What did IBM CEO say about phones, laptops in meetings? Arvind Krishna vs Jamie Dimon: ‘Telling people they can’t use…’
IBM CEO Arvind Krishna has weighed in on one of corporate America’s most debated workplace issues: whether employees should use phones and laptops during meetings.
While JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon has repeatedly criticized device use as disrespectful, Krishna argued that banning technology altogether in meeting rooms would be “weird” for a technology company.
Krishna’s and Dimon’s comments resurfaced as some CEOs are discovering that they must retrain basic meeting etiquette as more workers return to a workplace where AI tools have become increasingly common.
AI assistants can summarize meetings, generate notes, and automate follow-up tasks. This has decreased employees’ participation in meetings.
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What did Arvind Krishna say?
Speaking to CNN in October 2025, Krishna said the rules should depend on the size and purpose of the meeting. He maintained that employees should remain attentive during small discussions. He added that someone scrolling through a phone while sitting across the table would not be fully engaged.
“If it’s a small meeting, I would really frown upon if somebody is sitting opposite my desk and lost in their phone,” Krishna said during the 2025 CNN interview. “I would tell them: ‘Why don’t you come back when you have time?’” he said.
But he also said that devices can serve a useful role during larger informational sessions. He argued that large meetings function differently.
“I distinguish between one-to-10-person meetings and very large meetings,” Krishna said. “If it’s a very large meeting, it’s not really a meeting. It’s a communication vehicle.”
He added that expecting employees at a technology company to avoid using digital devices would seem contradictory.
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JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon expects strict meeting discipline
Jamie Dimon has consistently argued that employees should give meetings their full attention. During Fortune’s Most Powerful Women summit in 2025, he said he tells employees to close laptops or tablets if they appear distracted.
“If you have an iPad in front of me and it looks like you’re reading your email or getting notifications, I tell you to close the damn thing,” Dimon said. “It’s disrespectful.”
His views also appeared in JPMorgan Chase’s 2024 annual letter to shareholders, released in 2025. Dimon wrote that employees checking emails, personal texts or notifications during meetings waste time and disrespect colleagues.
He urged staff to schedule fewer meetings and ensure those meetings remain productive.
Dimon has also shared similar concerns during a Stanford University appearance. He recalled seeing remote participants looking at their phones throughout a Zoom meeting.
He said, “There were 12 people in the room and four people on the screen and all four people on the screen were on their phone. And people say, and you think you’re focusing and learning?”
