- Have the fortitude to do the right thing
not the easy thing.
Don't be somebody's lap dog or sycophant.
I think I spend probably 50 or 60% of my time learning,
reading, talking to people, traveling.
Go to work at a place where you respect the people,
you think the company has the kind of culture you like,
it's going to grow, it's to be ambitious.
Do you want to be a winner
then compare yourself to the best,
acknowledge that will never happen without hard work.
If you're not prepared for tough times
you're not going to be, you can't like get prepared
when times get tough.
If I do well here I can help our employees,
help our clients, help our communities.
Never fool yourself into thinking that your success
is yours alone.
- He's an American business executive.
- He's a chairman, president and CEO of JP Morgan Chase.
- He has an estimated net worth of 1.1 billion dollars.
- He's Jamie Dimon and here's my take on his
top ten rules for success.
- It takes courage to be accountable.
Throughout my life, throughout this crisis of the past
four years I have seen many people embarrass themselves
by failing to stand up,
(mumbling) and acting like lemons
by simply going along with the pack.
I also saw plenty of people under enormous pressure
who always did the right thing.
Graduates, you will soon leave this wonderful community
and venture into a new world, you're ready for new jobs,
new opportunities and new lives.
Along the way you're going to face a lot of pressure.
Pressure to go along, to get along,
to toe the line, to look the other way
when you see things that aren't right.
And pressure to do things simply because
everybody else is doing them.
Never give in to that pressure.
Have the fortitude to do the right thing,
not the easy thing.
Don't be somebody's lap dog or sycophant.
Have the courage to speak the truth
even when it is unpopular.
And have the courage to put yourself on the line,
to strive for something meaningful
and even to risk would be an embarrassing failure.
I think Teddy Roosevelt understood this to be a century ago
when he said, and I quote,
"It is not the critic who counts.
"Not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles
"or where the doer deeds could have done them better.
"The credit belongs to the man, now the woman,
"who is actually in the arena
"whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood,
"who strives valiantly, who airs,
"who comes up short again and again
"because there is no effort without airing and shortcoming.
"But it does actually strive to do the deeds
"who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions,
"who spends himself in a worthy cause.
"Who at the best knows in the end of the triumph
"of high achievement and who at the worst
"if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly
so that his place shall never be with those cold
"and timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat."
Learning is a lifelong thing.
It doesn't end at Harvard Business School.
It's your responsibility, I think,
if you're in any profession at all
you have to do it consistently all the time.
I think I spend probably 50 or 60% of my time learning,
reading, talking to people, traveling.
It's the only way to keep on top
of this global world of ours.
And it's even tougher now because of the
globality of the businesses you're all going to deal in.
How, reading is the most important one.
But the second one, which is often forgotten,
is talking to other people.
You can learn more from speaking to people in 15 minutes
then if you spend your life doing something.
They can explain it to you and you can learn from
watching people.
You also are going to learn by, I'm going to
call it imitation, but by watching other very good people
and how they operate in difficult circumstances.
I learned a lot of things, what not to do,
and a lot of things what to do by watching other people.
Go to work at a place where you respect the people,
you think the company has the kind of culture you like,
it's going to grow, it's going to be ambitious
and your career will take who knows what path.
Then do think ahead a couple of jobs so that
you're always thinking maybe what I might want to do next.
And you know in one point life you have to
make a vertical switch.
Or in some point life may get fired
like some of us have been.
And those those are hard things but they
could be very good things.
So I also find some people said that's what they want.
And they're looking up those hundred stairs
and they're always measuring how quickly they're going
versus their friend.
You're not doing the right thing,
you're not enjoying your job
It takes a lot of luck to get to that top
rung sometimes and and if you're really good
you'll probably get there.
It may not be at that company,
it may be somewhere else.
I tell you enjoy your life.
Enjoy every step of it and don't don't worry too much
about that kind of ambition.
Many of you already have dealt with some
very difficult times.
So this is no different than some of you
already dealt with.
When you fail it's okay to get depressed,
it's okay to cry, it's okay to go home,
it's okay to blame others for a while.
But eventually you have to get over it and move on.
The greatest people who have ever walked this planet
and I'm talking, I'm not talking business people,
I'm talking about people like Nelson Mandela and Abe Lincoln
constantly had setbacks in life and failures.
Constantly, it happens all the time in business.
And some of your success will be how you deal with
the failure, not how you deal with the success.
When I get introduced I always get introduced
that 1998 I was the president of Citigroup
and in 2000 I took over Bank One.
I was fired in 1998.
So I went a little bit of experience like this.
And it's a painful thing.
My boss who I had worked for 15 years called me in
and said, 'We want you to resign."
To which I said, "Okay."
I went home I told my wife and children.
I called my wife up and said, "Judy I'm going to
"tell you something.
"I'm not kidding."
Because I always make jokes about things like that.
But I wanted to make sure the kids were fine.
I went home my three wonderful daughters,
they were much younger then.
I said, the oldest, the youngest one said,
"Dad do we have to sleep on the streets?"
(laughing)
I said, "No hon, we're okay."
The middle one who had just graduated Barnard said,
"Dad can I still go to college?"
I said, "Yes dear, you can."
And I knew things were fine when the oldest one
who was going to Harvard Business School said,
"Dad, can I have that little cell phone you have.
"You won't be needing it."
(laughing)
I remind people when you fail at something
it's your, I told people at Citigroup
it's my net worth, not my self-worth.
And I was able to move on
and yes it was difficult.
I did call my boss a year later.
He did not call me, I called him and said,
"It's time to break bread."
We went to lunch together.
I told them that entity did the right thing for Citigroup
which is pretty obvious at this point.
But. (laughing)
But, I told him the mistakes I made
and was 40 60 or 60 40 wasn't important.
I wanted to learn from the experience
and move on.
If you want to be a winner
then compare yourself to the best
and acknowledge that will never happen without hard work.
Abe Lincoln used to say, "Good things may come
"to those who wait."
"But only those things left by those who hustle."
If you want to be a leader, act like a leader.
If you want to be respected and trusted
then demonstrate you deserve it by earning it every day.
If you want to be known as honest, not telling lies
is not sufficient.
Don't even shave the truth.
And make sure your friends and colleagues
will always bring you back to Earth
when you, like we all do at times,
for deceiving yourself.
You know you all your management is I think
it's kind of relentless process.
So I guess first, like someone said,
we would have, we're changing the crisis versus
before nothing.
It's like, if you're not prepared for tough times
you're not going to be you can't like get prepared
when times get tough.
Like you need the army before the war starts.
And so that means a disciplined group,
they know what they're doing.
The only real difference is that the (mumbling) committee
used to meet once a week for a couple hours.
And in the crisis it met at seven AM, 12 lunch time,
five o'clock, 10 o'clock, five AM, if it had to.
24/7 for six straight months.
And we had to say it wasn't very formal we said,
hey if you've got a problem go to the meeting
and bring the people you got to have.
And everyone shares the reports,
that shares the information.
That tries to react very quickly.
There is already a book on you.
That book is already being written.
And if I spoke to your teachers, your friends,
your professionals, your parents
I would know whether you're trusted,
how you work with your ethical.
I would know so much about you you'd be shocked.
I don't even have to meet you.
So that book is already growing.
You should you write the book you want the way
you want it to be written.
You actually have that choice
and you can do it as you want now.
Don't let others write it.
And when you get caught in situations
that you're uncomfortable
I remember I worked at a company not far from here.
And I remember I was asked to do something
I didn't want to do, I might tell you,
you'll take this advice.
You can always quit.
It's your responsibility whether you accept
to do something or not.
And it will be in that book written on you.
- You had a major life-changing event,
how are you doing?
- I'm doing fine thank you.
So far so good, I get tested all the time.
- How has it changed you at all?
How has it impacted you?
- It didn't change my value system which
I've always literally family first,
country and humanity second.
Because they go hand in hand to me.
But I think this country still is the leading
beacon in the world.
If you actually travel around the world
you'd feel that way too.
And you know third is the job.
But this is the best I can do.
So if I do well here I can help our employees,
I can help our clients, all of our communities.
And the only real change is that which I think it's
just a good life lesson is that
I don't necessary assume I'm going to live for 10 years.
And you want to live very deliberately.
Like, why are you doing this?
Because you want to end every day and say,
that was a good day.
But I always tell people it is it is your job
to take care of your, if you have a job you know
and we all spend a lot of time there.
But your job it takes you of your mind, your spirit,
your body, your soul and your family.
And you've got to take that officially, so I do.
I've always taken my vacations,
I've always had my family trips.
I always you know cut something short for the family.
This phone 24/7 is used for emergencies and children
and my wife, that's it.
It takes humility and humanity to be accountable.
We all stand on the shoulders of those who came before us.
Humility is the realization that those who came before
pave the way.
Never fool yourself into thinking that your success
is yours alone.
Your success is the result of your parents,
the family who sacrificed to give you a better life.
Your professors and administrators who helped you
get through your time your Syracuse.
Your friends, neighbors, those who encouraged you.
In fact this wonderful country whose bounties we all benefit
from was built by so many people who made endless sacrifices
often the ultimate sacrifice
before most of us were even born.
There's important to respect what they have done
and to be grateful for it.
- Thank you guys so much for watching.
- [Woman] We made this video because
female foot kisser asked us to.
If there's someone else you'd like us a profile
leave a message in the comments below.
- We'd also love to know which of the top ten rules
hit you the hardest and why.
Leave in the comments and we'll join in the discussion.
Thank you so much for watching, continue to believe
and we'll see you soon.