JPMorgan Chase & Co. (JPM)’s Imperial Chairman Remains

As Yves Smith points out on her award-winning economics blog Naked Capitalism, “the fact that there is no one even remotely plausible in the [can] as successor means Dimon has made himself indispensable (well, until you remember the Clemenceau saying, ‘The graveyards are full of indispensable men.’)”

In other words, if Dimon is indispensable, it’s because he’s made himself indispensable by failing to cultivate a strong successor — thus creating yet another obstacle to shareholders voting him out.

However, this kind of “indispensability” is not the kind shareholders should like, as it’s arguably established by poor leadership and succession planning rather than stellar performance.

The Foolish takeaway
While Dimon won this particular battle, I believe the succession concerns at JPMorgan Chase & Co. (NYSE:JPM), along with the risk, governance, and regulatory concerns, should make investors wary of the stock.

The article JPMorgan’s Imperial Chairman Remains originally appeared on Fool.com.

Motley Fool contributor M. Joy Hayes, Ph.D. is the principal at ethics consulting firm Courageous Ethics. She has no position in any stocks mentioned. Follow @JoyofEthics on Twitter. The Motley Fool owns shares of Broadridge Financial Solutions and JPMorgan Chase.

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