Fortune magazine unveils its Jamie Dimon spectacular, detailing the twists and turns in his ascendency to the pinnacle of Wall Street and how he managed to dodge the worst of the subprime crisis – despite being forced to swallow Bear Stearns.

It was the second week of October 2006. William King, then J.P. Morgan's chief of securitized products, was vacationing in Rwanda, visiting remote coffee plantations he was helping to finance. One evening CEO Jamie Dimon tracked him down to fire a red alert. "Billy, I really want you to watch out for subprime!" Dimon's voice crackled over King's hotel phone. "We need to sell a lot of our positions. I've seen it before. This stuff could go up in smoke!"

A classic Dimon manic moment, the call is significant for two reasons. First, it marked the beginning of a remarkable strategic shift that helped J.P. Morgan, virtually alone among the big diversified banks, sidestep the worst of a historic credit crisis. Second, it sheds light on Dimon's distinctive management style - a blend of Cartesian analysis and inspirational leadership that, despite some bad bets in the home mortgage market, has moved J.P. Morgan (JPM, Fortune 500) to the front of the pack in global banking.

You probably know Jamie Dimon (and if you don't, check out "The Contender" story). He's the 52-year-old former boy wonder who helped Sandy Weill build the world's biggest financial conglomerate at Citigroup (C, Fortune 500), went into exile, and is now staging a spectacular second act. He's outspoken, profane, fearless - such a big presence that you might think he's a one-man show.

The King James version isn't the whole story. In fact, Dimon relies on a trusted team of talented lieutenants who share his zeal for sifting piles of data to spot trouble before it happens and vigilantly control risk, even when that means sacrificing growth and losing market share to rivals. Says J.P. Morgan director Bob Lipp, the former Travelers chairman who's worked with Dimon for two decades: "This is the best team on Wall Street."

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