Jamie Dimon doesn’t mince words on corporate time sinks. At Norges Bank Investment Management’s conference in Oslo on April 28, 2026, the JPMorgan Chase CEO laid bare his disdain for aimless meetings. Fortune captured the moment: “When you have a meeting and someone ends the meeting by saying ‘That was a great meeting, we’ll pick it up again next week,’ It’s usually a bad meeting.” Instead, he insists on crisp assignments. “The meeting should end with, Okay David, you’re going to do X—talk to these people.”
No ambiguity. No warm fuzzies. Just action. Dimon’s rule spotlights a truth many executives dodge: feel-good wrap-ups mask inaction.
And who’s in charge? “When you have a meeting, people often don’t know who’s running it—that’s a mistake,” he added during the live podcast, streamed from the Oslo office. (Norges Bank Investment Management) This isn’t new for the 70-year-old leader of America’s biggest bank. Back in his 2024 shareholder letter, he commanded: “Kill meetings.” But if they persist, make them count—start on time, end on time, assign a leader, demand pre-reads.
Distractions? Unacceptable. “If you have an iPad in front of me and it looks like you’re reading your email or getting notifications, I tell you to close the damn thing. It’s disrespectful,” Dimon told Fortune at last year’s Most Powerful Women Summit. Full attention or bust. He ties his own tenure to this standard: the day he can’t deliver 100% focus, he’ll step aside.
Dimon’s gripes echo a swelling chorus. An Atlassian survey of 5,000 workers found meetings ineffective 72% of the time. (Atlassian) Worse, 78% said the sheer volume blocks timely work completion. Zoom’s ease birthed this beast—more convenings, less output. JPMorgan’s results suggest Dimon’s axe works. Q1 2026 delivered $50.54 billion in revenue, beating $49.17 billion estimates and up 10% year-over-year. (CNBC) Net income hit $16.5 billion. Efficiency fuels the machine.
Others follow suit. Southwest Airlines CEO Bob Jordan, speaking at the New York Times DealBook Summit in December 2025, called out the trap: “When you first start, it’s easy to confuse busyness and going to meetings with leadership.” (Fortune) His fix for 2026? Clear Wednesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays afternoons—no meetings. Actual work demands space.
Instagram head Adam Mosseri went further in a staff memo. Every meeting needs a clear objective. One-on-ones default to biweekly. Decline invaders of focus blocks. Twice-yearly audits prune the calendar. (Business Insider) Recurring ones? Canceled every six months unless vital. “I want most of your time focused on building great products, not preparing for meetings,” he wrote.
But Dimon predates them all. Years ago at a Morgan Stanley conference, he blasted sessions “run for the boss”—politics incubators, not progress engines. (Unusual Whales, June 2025) Put “dead cats on the table,” he urged. Face problems head-on. No side chats.
Recent echoes amplify the call. A leaked audio had Dimon railing against Zoom zombies: multitasking attendees checking email, barely engaged. “You don’t do that in my goddamn meetings.” (Wall Street Oasis on TikTok) Creativity dies in divided focus.
So why do meetings persist? Habit. Insecurity. The illusion of progress. Dimon cuts through: success hinges on outcomes, not vibes. Assign tasks. Track ownership. Kill the rest. JPMorgan’s ledger proves it—$50.54 billion doesn’t lie.
Executives take note. In an AI era demanding speed, low-tech drags like vague huddles could sink firms. Dimon’s Oslo directive lands amid his bond crisis warnings at the same event—geopolitics, deficits piling risks. (Fortune) “There will be some kind of bond crisis,” he predicted. Boards meet without him routinely, ensuring checks. Culture demands grit, detail obsession. Meetings? Mere tools. Wield poorly, pay dearly.
Dimon’s playbook scales. Start with purpose. End with accountability. Enforce focus. Audit relentlessly. Leaders blocking afternoons like Jordan, or purging recurrings like Mosseri, grasp this. Atlassian’s data screams urgency. 72% failure rate. That’s not noise—it’s a fire alarm.
One fix: Pre-work mandatory. Dimon pre-reads everything. Walk in cold? You’re out. No jargon. Plain talk. No “meeting after the meeting”—speak up or shut up.
Results follow. JPMorgan’s Q1 surge ties directly to streamlined ops. No coincidence. As rivals bloat calendars, Dimon’s precision carves edge. Tired Fridays? He skips big calls then, too—a lesson relearned. (Business Insider)
Corporate America stirs. From Oslo to DealBook, the rebellion grows. Dimon leads. Kill bad meetings. Birth the good ones. Or watch productivity bleed out.
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