The season of the CEO shareholder letter: What they teach us about company culture
McKinsey Strategy & Corporate Finance
Accelerating sustainable and inclusive growth through bold strategies.
By Carolyn Dewar, McKinsey & Company senior partner and co-author of The New York Times bestseller, CEO Excellence: The Six Mindsets That Distinguish the Best Leaders from the Rest.
It’s that time of year. Spring brings more than pollen and proxy statements. Across boardrooms and business lounges, shareholder letters are making the rounds — tucked into briefcases, passed around on group chats, scrawled with margin notes and highlighter marks.
They’re no longer just backward-looking performance reports. They’ve become mirrors — revealing how CEOs think, what they value, and how they intend to shape the future. Two of this year’s most dog-eared shareholder letters I’ve heard CEOs talking about are: Jamie Dimon’s letter to JPMorgan Chase shareholders, and Andy Jassy’s letter to Amazon shareholders.
Their tones are quite different. Dimon’s reads like a statesman CEO, reflecting the critical issues facing the U.S. and the world, and capturing the specific issues and management lessons most relevant to JPMorganChase. Jassy’s, based on a tradition started by his predecessor, Jeff Bezos, is an operating leader walking you through how Amazon ticks. And yet, beneath the surface, both are strikingly aligned on one big idea: The best CEOs are obsessed with learning — and they take personal responsibility for shaping culture.
This isn’t window dressing. These are CEOs running two of the most complex organizations on Earth, and they’re spending precious shareholder real estate not on margin expansion, but on management lessons and cultural DNA. If you’re a CEO, that alone is worth sitting up for.
Jamie Dimon: Management lessons from the ground floor
Jamie Dimon’s latest letter spans everything from global risks to U.S. housing policy. But buried in the middle is a remarkable section: “Management Lessons: Thinking, Deciding, and Acting — Deliberately and with Heart.” Dimon’s biggest takeaway? Keep learning. Employees will tell you what you’re doing well or poorly if you simply ask them, and they know you want to hear the real answer,” he writes. “Curiosity is a form of humility — acknowledging that you don’t know everything.”
He candidly discusses visiting branches, listening to employees, and being proven wrong about competitors, product decisions, and strategy. He also shares a story: JPMorgan once outsourced its security guards, saving money but cutting their healthcare. When Dimon found out, he reversed the decision. “That’s not who we are,” he wrote.
For Dimon, leadership means humility, heart, and never coasting on past success.
Andy Jassy: Amazon’s “Why” culture
Andy Jassy’s letter is all about curiosity. “The only way we know to continue to deliver for customers over time is to constantly question everything around us,” he writes.
He introduces the idea of something called the Why Quotient (YQ). It’s Amazon’s cultural muscle to keep asking “why” and “why not.” Jassy highlights three principles Amazon uses to protect that culture:
Are Right, A Lot: Not about ego — about judgment and willingness to change your mind.
Learn and Be Curious: The best leaders keep growing. The worst pretend they know it all.
Have Backbone; Disagree and Commit: Debate is welcome. But once a decision is made, commit.
Amazon’s processes—writing six-page memos, working backward from the press release—are all designed to make curiosity scalable. “A high Why Quotient needs to be built deeply into your culture and leadership team, and has to be fiercely protected over time,” he writes.
What the best CEOs get right about culture
When we studied 67 of the world’s top-performing CEOs for CEO Excellence (including deep-dive interviews with Jamie and many others), we found a core mindset regarding aligning the organization: Treat the soft stuff as the hard stuff.
These leaders see culture not as a poster but as a competitive asset. It is as important as strategic and operational priorities, and it isn’t easy to get right. Recognizing the effort required, they don’t try to change everything at once. Instead, they do something deceptively simple: They “find the one thing.” Ajay Banga at Mastercard chose decency. Satya Nadela at Microsoft chose a learn-it-all culture. Jassy’s one thing is clearly curiosity. Dimon’s? Integrity with heart. Whatever it is, the best CEOs make it personal, working on it with rigor and modeling it every day.
A CEO’s culture checklist
If you’re leading an organization, here’s a checklist to turn reflection into action:
Name your one thing: What’s the cultural shift your company needs right now? Pick it. Own it.
Hardwire it: Build systems and rituals that support your culture. Amazon has memos. JPMorgan has site visits. This isn’t work to be outsourced to HR; it is how you all run the place. How does this show up in your day-to-day?
Listen below the waterline: Make space for truth. Unfiltered feedback from the front lines is your best mirror. Are you and others walking the talk?
Act when it’s hard: Culture gets tested in tough moments. Will you back values over short-term wins? What won’t you tolerate, even when it is costly to take the hard line?
Keep Learning, Visibly: Model curiosity. Share what you’re reading, ask questions, admit mistakes. Learning is contagious.
Measure it: Track signals of cultural health. If you’re not measuring it, you’re not managing it.
Dimon and Jassy may run different companies, but they share one conviction: Culture isn’t soft, it’s solid, and shaping it is the job of the CEO.
So as shareholder letters circulate this season, don’t just read them, reflect on them. Ask yourself: What’s the culture I’m building? What’s my “one thing”? And am I living it, visibly, today? The best CEOs don’t just write letters, they write the future—one cultural choice at a time.
Super interesting on how curiosity and humility are key ingredients on culture Dimon’s biggest takeaway? “Keep learning. Employees will tell you what you’re doing well or poorly if you simply ask them, and they know you want to hear the real answer,” he writes. “Curiosity is a form of humility — acknowledging that you don’t know everything.” Andy Jassy’s letter is all about curiosity. “The only way we know to continue to deliver for customers over time is to constantly question everything around us,” he writes.
Category Manager (Valves)- EMEA | Sales Enthusiast | Mechanical Engineer | MBA(Global)- Deakin University, Australia | Leadership and Management in New Age Business - The Wharton School | Passionate About Global Business
3moIndeed, communication from the apex is vital—whether through town halls or letters, CEO communications help cascade the thought process that drives the organization. And that thought process is nothing but the culture. When leaders like Jamie Dimon and Andy Jassy articulate their vision clearly, they shape a culture that not only aligns strategy but also inspires action across the hierarchy. But the culture being cascaded must be thoughtfully designed—it should make the organization a great place to work and serve as a catalyst to accelerate the core business. This only works when it’s authentic and owned at the top—not something that’s outsourced to HR. When employees at all levels align with this culture, decision-making becomes sharper, collaboration improves, and everyone marches to the same drumbeat. As the article rightly points out, staying curious, listening to employees, and making thoughtful, principle-driven decisions are key to building a culture of continuous learning and sustainable growth. #Leadership #OrganizationalCulture #CEOCommunication
AI-Assisted reading via Jacque Fresco profile. Problem: CEO reliance on traits, culture, and top-down methods ignores structural inefficiencies, perpetuating inequity. Fresco’s Critique: Jacque Fresco’s resource-based economy prioritizes automation, data-driven systems, and resource optimization over leadership. Culture and values emerge from systems, not individuals. Evidence: AI-driven businesses (e.g., Amazon’s logistics) align with Fresco’s cybernated systems, proving scalability. Critics note his vision’s limited real-world application but acknowledge its influence. Solution: Shift to automated, decentralized systems using AI and real-time data to ensure efficiency and equity. Call to Action: Leaders must abandon outdated models, adopting systemic redesign for sustainable, equitable organizations, as Fresco’s logic demands.
CEO | Revenue Growth & Operational Excellence | $400M+ Global P&L | Six Sigma + Customer Intimacy + AI Strategy
3moWhat stood out most here is the reminder that culture only works when it’s authentic and owned at the top. The best CEOs don’t delegate it, they model it. Whether it’s Dimon’s integrity or Jassy’s curiosity, their “one thing” isn’t messaging, its leadership in practice.
Executive Coach, Facilitator, Culture Advisor, Writer
3moLove the focus on humility and curiosity -- priceless attributes to embody within a culture.