JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon's latest career secret is deceptively simple: never make big decisions when you're exhausted, especially at the end of the week.
"Making big decisions on a Friday when you're tired is a really bad idea," Dimon said in a recent interview with NPR, reflecting on what he wished his younger self had known. He was equally direct about the emotional side of leadership: "Anger doesn't help," he added, naming it among the feelings that can quietly derail a leader's judgment.
Dimon, who turned 70 last month, has spent over two decades running JPMorgan, the largest U.S. bank — long enough to have "learned and relearned" these lessons, as he put it. He was candid about his own imperfection: "I still make some of those mistakes, unfortunately."
The dangers of decision fatigue
Science backs him up. Thomas Roulet, who teaches organizational sociology and leadership at the University of Cambridge, told Business Insider that "decision fatigue" — the gradual deterioration of our ability to process information — is a very real risk. By Friday, a CEO who has been making calls all week without adequate rest has likely depleted the cognitive reserves needed to weigh complex information carefully.
The structural pressures don't help either. As the week winds down, Roulet notes, executives often feel compelled to "just decide" so their teams can move forward — even when the data is incomplete or key advisers haven't been consulted. Dimon's advice is essentially a case for resisting that momentum: accept a short delay rather than risk a consequential mistake made in the wrong state of mind.
Purpose over happiness
Beyond decision-making, Dimon offered a broader philosophy for sustaining a career over the long haul. In the NPR interview, he said his life purpose was simply "to make the world a better place" — a value instilled early, alongside the principles of treating everyone well and doing your best. "That hasn't changed," he said.
Purpose, in his view, is more durable than happiness. Speaking earlier this year at the Female Quotient lounge in Davos, Switzerland, he reminded younger workers that every job has a "grunt part" you have to push through, and that constantly chasing excitement is a trap. "Do not get a new job," he said bluntly. "Some people are always thinking, and they're ruining their lives because they should just enjoy what they're doing."
His final word on career success was equally unambiguous: "Work hard. There's no replacement. I still see a lot of people who think they can make a shortcut to a heroic 'something.' It's rarely true."