Things aren't going as planned for Jes Staley.

The CEO of JPMorgan's investment bank was considered a front-runner to replace firm CEO Jamie Dimon.  That action, of course, is dependent on the departure of Mr. Dimon – and that's not happening anytime soon.

Before he was promoted to CEO of his unit, Mr. Staley served as the CEO of JPMorgan Asset Management and was one of the founding members of the firm's equities business, according to the firm's website.  Nevertheless, his interests and the recent turn of events could spell departure for Mr. Staley.

Things to consider:

• 7 members of Dimon’s innermost circle have left in the last 3 years  [C-I Note: Did they, like Mr. Staley, give up of things changing, or did they receive a better offer?]
• JPMorgan has trended toward promoting younger executives, which would work against Mr. Staley considering he and Mr. Dimon are close in age (56 and 55 respectively), specifically if Mr. Dimon waited to leave until he was too old
• Current top choices include Michael Cavanagh, 46, and Matthew Zames, 41 
• Mr. Staley's own words: he always wanted to be a CEO and didn’t want to stand in the way of younger executives if he didn’t get this job.

"If Jamie doesn’t leave, then I probably need to leave myself in a few years.  If it’s not me, it’s still been a blast working for Jamie. He is one of the greatest people in finance in my generation. At that point, I am going take an office at Highbridge and sail," referring to the bank’s hedge fund and to his yacht. -- Mr. Staley, in Forbes's article, "The Other Guy You Need to Know at J.P. Morgan" in 2010.

For further details, go to [WSJ, 10/5/12].