As more employees return to the office, certain CEOs are discovering they must re-educate staff on fundamental meeting etiquette, with one particularly contentious subject being the habit of checking devices. JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon has been notably direct on this matter.
TL;DR
- IBM CEO Arvind Krishna finds prohibiting device use in large meetings peculiar.
- JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon expects full attention and considers device use disrespectful.
- Krishna distinguishes between large communication vehicles and smaller, focused meetings.
- Dimon advocates for essential, productive meetings and discourages multitasking.
At Coins2Day’s Most Powerful Women summit last month, he said he expects full attention from everyone in the room. “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,” he told Coins2Day Editor-in-Chief Alyson Shontell. “It’s disrespectful.”
IBM CEO Arvind Krishna, however, sees it a bit differently. He argued that it would be “weird” for a tech company to tell its employees not to use their technology—especially in larger meetings where devices can be a useful tool rather than a distraction.
“I distinguish between one-to-10-person meetings and very large meetings. If it’s a very large meeting, I’m sorry. It’s not really a meeting. It’s a communication vehicle. You’re just informing people,” Krishna told CNN last week.
Concurrently, the 62-year-old stated that smaller, more private gatherings warrant careful consideration.
“If it’s a small meeting, I would really frown upon if somebody is sitting opposite my desk and lost in their phone, I would tell them, ‘why don’t you come back when you have time?’”
Coins2Day reached out to IBM for further comment.
Dimon's persistent annoyance regarding meetings
Dimon has frequently expressed his dissatisfaction with conduct in the conference room. Indeed, in his shareholder letter from last spring, he used the term “meetings” six times, imploring staff to arrange them only when essential and to ensure their productivity.
“I see people in meetings all the time who are getting notifications and personal texts or who are reading emails,” he wrote. “This has to stop. It’s disrespectful. It wastes time.”
Although Dimon hasn't specified attendance limits for meetings as clearly as Krishna has, his dissatisfaction seems to encompass more than just brief assemblies.
During a conversation at Stanford University in March, Dimon recalled joining a Zoom meeting where attention was clearly divided.
“There were 12 people in the room and four people on the screen and all four people on the screen were on their phone,” he recalled. “And people say, and you think you’re focusing and learning?”
Dimon's strong disapproval of unfocused meetings occurs as he's spearheaded one of Wall Street's most assertive return-to-office mandates. The majority of JPMorgan staff must now be present at the office five days weekly, partly to achieve a return on the firm's property holdings.
Last month, JPMorgan officially opened unveiled its new $3 billion global headquarters in Manhattan, a 60-story skyscraper featuring 19 restaurants, a company store, and a gym.
Your supervisor might notice if you put your devices away.
As technology becomes more prevalent in professional settings, multitasking during meetings is simpler than ever, particularly when an AI assistant can produce a post-meeting recap, freeing you to disengage.
According to Gary Rich, founder of executive coaching firm Rich Leadership, multitasking in person is particularly disrespectful and constitutes a poor habit.
“Are manners ‘old fashioned?’ Is listening to what’s happening in a meeting ‘old school?’” Rich previously told Coins2Day. “When people are multitasking during a meeting, the distraction creates a ripple effect—the speaker feels disrespected, other attendees lose motivation, and the meeting becomes less productive.”
Taking the high-road—and practicing good meeting etiquette—can ultimately be an effective way to earn recognition, show genuine commitment, and build credibility.