Jamie Dimon, one of the banking industry's longest-serving chief executives, has a theory about why some CEOs rise to the occasion while others flounder—and it has little to do with how much they know about business.

Dimon has led JPMorgan Chase, the largest U.S. bank by market capitalization, for more than two decades. Speaking earlier this year on the Master Investor Podcast, he identified insecurity as one of the biggest threats to a CEO's career and to a company's success.

The dynamic he describes begins with promotion. As executives climb the corporate ladder, they often shift from being an expert overseeing one area of the business they know well to a generalist responsible for parts of the company they understand far less. “The bigger job you get, the less you know—literally—about the job,” Dimon told the podcast's host, Wilfred Frost.

Some CEOs manage that transition well, he said. They seek out people with expertise in the areas they lack and feel no embarrassment about gaps in their knowledge. For others, though, the change becomes a recipe for insecurity. “It becomes PowerPoints, you know, make them look good, don't tell them the bad news. And that is what causes the problem,” he said.

Dimon argued that this kind of insecurity, more than arrogance, signals a deeper weakness in leadership that produces further problems. A chief executive, he said, must be able to absorb criticism and turn it into a plan for improvement—particularly when it comes to customer complaints. “You're not going to hurt my feelings by telling me we have a crappy product,” he said. “If you're right, I'm gonna thank you for letting me know.”

The JPMorgan chief expanded on the theme in an October interview with the Wall Street Journal, saying executives could take a cue from Ted Lasso, the relentlessly positive protagonist of the Apple TV series of the same name. Lasso, Dimon said, strikes a balance between two traits he considers essential in upper management: a drive to win, together with empathy and humility. “I love Ted Lasso,” Dimon said. “He comes in and he doesn't know anything about football, and he's just gracious. He's working with people—their insecurities, their bad behavior, their work ethic—and he's getting them to function as a team.” In Dimon's framing, Lasso's candor about knowing nothing about the sport is precisely the trait he believes insecure executives lack.

Dimon's track record lends his leadership advice added weight. During his tenure, he has built JPMorgan into an $894 billion banking giant. His “fortress balance sheet” strategy, which emphasizes high liquidity and conservative risk management, was key to helping the bank survive the 2008 recession. He has also grown the company over the past two decades by acquiring competitors in turmoil, including Bear Stearns in 2008 and, more recently, First Republic Bank in 2023.

His latest comments on insecurity are consistent with previous warnings that “bureaucracy, complacency, and arrogance” can take down otherwise successful companies. In April, Dimon said the best way to tackle these problems is to “get rid of the jerks”—bureaucratic managers who care more about the process than the outcome. He has also said that holding back information, as an insecure CEO might, breeds “rope-a-dope politics”, a reference to Muhammad Ali's evasive defensive strategy that creates unnecessary debate and hinders results.

Dimon's philosophy aligns with that of other successful current and former CEOs. Microsoft chief executive Satya Nadella has previously told Fortune that he encourages employees to maintain a growth mindset rather than be content and complacent, and that he has sought to shift the company from a “know-it-all” culture to a “learn-it-all” culture in which employees approach problems with curiosity. Ray Dalio, the founder and former CEO of Bridgewater Associates, pushed for “radical transparency” during his tenure, encouraging employees to challenge one another openly and confront mistakes without defensiveness. The overlap highlights how the principle Dimon describes—treating criticism as information to act on rather than a threat—has taken root well beyond one company.

The JPMorgan CEO, who also serves as chairman of the board, practices what he preaches. For the past 20 years, he has stepped out of every board meeting to give board members time to discuss matters without the pressure of his “forceful” personality, he said. Dimon has previously said that leaders like himself must earn the trust of their employees every day, and that part of doing so is being willing to admit mistakes without taking criticism personally. “I'm not trying to do the thing that I want to do, I want to do the right thing for the company,” he said Monday.

A version of this story was published on Fortune.com on July 21, 2026. This story was originally featured on Fortune.com.