CEOs at Odds Over Phone Use in Meetings

IBM CEO Arvind Krishna and JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon have differing views on phone use during meetings. For Krishna, it depends on the meeting's size and purpose, with small gatherings requiring active participation and attention.

In a distinction he makes between one-to-10-person meetings and large corporate gatherings, Krishna believes that in the latter case, employees may simply be listening to information while handling other work.

Dimon, however, has taken a harder line, arguing that visible distraction during meetings is both disrespectful and a waste of everyone's time. He makes it clear that he expects employees to remain engaged during meetings, stating '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.'

The disagreement between these two CEOs highlights a broader workplace question: whether checking devices during meetings is necessarily a sign of disengagement.