the real world of business, warning graduates to watch out for what he called "aggressive accounting" and to make sure top executives "get the compensation right."
"I don't care what the P&L says, do the right thing anyway," Dimon said on the lawn of Harvard Business School.
He also said he expects the country to make it through its worst financial downturn since the Great Depression. "We are going to get through this crisis," he said.
Dimon took his own advice to be disciplined and refused to discuss any current hot-button topics, including the government bailout money his bank wants to pay back fast.
JP Morgan received $25 billion under the Troubled Asset Relief Program designed to stabilize the U.S. financial system. He previously called the money a "scarlet letter."
This week the out-spoken CEO made headlines with a tongue-in-cheek message to the Obama administration in a mock letter penned to U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geither.
"Dear Timmy, we are happy to be able to pay back the $25 billion you lent us," Dimon said, reading the brief letter at an industry conference in New York.
On Wednesday afternoon, Dimon focused only on the students and their success.
Accompanied by his wife, also a Harvard Business School graduate, and his daughter, who will soon enter the school, Dimon mingled with graduates and their parents. He posed for pictures, asked where graduates will work, and offered encouragement to those who have not yet landed a job.
(Editing Bernard Orr)
