JPM CEO Dimon: Smartest or hardest-working people aren’t the most successful

Bomb. Dropped.

The CEO of JP Morgan Chase, Jamie Dimon has said in an interview that the key to success is not being the smartest or hardest working. His words.

″[H]umility, openness, fairness [and] being authentic” are most important – “not [being] the smartest person in the room or the hardest working person in the room,” Dimon, who runs the nation’s largest bank and oversees more than 250,000 employees globally, told LinkedIn editor in chief Daniel Roth in a recent video.

Having these traits also increases your productivity, along with your success, Dimon said. If you’re “selfish” or “take the credit” when it isn’t warranted, others are “not going to want to work,” which will impact efficiency on the job, according to coverage in CNBC on the interview.

Dimon also looks for these things when hiring. When interviewing or assessing a promotion, Dimon asks himself a few questions about the candidate, including, “Would you work for that person? Would you want your kid to work for that person?”

This advice upends plenty of traditional guidance to being knowledgable and working long hours as two traits high on the success ladder of importance. Dimon’s opinion is an interesting departure, but it isn’t for everyone.

When it comes to being an entrepreneur, not much of what Dimon talked about makes their list of 7 Steps to Become Successful Sooner.

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Vaccine news could unlock urban housing appetite

We looked at what a second lockdown could mean to housing in yesterday’s edition of R&S +. The good news is that the market is bullish on its ability to withstand another wave of infections.

Nationally, a lack of housing supply paired with historically low mortgage rates has driven demand and house prices up. The median price for previously owned homes has hit a new record at $313,000, up 16% from a year ago according to the National Association of Realtors But much of this action has been developing outside busy city centers as home buyers sought green pastures in the wake of new pandemic social distancing protocol.

Now with vaccines on the horizon, it could be the key to unlocking appetite for real estate in big cities like New York and San Francisco, which in the pandemic experienced higher vacancy rates and lower rents and sale prices as people retreated to the suburbs and less densely populated areas.

Jonathan Miller, president of Miller Samuel, a real estate appraiser and consultant in New York City told CNN that in Manhattan, the rental market will come back first, he said, because that activity has fallen the most and there is a lower bar to entry.

For those looking to buy, purchasing a home in New York will be more attractive when a vaccine makes all the things a city has to offer possible again, Miller said, including easy access to dining, theater, concerts and events.

“The first thing that has to happen in terms of really accelerating the re-adoption of city life in the post-pandemic world is going to be when companies, especially the Fortune 500 companies as leaders, start to bring people back to work,” he said.

And a return to the city won’t spell an end to suburban housing demand. Dottie Herman, chief executive of Douglas Elliman Real Estate said that this time away from city centers means people have gotten used to working from home and are comfortable living farther from the city.

“That won't change with a vaccine,” she said. “Second homes will continue to be a booming market nationally.”

What about rates? Well, the consensus is that this good news for the economy is likely to spell an end to the historically low rates.

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Zillow surfing for greener pastures

Here’s an interesting side effect of the pandemic: “Zillow surfing”. The New York Times reported that it has become a favorite pastime for people looking to escape not just their home but the reality of 2020.

NYT reporter Taylor Lorenz writes: “What many are contemplating when they browse Zillow and similar home buying sites — like Redfin, Trulia and Realtor.com — is not necessarily a purchase, but an alternate life. Zillow surfing has become a primary form of escapism for those who want to flee not just their homes but the reality of 2020.”

Zillow and Redfin both exceeded analyst expectations earlier this month for their fiscal third-quarter earnings. Demand for housing has meant more business and traffic for both companies.

For Zillow traffic to its mobile apps and websites in the third quarter reached a record 236 million average monthly unique users, up 21% year-over-year. Zillow’s core Premier Agent business, an advertising service for realtors, saw revenue rise 24% to $298.6 million and its Mortgages segment increased revenue by 114% to $54.2 million.

And another effect of the pandemic: home improvements.

The average household spending on home services such as maintenance, landscaping and cleaning projects jumped to $13,138, up from $9,081 on average in 2020, according to a new State of Home Spending: 2020 report by HomeAdvisor, a marketplace that lets people find and vet home service professionals.

Home improvement spending amounted to an average of $8,305, while home maintenance spending totaled $3,192, and spending on at-home emergency projects like leaking pipes or flooding came to $1,640, according to the survey. The top three most completed projects involved bathroom remodels, interior painting, and installing new flooring.

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