Jamie Dimon’s 3 Cs for Winning at the Highest Level

Last night, I'm at the office late, and we're sitting here and going through the whole process of what we're doing with our comp plan that we're paying to David Consulting, as well as new levels we're putting for guys to move up within the consulting firm. And just the structure of what can we improve, how can this improve, how can that improve, how can this improve, very, very thorough that we've been going the last couple months. The main question that we're asking, and it's so funny because it kind of goes with the meeting that we had today with the individuals that were here with us. The main thing we're asking is, how can we improve anything in every possible way, whether it's to attract better people, to retain better people. And at the end of the day, your priority is to make sure the three C's, right? No matter what business we're running, you want to make sure you're doing the right thing. If you want long-term, like I just had a meeting today with the JP Morgan people that flew in, they want to earn the business, and they kind of want some of the managing of the business that they do with us. In the last 20 years, all our businesses have banked mainly with Chase. We probably deposited $700 million the last, thank you, the last 20 years, and we're sitting there having a conversation. And I said, so let me ask you, you guys work with Jamie Dimon. What is the most basic rule that Jamie Dimon has taught you guys over the years? He says, it's the three C's. As long as you take care of the client, as long as you're leading and being respectful and bringing value to your colleagues, and you're great within your community, you're going to move up in Jamie Dimon, in JP Morgan Chase. So it's the three C's. It's very simple. So it's clients, colleagues, and community. Why community? If you're good in your community, it's a reflection of JP Morgan Chase. So they're going to be like, wow, what great citizens. The Joneses are great people. Who do you guys work for? JP Morgan Chase. Wow, JP Morgan produces great leaders, or they attract the right founders, right? Three C's, client, colleagues, and community. And so as we're getting deeper into this, and we're creating this comp plan, every single thing we're looking at is what can we do to improve this? We're having a meeting earlier today, our weekly magnificent seven meeting that we do. And as we're going through the meeting, Kareem asked me a question. I think it was Kareem and Antonio that asked me the question, and we're kind of going through the whole thing of, Pat, can you walk me through your routine? And what did you do with your routine? And what did your day-to-day look like? And then Mario's reminding of what I used to do and what I do. I told him about my Sunday night routine. So I think it was a very good conversation for all of us to take inventory of what our weekly routines right now look like. Because if you think about a big part of competing against somebody else in the marketplace in whatever else you're doing is, if somebody is winning at a faster pace or more steady pace, they probably have a more steady disciplined routine that is producing results that they want, and it's fine-tuned, more efficient, tighter, ways that they don't get bored with the routine. Sometimes somebody does a certain routine for three months, they get bored, they change it, and then boom, they get bored and they get away from it and then they come back again. So it's such a lack of consistency. It's so inconsistent that you can't have the momentum being on your side versus if you are doing your routine on a consistent basis, then momentum will be on your side and good things will be happening to you. But for me, everything about this last two weeks, three weeks, as we're going into 2026, is how can we improve every single one of our businesses, systems, efficiencies, relationship, partnerships, technology, investments, assets, in every possible way. It's about improving the things that we're working on. We had a meeting specifically on our HR software higher metrics with the new calibration that we're introducing and the goal-setting side, which we can't wait for that either, because for me, I want to be able to look at one page, and let's just say I got seven employees that are reporting to me. I want to be able to say, I'm looking at John Doe. John Doe, what has his calibration been Q1? Well, Q1, on E, effort, he got a seven. On attitude, he got an eight. On teamwork, he got five. On innovation, he got six. On results, he got seven. Okay, what did he do in Q2? What did he do on Q3? What was his best quarter for E, for A, for T, for I, for R? What is he going to get this year? What's his tally for the year? What is his average for the year? Then let me look at all my direct reports to see who's grown, who's not, who's the MVP, who's this, who's that. We want to get it to the T, so detailed with our calibration, so we can get people knowing what they're running for, for 2026, where motivation for incentives and hard work is going to be clear instead of blurry. Sometimes people work for a company, and people do stuff, and whatever the next is so blurry that people can't stay focused and excited about it. A manager sit there and wonder, why doesn't that person stay excited? They don't have a clear path of success of what it's going to look like. Two nights ago, Taylor and I had a long meeting together, and the meeting was about how do I view her, what I see her being long-term with us. We're going back and forth to get clarity on what that looks like. It was a breakthrough type of a moment for her. We're like, oh, I never thought about it that way before. Yes. One, clear path for us. Two, clear path for others. Anyways, everything for us, if I was to sum it up right now, what we're thinking about, how can we improve every single thing and make it more efficient, which as simple of a thing as it looks like, and it sounds like you're like, well, nothing about that is magical. It's not. It's where the timing is also extremely, it's the proper time to be having that mindset going into 2026. I keep saying this. I think 2026 is going to be a very, very special year. We have a lot of things that we're closing before the end of the year that we're excited about. While some people are already checked out and they're already into 2026 mode, just so everybody knows, we're working all week this week. We're going to be at the office. Of course, we'll be out of town. We're coming back. We're working. We have our kickoff meeting for BDC, kickoff meeting for Lion Holding. We're excited about 2026. I hope you are just as excited about what 2026 is going to do as we are. What you just saw here is an interaction we're having with a CEO, founder, and executive, different challenges that they're facing at Bed David Consulting, a firm we run where we do engagements for many business owners from 60 plus countries around the world. It could be a person that's trying to exit and they need a pitch deck to be in place. It could be a company that's having a hard time with accountability with their executive team or their leadership team. They want to put a calibration system in place that we use ourselves. It could be a conversation about somebody that wants to improve their compensation plan to create a little bit more momentum and drive with their leadership team or their sales team. Or it could be conflicts between business partners that is taking place. A wide variety of things that we do for our clients at Bed David Consulting. If you want to learn more, go to beddavid.com. 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