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As the head of a vast business empire and the richest person on earth, Amazon Chief Executive Jeff Bezos may well come to mind as an obvious idol for many budding entrepreneurs. But who are the people he seeks to emulate?
Bezos was asked that question at a panel held last month at Southern Methodist University, and took the opportunity to shower some praise on JPMorgan Chase chairman Jamie Dimon.
“If I were a big shareholder in JPMorgan Chase, I would just show up every Monday morning with, like, pastries and coffee for Jamie.”
“If I were a big shareholder in JPMorgan Chase, I would just show up every Monday morning with, like, pastries and coffee for Jamie,” Bezos said during the Forum on Leadership panel. “I think he’s a terrific executive in a very complicated company.”
Related read: Is Jamie Dimon doing a U-turn on bitcoin?
The past year has been good to JPMorgan shareholders, at least: the stock is up more than 31% in the past 12 months, outpacing the S&P 500 index’s 13.5% gain in that time.
Bezos also named his elementary-school teachers, parents and his grandfather as influencers growing up.
In the business world, he called out billionaire investor and CEO of Berkshire Hathaway Warren Buffett, as well as Disney CEO Bob Iger.
“I have been a Warren Buffett fan since my early 20s,” Bezos said.
And Bezos evidently has a hankering for sending sweet treats to the people he likes. “Bob Iger is a superb executive,” Bezos said. “I’d probably bring him pastries.”
Bezos’s ties to Dimon and Buffett go beyond just admiration of their leadership: Amazon, Berkshire Hathaway and J.P. Morgan Chase surprised the health-care industry in January with a plan to form a company to address rising health costs for their U.S. employees. They said it will be “free from profit-making incentives and constraints.”
Watch Bezos’s entire conversation here: