Jamie Dimon doesn’t mind being held accountable. In fact, he wants to be. For Dimon, the CEO of JP Morgan Chase & Co., it’s a crucial element of achieving success.
“It is completely appropriate to hold me accountable for those things I am responsible for,” Dimon, CEO of JP Morgan Chase & Co., told students in his commencement address. “We all should be held accountable.
His speech was a meditation on what it takes to make one’s self accountable. According the Dimon, it’s courage, smarts, humility, humanity and the ability to deal with failure. He shared his experience of being fired as president of Citigroup as evidence of how challenges allow opportunities for growth.
In 2009, Dimon’s was dubbed “Banker of the Year” by a trade magazine, and also made TIME magazine’s list of the world’s 100 most influential leaders. In the wake of the worldwide financial downturn, his bank managed to stay profitable.
Dimon’s selection as Commencement speaker sparked controversy this spring. Some students thought the choice showed poor taste given the recent financial turmoil and Dimon’s prominent roles on Wall Street and within the industry most blame for causing the collapse.
Protests were staged and petitions were started seeking to uninvite Dimon as commencement speaker.
“When I heard about these protests, I wanted to understand what was behind them,” Dimon explained. “So I called one of the students leading that movement, and we had a good conversation. I heard her concerns about me, the nation’s banking system and about capitalism itself.”
Some of the concerns were legitimate, Dimon said, but he disagreed with other concerns expressed. Ultimately he was proud students spoke up.
More than 17,070 faculty, staff, students and family packed the Carrier Dome to hear Dimon speak and observe Syracuse and the SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry confer approximately 5,297 degrees at the combined ceremony.
Dimon was one of six individuals receiving honorary degrees from the university. The others included sculptor Elizabeth Catlett; alum and philanthropist Gerald B. Cramer; noted health advocate Claire Fagin; Universal Studios Chief Operating Officer Ronald Meyer; and Say Yes to Education, Inc. founder George Allen Weiss.
Despite talk of students protesting Dimon by disrobing, Sunday’s only naked protestor was an inflatable sex doll thrown into the air just after Dimon finished his speech at 11:30 a.m. The doll, a female, and at least a dozen beach balls were quickly collected by marshals wearing flowing, bright orange gowns. All the plastic inflatables would be thrown away, according to a university spokeswoman.
Towards the end of his speech, Dimon challenged graduates to fulfill the responsibilities that come with their degrees.
“We must confront our health and education systems,” Dimon said. “It should not be acceptable that in the United States of America, only 50 percent of our inner-city school kids graduate high school. We must develop a real, substantive energy and environmental policy. We have had three major energy crises — it is not acceptable to have a fourth. We must build the infrastructure of the future.
“These are all serious issues but if we work together, we can fix them."
Reaction to Dimon’s speech was favorable among graduates:
Michelle Dibona, 22, who graduated with her bachelor’s in piano performance, said she gives everyone a fair hearing.
“Personally, I like to listen to what someone has to say whoever they are,” Dibona said. “I thought that Dimon’s speech was very moving.
“It got to the point and everything he said was appropriate and sincere.”
