JP Morgan Chase 2005 Annual Report Download - page 4

2
sof year-end , I stepped down as CEO of
JPMorgan Chase – turning the leadership of the firm over
to my partner, Jamie Dimon, who I believe will prove to be
one of the outstanding CEOsthe financial services industry
has had in a long time.
As Chairman, I look forward to contributing to our growth
by leveraging my global relationships and contacts and by
helping to further develop strategy.
As I look back on my  years in the industry, all with the
same organization, I realize how fortunate I have been and
what an exciting journey I have been on. When I left a
small town in North Carolina to join Chemical Bank in
,my goal was to spend two years in New York and
then return to North Carolina. Little did I know I would
be part of an industry and a career that were as challenging
and rewarding as these have been.
Istep down as CEO believing that:
• JPMorgan Chase is very well positioned strategically to be
one of the great financial institutions in the world.
• Size does matter in our industry – provided that size
translates into operating and scale efficiencies, increased
profit margins, stronger earnings and leadership
positions. And the benefits of size can only be realized
within a culture that values teamwork, partnership
and execution.
• One should be a leader – not a follower – as our industry
irreversibly consolidates in a globalizing world.
• A diversified model will prove to have competitive
advantage in terms of creating shareholder value
over time.
• Managements and boards have to manage with a
longer-term outlook and resist the pressures of the
quarter-to-quarter mindset of the market.
• Building the best performance culture in the industry
will ensure that all of the inherent potential of size is
harvested and maximized.
• Relationships matter – with clients and with each other
internally – and without them, a firm will never reach
its potential and be its best.
• Companies with the highest ethical values, which start at
the top and cascade all the way down, will be the great
companies – and we must keep raising the bar on how we
achieve this in a large, complex corporation.
• Surrounding yourself with people who are smarter and
better than you are is critical because your talent pool
will be a key determinant of success.
• I have been one of the most fortunate people in the
world to have had the experience and the success I have
had, and there is not one day that goes by that I don’t
think about this.
So from a small town to a big city – from a small bank to a
big bank, I learned much along the way – that you, in fact,
never stop learning. You should always commit to be the
best you can be, you should think big and dream big, and
you should think about how you can win and what your
strategic platform should be to create sustainable share-
holder value. And you should do this by always, always
having the right set of values and living by them.
You learn that the peaks and valleys, the successes and fail-
ures of your job and life need to be viewed with the proper
perspective and balance, and only with that balance and
perspective can you find true north.
You learn how important your family and friends are in
enabling you to maintain the passion and commitment to
be the CEO of a firm like JPMorgan Chase and how privi-
leged you’ve been to have been the leader.
Thus, while my JPMorgan Chase career is nearing an end, a
new chapter in our company’s long history is beginning. It is
time to pass the baton to a new group of leaders, led by
Jamie Dimon, who will take this firm to the next level of
performance, harvesting its vast potential and maximizing
shareholder value through great execution.
Letter from William B. Harrison, Jr, Chairman
Dear fellow shareholder,
A