- JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon said making big decisions when you're tired is a mistake.
- Dimon said avoiding decisions on Fridays is a key career lesson he has "learned and relearned."
- He said purpose — not happiness — is what really drives success in work and life.
Thinking about making a big decision at the end of a long week? JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon says it's worth waiting.
"Making big decisions on a Friday when you're tired is a really bad idea," Dimon said in an interview with NPR's "Newsmakers" on Tuesday.
Dimon shared that insight during an answer about what he wished he knew earlier in life, after nearly 22 years running the world's largest bank by market capitalization, and after he turned 70 last month.
Thomas Roulet, a professor of organizational sociology and leadership at the University of Cambridge, told Business Insider that Dimon is correct about the dangers of "decision fatigue."
"As a CEO, if you have taken decisions throughout the week without time to recharge, cognitive resources — a CEO's ability to juggle and process all information they have to make the right decision — are depleted by Friday," Roulet said.
A CEO might also be "in a rush to make a decision because of the end of the week approaching, which can mean lacking all information to make the right decision or lacking time to consult the right people," he added.
During the interview, Dimon pointed to emotional discipline as another key leadership skill.
"Anger doesn't help," he said, describing the kinds of habits that can quietly undermine judgment.
He framed these insights as lessons "learned and relearned" over time.
"I still make some of those mistakes, unfortunately," Dimon said.
Have a 'purpose in life'
Dimon said he was raised to "have a purpose in life, treat everyone well, do the best you can, leave the world a better place," and "that hasn't changed."
He also pointed to his latest annual letter to shareholders, released Monday, which highlights the USA's upcoming 250th anniversary as a moment to "rededicate ourselves to the values that made this great nation of ours — freedom, liberty, and opportunity."
In the interview, Dimon said the meaning of happiness in the phrase "the pursuit of happiness" from the US Declaration of Independence is often misunderstood.
"When they said the pursuit of happiness, they didn't mean happiness like we mean happiness," he said, but rather "purpose."
Dimon said the idea of purpose can take many forms — from business and politics to everyday life.
"That purpose could be an artist, politician, reporter, you know, business person," he said. "You could be just a caregiver, a mother."
He recalled reading an op-ed about a Medal of Honor recipient who, decades later, came to see that the real heroes were those who quietly helped others every day — though he did not specify which piece he was referring to.
"They never gave up, and they did it through health and sickness and things like that," Dimon said.
"So that's the purpose. You made the world a better place in the way you can contribute," he added.
