In the aftermath of Donald Trump’s attempted assassination, JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon has joined the growing list of executives to denounce political violence.
On behalf of the “entire leadership team” at America’s biggest bank, Dimon wrote that everyone must “stand firmly together against any acts of hate, intimidation or violence that seek to undermine our democracy or inflict harm.”
The 68-year-old concluded the note by asking employees to unite “through constructive dialogue”—whatever their political beliefs.
He also took a moment to share his well wishes with the 45th president and his family, along with the families of the victims of the attack.
The attempt on Trump’s life during a campaign rally in Pennsylvania on Saturday resulted in the death of one rally attendee, Corey Comperatore, and seriously injured two others.
Trump suffered an upper ear injury. However, the former president has since insisted that had he not turned his head slightly to the right in that moment, he would “be dead”.
Read Dimon’s email memo sent to JPMorgan employees
The memo read, as confirmed by JPMorgan to Fortune:
“We are deeply saddened by the political violence and the assassination attempt on former President Trump last evening. On behalf of our entire leadership team, our thoughts today are with the former President, his family and the families of those who were tragically injured and killed.
“We must all stand firmly together against any acts of hate, intimidation or violence that seek to undermine our democracy or inflict harm. It is only through constructive dialogue that we can tackle our nation’s toughest challenges.”
What major CEOs said about the Trump shooting
The Wall Street titan’s memo rings similar to other CEOs who have spoken out since the attack.
“I wish President Trump all the best for a full recovery, and I’m sending my thoughts to the innocent victims of yesterday’s senseless act,” General Motors CEO Mary Barra wrote on X. “There is no room for political violence in our society.”
OpenAI CEO Sam Altman echoed that he’s “hoping this can be a moment where we stare into the abyss and be grateful that there but for the grace of god went we, and collectively decide to turn down the rhetoric and find slightly more unity.”
Goldman Sachs CEO David Solomon similarly called the shooting a “horrible act of violence” during an earnings call on Monday morning.
“We are grateful that he is safe and also want to extend my sincere condolences to the families of those who were tragically killed and severely injured,” Solomon said. “It is a sad moment for our country. There’s no place in our politics for violence.”
Meanwhile, BlackRock’s CEO Larry Fink told CNBC that this weekend’s events were “a tragedy.”
“It is a statement of America today, though. We need to create hope. All of us have a responsibility, every political candidate, every leader, every pastor, minister, rabbi, we all have a responsibility of bringing our community together to bring hope.”
Can employees engage in political chat in the workplace?
Although such extreme acts of violence are uncommon—the Trump attack was the most serious attempt to kill a president or presidential candidate since Ronald Reagan was shot in 1981—political polarization is on the up.
In the aftermath of President Joe Biden and Trump’s debate on June 27, 64% of U.S. workers revealed that they experienced or witnessed people being treated poorly in the workplace due to their political views.
What’s more, research has shown that young people today are even less tolerant of others’ views than their parents or grandparents and, as a result, are less liberal than previous generations.
The study, commissioned by Channel 4, revealed that a quarter of the Gen Z respondents said they have “very little tolerance for people with beliefs I disagree with,” while nearly half agreed that “some people deserved to be canceled.”
That’s why, in recent years, some CEOs have resisted Dimon’s request for constructive dialogue and banned political talk in the office altogether.
Earlier this year, Google CEO Sundar Pichai warned staff that the office is not a place “to fight over disruptive issues or debate politics.”
Although he noted that Google has previously enjoyed “a culture of vibrant, open discussion” that drove innovation, it’s since become a great source of tension across the business.
Likewise, the Silicon Valley-based cryptocurrency company Coinbase announced at the start of the pandemic that it would no longer allow discussions of politics and social issues at work and that staffers who don’t like that are free to leave.
Meanwhile, Meta took all controversial chat off the office table, including gun rights and vaccines, when it introduced its community engagement expectations (CEE) policy at the end of 2022.
“This comes with the trade-off that we’ll no longer allow for every type of expression at work, but we think this is the right thing to do for the long-term health of our internal community,” Lori Goler, the company’s head of people at the time wrote in an internal memo viewed by Fortune.
