NEW YORK — The president of the world’s largest bank, Jamie Dimon, said large organizations must rely on small, highly focused teams to stay competitive, emphasizing speed and execution in his latest annual shareholder letter.
In his shareholder letter, the JPMorgan Chase chief executive said the company’s “real competitive battles” are fought at a granular level, despite employing more than 300,000 people globally.
Dimon argued that the most effective way to solve complex problems is to assign them to small groups with full decision-making authority.
“The teams needed to tackle these challenges should be small and authorized with the decision-making ability to move and act like Navy SEALs or the Army’s Delta Force,” Dimon wrote.
He cautioned that spreading responsibility across larger teams can dilute focus and slow progress, noting that when a task represents only a small portion of an employee’s workload, outcomes tend to suffer compared with teams fully dedicated to a single objective.
Examples Cited
Dimon cited examples such as building digital account-opening systems that require coordination across multiple business lines, saying such initiatives often stall when treated as secondary priorities.
Analysis by Fortune linked Dimon’s approach to long-standing research on group dynamics, including studies on “social loafing,” which suggest individual effort declines as group size increases. Early research by French engineer Max Ringelmann and later work by Ohio State University researchers found that people tend to exert less effort in larger groups due to reduced accountability and shared responsibility, according to the publication.
Fortune also noted that business leaders have long adopted similar strategies to counter inefficiencies. Jeff Bezos popularized the “two-pizza rule,” which limits team size, while Mark Zuckerberg has emphasized organizational efficiency through workforce reductions and flatter management structures.
Accelerating Trend
The trend has accelerated alongside advances in artificial intelligence, with companies seeking to do more with fewer employees, Fortune reported.
Dimon said success in the current environment depends on “speed, agility, and relentless execution,” likening modern competition to “trench warfare.”
“It’s about fighting for every inch, moving quickly and getting things done,” he wrote.
