IBM CEO Arvind Krishna and JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon hold different views on phone use during workplace meetings. Dimon takes a stricter stance against phones and tablets while Krishna argues that the context matters. Dimon told Fortune at the Most Powerful Women summit last month that he expects full attention during meetings. On the contrary, Krishna says smaller meetings require different behaviour.For Dimon, working on the phone or tablet during meetings is disrespectful.“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. It’s disrespectful,” Dimon said.Krishna told CNN last week that his approach depends on meeting size. He said it would be unusual for a technology company to prohibit employees from using their devices, particularly in larger gatherings.“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 said.“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?’” he said.
Dimon’s smartphone rule in office
Meeting behaviour has been a recurring concern for Dimon. In his annual letter to shareholders, he mentioned “meetings” six times, urging employees to schedule them only when necessary and to make them productive.“I see people in meetings all the time who are getting notifications and personal texts or who are reading emails. This has to stop. It’s disrespectful. It wastes time,” Dimon wrote.Dimon’s frustration extends beyond small meetings. During a conversation at Stanford University in March, he described joining a Zoom meeting where attention was 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,” Dimon said, adding, “And people say, and you think you’re focusing and learning?”The JPMorgan CEO has also said that he doesn’t carry his mobile phone during office hours and only reads texts from his immediate family. He noted that if someone wants to reach him and it’s important, they should call his office.
