Tom Brady to Jamie Dimon: 'Hang In There'

When the firestorm around JPMorgan's "London Whale" scandal was burning hottest, Jamie Dimon got a surprise call from Tom Brady. "Hang in there," the Patriots quarterback told him. "I was surprised he even knew who I was, to tell you the truth," Dimon says. The incident has become the most talked about tidbit in an extremely long and mostly fawning profile of the CEO in Vanity Fair. Other tidbits from the piece:

• Dimon was a big fan of Barack Obama. "Jamie walked into 2009 with the view that he was on the team," one source says. At the inauguration, Dimon reportedly told Tim Geithner, "Tell me what you need. I’ll send people down here. I’ll do anything."
• Things changed once Obama was in office. "Jamie, especially in a number of private meetings, has been awfully tough with the president," says Bill Daley, adding that it "offended" Dimon that "no one seemed to be listening" to his advice.
• Dimon is depicted as an extreme details man, eager to dig into the inner workings of the bank. The profile recounts a cross-country bus trip in which Dimon would stop at branches and take "hostages"—meaning tellers, branch managers, and other employees—aboard the bus and ask them for advice on how to improve things.
• Dimon eschews the trappings of wealth, hates golf, and tends to dress casually. Of course, he does live in a $10 million apartment, and owns a mansion on the side.
• Former colleagues believe his prime motivator is ego. "He’s narcissistic," one says. "His own reflection in the mirror is a very important part of the person." Another agrees saying, "I think he likes being King Jamie."

Click to read the full profile. (More Jamie Dimon stories.)