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Howard Speaks Howard Farran, DDS, MBA, MAGD

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I Went to Lunch with Jamie Dimon


Howard Farran, DDS
MBA, MAGD
Publisher,
Dentaltown Magazine
Jamie Dimon is chairman of the board and chief executive officer of JPMorgan Chase, one of the nation's largest financial institutions. In the financial services industry for more than 25 years, Dimon brings a unique level of candor and conviction to the business world. Fortune Magazine named Dimon one of the top 20 business leaders in the world. Upon hearing that he was going to speak in Scottsdale, Arizona, I ran to hear his insights into business, politics and the economy.

Dimon said, "Success is when you can do anything better, faster, quicker, easier and cheaper while delivering more sophisticated products and services." What are you currently doing to be faster, quicker, easier and cheaper? What new products and services have you added to your office lately? One great idea would be to master extractions of any type by joining www.onlineoralsurgery.com from one of the most famous oral surgeons in the United States - Jay B. Reznick DMD, MD. These online courses can help any general practitioner, oral surgery resident or dental student improve their surgical skills massively.

Dimon said he never worries about the stock price of JPMorgan Chase because he is always focused on the customer. If you take care of the customer the stock price will soon follow. In dentistry, if you take care of all your patients your practice will grow, your referrals will skyrocket and the value of your practice will increase.
"If you have an average dental office then your average employee has been with you three years. Dimon said if you cannot control your employee turnover, you will never be successful. How long has your average employee worked for you?"
Regarding acquisitions, or in the dental world - buying a dental office, Dimon said that he never cares what other people are willing to pay for a bank (or dental office), the only thing that matters is if it is a good deal for you. Never overpay for an asset no matter how emotionally attached you are to purchasing it.

Dimon cracked up the entire room of more than 1,000 bankers and CEOs when he said, "You should never make predictions, especially about the future." He said that an economic financial crisis occurs in the United States about every seven years. In 1982 unemployment was north of 10 percent while prime was 21.5 percent. In 1989 we had a real-estate crisis. In 1997 we had the huge Russian/Asian default that sent financial shockwaves across the world. But no matter what the crisis of the time is, they always die of natural causes, which is from American brains, talent, innovation and technology.
As far as today goes, he laughed that we're facing a financial crisis when unemployment is only four-and-a-half percent. As far as all the media hype about people who have lost their homes, he pointed out that people who bought a house they couldn't afford simply walked away and got an apartment; it was the banks that lost all the money, not the Americans who made a bad bet. So where is the sympathy for the banks? Not to be found as idiot politicians blame the bankers for writing the loans. Many Americans bought homes they could not afford; so it only makes sense that they lost their homes, which were too expensive in relation to their personal income. Dimon also stressed that any government bailout would only make matters worse. It simply makes sense that if you cannot afford your home you need to leave it and find a less expensive place to live.

When asked about the dollar trading at a three-year low against the Euro and the Yen, he said, "Who would have thought when I was in my 20s that Republican presidents like Ronald Regan and George H.W. Bush would run up the largest deficits the world has ever seen, while the so called non-conservatives like Clinton ran huge fiscal surpluses, paid down the debt, passed NAFTA and gutted welfare." Dimon said he is now a Democrat because they are more fiscally responsible. George W. Bush's $70-billion-dollar-a-month federal deficits have caused the dollar to loose a third of its value. With an outstanding deficit of more than $7 trillion, this is the largest default in world history. Note to dentists: how much debt do you have and what are you doing extra to pay it all off?

Regarding the economy, everyone knows that consumer spending is more than 70 percent of the economy while business and government make up the other 30 percent. Dimon pointed out that consumer spending has never gone down three consecutive quarters since the Great Depression. So he expects a turn around sooner rather than later. It is always darkest before sunrise. So sooner rather than later, more of your patients are going to be spending more money on your services.

Dimon expressed that the United States has the most talented workforce in the world, which is ever evolving. The United States has more than 150 million workers and more than 50 million of them change jobs every year. If 50 million Americans can find a new job every year then why are so many people collecting unemployment? If you have an average dental office then your average employee has been with you three years. Dimon said if you cannot control your employee turnover, you will never be successful. How long has your average employee worked for you?

This job turnover is a process for recycling people/workers from lower value-added jobs into higher value-added jobs. For instance in 1700, New York City was a manufacturing city with garment districts, textiles, assembly and very few dentists. Today it is one of the richest cities in the world where the focus has evolved to sales, finance, advertising, investments, medicine and dentistry. New York City has become the gateway to the entire world. Do you really think a government policy to save jobs would have been better and to have kept New York City in textiles and manufacturing? I think not. If government would leave free enterprise alone every problem would be solved much faster.

When Dimon discussed outsourcing jobs, he said that commentators such as CNN's Lou Dobbs are either simply trying to sell ads or are completely misinformed. Dobbs always talks about a job going to China or India but never talks about foreign countries buying our airplanes, computer chips, pharmaceutical research drugs, financial services, advertising, movies, music, and dental products from such companies as Den-Mat, Dentsply, Discus Dental, Biolase, 3M, Ultradent, Isolite, etc. Dobbs is simply a populist preying on misinformed peoples' fears.

Dimon briefly addressed JPMorgan Chase's call center in India. He said that his average employee speaks better English than most Americans. He also pointed out that the people working the call centers in India are his employees and they all work for JPMorgan Chase. Does this mean in the future we will be importing more crown and bridge?

As far as competition goes, Dimon said Arizona alone has more than 91 different banks, so consolidation, mergers and acquisitions just make sense. Do you know how many millionaire dentists I have met in the last 20 years who made a killing by buying a retiring dentist's practice and merging the files into their existing practice? I could name 100 of them off the top of my head.

Another thing Dimon said that I found interesting was that he does not believe in outsourcing. He said, "Do it yourself and keep it in house." Wow! Should we go back to the old days when most dentists had their own lab man? I think Dimon would!

On a personal note I took pleasure in hearing that Dimon doesn't wear a tie and he doesn't golf. I knew there was a reason I liked this guy!
Howard Live
Howard Farran, DDS, MBA, MAGD, is an international speaker who has written dozens of published articles. To schedule Howard to speak to your next national, state or local dental meeting, call 480-445-9706. Dr. Farran will be speaking July 25, at the National Dental Association's 95th Annual Convention at Detroit Marriott at the Renaissance Center, Detroit, Michigan.
Dentaltown Magazine
September 2025
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