realized he’d made a terrible mistake and pleaded with Weill not to institute such harsh measures. Commercial Credit wasn’t some Wall Street firm with trade secrets the fired employees might steal; it was unnecessary to throw anybody out the door. Weill was unmoved. Volland tried another tack. Many employees commuted to Baltimore by bus in the morning, he said, and they’d be stranded with nowhere to go until the rush hour buses went in the other direction. Weill told him to hire cabs.
The Sandy Weill era at Commercial Credit had begun.
• • •
Weill’s next hire shocked the staid banking world of New York. Bob Lipp, one of three presidents of Chemical Bank—he’d worked there since the 1940s—agreed to become the executive vice president in charge of consumer financial services at Commercial Credit. It wasn’t just a major step down in prestige. He took a 50 percent pay cut as well. Weill considered Lipp his proof to the markets that he was serious about transforming Commercial Credit.
Lipp had realized that his upward rise at Chemical was over—the company’s chairman, Walter V. Shipley, was only two years older than he—and he also knew a potential gravy train when he saw one. After a career in the bureaucratic confines of one of the country’s largest banks, he was seduced by Weill’s salesmanship and decided to throw his lot in with the entrepreneur. It wasn’t their first dalliance, either; Lipp had been ready to join Weill if the BankAmerica deal had gone through. “The thing that actually put me over the edge was Sandy’s attention to the personal stuff,” recalls Lipp. “I really liked the guy.”
Lipp brought his lieutenants at Chemical, Bob Willumstad and Marge Magner, with him to Commercial Credit. “Sandy had a reputation of being a great entrepreneur, of creating a lot of wealth,” recalls Willumstad. “And he offered the opportunity for people to get really engaged in something. Although I must admit, I wondered for months whether I’d made the right decision.” So, too, did most of the new recruits at one point or another, especially when they found out that thecompany would be covered by the Philadelphia bureau of the
Wall Street Journal
instead of out of New York.
Dimon and Lipp took to each other out of the gate. The intense working experience in Baltimore laid the foundations for a relationship that has endured for more than two decades. “Bob was—and is—the velvet fist,” says Dimon. “He’s also so smart, but he didn’t wear it on his chest. And he taught me one of the most important things in my career, which is not to rest on your laurels. He would emphasize the negatives. But only when it came to the business. He always made it fun. He’d say things like, ‘Hey, let’s go to Kentucky and go to that place where we had those fabulous pies!’ I’ve learned a tremendous amount from him.”
Another hire who worked closely with Jamie Dimon was John Fowler, a former executive vice president at Warner Amex Cable Communications. Fowler also took a 50 percent pay cut. One of Fowler’s memories is of Dimon pointing him toward the annual report of Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway and suggesting that he read how Buffett ran a property and casualty insurance company in order to maximize investable assets at the lowest possible cost of money.
Fowler remembers one particular lunch meeting with Weill and Dimon at The Four Seasons. Dimon, who smoked at the time, had a cigarette brought to him at the end of lunch in lieu of dessert. A few years later, having quit smoking, Dimon chastised Fowler for keeping up the habit. He said that if Fowler quit for five years, he would donate $5,000 to a charity of Fowler’s choice. Fowler took him up on the offer, and five years later Dimon paid up.
The majority of Weill’s hires were refugees from big companies, people looking for less formality and more upside. “His mantra was, ‘Down with the bureaucracy!’”
The Sandy Weill era at Commercial Credit had begun.
• • •
Weill’s next hire shocked the staid banking world of New York. Bob Lipp, one of three presidents of Chemical Bank—he’d worked there since the 1940s—agreed to become the executive vice president in charge of consumer financial services at Commercial Credit. It wasn’t just a major step down in prestige. He took a 50 percent pay cut as well. Weill considered Lipp his proof to the markets that he was serious about transforming Commercial Credit.
Lipp had realized that his upward rise at Chemical was over—the company’s chairman, Walter V. Shipley, was only two years older than he—and he also knew a potential gravy train when he saw one. After a career in the bureaucratic confines of one of the country’s largest banks, he was seduced by Weill’s salesmanship and decided to throw his lot in with the entrepreneur. It wasn’t their first dalliance, either; Lipp had been ready to join Weill if the BankAmerica deal had gone through. “The thing that actually put me over the edge was Sandy’s attention to the personal stuff,” recalls Lipp. “I really liked the guy.”
Lipp brought his lieutenants at Chemical, Bob Willumstad and Marge Magner, with him to Commercial Credit. “Sandy had a reputation of being a great entrepreneur, of creating a lot of wealth,” recalls Willumstad. “And he offered the opportunity for people to get really engaged in something. Although I must admit, I wondered for months whether I’d made the right decision.” So, too, did most of the new recruits at one point or another, especially when they found out that thecompany would be covered by the Philadelphia bureau of the
Wall Street Journal
instead of out of New York.
Dimon and Lipp took to each other out of the gate. The intense working experience in Baltimore laid the foundations for a relationship that has endured for more than two decades. “Bob was—and is—the velvet fist,” says Dimon. “He’s also so smart, but he didn’t wear it on his chest. And he taught me one of the most important things in my career, which is not to rest on your laurels. He would emphasize the negatives. But only when it came to the business. He always made it fun. He’d say things like, ‘Hey, let’s go to Kentucky and go to that place where we had those fabulous pies!’ I’ve learned a tremendous amount from him.”
Another hire who worked closely with Jamie Dimon was John Fowler, a former executive vice president at Warner Amex Cable Communications. Fowler also took a 50 percent pay cut. One of Fowler’s memories is of Dimon pointing him toward the annual report of Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway and suggesting that he read how Buffett ran a property and casualty insurance company in order to maximize investable assets at the lowest possible cost of money.
Fowler remembers one particular lunch meeting with Weill and Dimon at The Four Seasons. Dimon, who smoked at the time, had a cigarette brought to him at the end of lunch in lieu of dessert. A few years later, having quit smoking, Dimon chastised Fowler for keeping up the habit. He said that if Fowler quit for five years, he would donate $5,000 to a charity of Fowler’s choice. Fowler took him up on the offer, and five years later Dimon paid up.
The majority of Weill’s hires were refugees from big companies, people looking for less formality and more upside. “His mantra was, ‘Down with the bureaucracy!’”
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