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It’s about being a leader in your business community, your state and even your nation if given the opportunity.Īnd what it means to be a CEO is changing. If you’re a true leader, it always has been about more than just leading your business. And the second was one I probably most wanted to know. “This is the most dynamic, prosperous economy the world’s ever seen. Wages are going up, particularly for low pay. He also reminded me that a tight labor market can be “a great thing.” “They’ll eventually start looking for jobs around here, but they haven’t even started yet,” he said. It isn’t like they’re going to lose a good job,” he said.Īnd the rest is likely churn. So they’re going to wait until September.”Īnother 2 million could be still bringing in more in benefits than employment, he acknowledged, giving the example of someone whose benefits equate to $20 per hour being reluctant to return to a $12-per-hour service job. There could be another 2 million waiting for school to start before looking for a job, Dimon continued. Of the 7 million people out of the workforce, 1 million or 2 million probably have decided to retire, he said. “People are always looking for the simple answer,” he said, while going on to suggest there are at least four distinct reasons why businesses might be struggling to hire. But he did immediately acknowledge it’s not that simple. But what is it?ĭimon didn’t claim to have all the answers. Not with less than 3 percent unemployment and a still-robust labor force participation rate. They are quick to tell you the reason we don’t have more people working is because certain people can make more on enhanced government benefits because of the pandemic than in some jobs.Īnd, at least in Sioux Falls, I just can’t logically make a case for that in this moment in time. I was lucky – the team at Chase granted me a generous amount of time and had no restrictions on what could be discussed.īut if they had given me time for only two questions, these would have been them.įirst, I thought about what is the Sioux Falls economy’s biggest threat to growth, the element that would both interest and potentially concern my leadership audience the most.Īnd I’ve become increasingly frustrated by those, even in leadership, who insist on oversimplifying this issue.

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You can watch the full interview below, but essentially I talked about the Sioux Falls market, how it fit into some larger national themes and what Dimon’s thoughts were on our post-pandemic future. Molly Wetsch and Chloe Houwman have been reporting for us the past several months, and both plan to study business and finance in college, so I wanted them to experience this with me.īy the end of the day, it definitely had been a learning experience for all of us. I later explained to him that as their boss, there are some definite parallels to parenthood, which he understood. “Not exactly,” was the first thing that my “caught off-guard” self thought to reply. We shook hands, and he did the same with the two student-reporters standing next to me. I did not expect my first exchange with Dimon would involve him asking a question instead of me.īut as he arrived in Sioux Falls to waving Chase flags and pompoms, shook some hands and made his way to the podium where he would speak at the bank’s ribbon-cutting for its first branch in South Dakota, he veered my way first. So I would attempt to keep this conversation local and focused on what my audience would want to know. I report for those interested in local business news. I always default to a foundational element: my audience. It can feel like every quote has been given, every sound bite recorded. What do you ask someone who has been interviewed by everyone? That’s what makes high-profile interviews tough. The only part where I struggled a little was with the questions. This is someone who has been voted among the most influential and respected business leaders both by his peers and by the business media. You could argue interviewing Jamie Dimon wasn’t even my “biggest” interview this week, given I also had a chance to sit down with Ashley Furniture founder and chairman Ron Wanek – who also could be another column.īut I absolutely was thrilled with the chance to interview Dimon, who’s not only CEO of the nation’s largest bank, JPMorgan Chase, but also a leader among the world’s CEOs.

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My biggest interviews happened when I was just starting in the profession – I was actually a teenager – and those would make a whole series of columns themselves. “Is it your biggest interview ever?” my friend asked when hearing what was on my schedule last week.

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