4:59 a.m.

Finishing up a clients project and getting ready to prepare for that 2-3 hours of sleep before my day starts again – I decided to blog a bit. Not strictly about business, but about something dear and personal to me, loyalty. I never knew how much this attribute plays into our everyday lives, until I decided to go into business for myself. Within our family structure, our friendships and our business relationships we covet loyalty and place it on the “mantle of valor.” Should it be there and why do we hold it in such regard?

First lets define it, according to dictionary.com (the root word) loyal is: “unswerving in allegiance: as (a): faithful in allegiance to one’s lawful sovereign or government (b): faithful to a private person to whom fidelity is due (c): faithful to a cause, ideal, custom, institution, or product.” Interestingly, the obsolete synonyms of the word include “lawful” and “legitimate”.

So why do we place loyalty among the favorable attributes? If I am loyal to a client will that bring about her loyalty to me? If I am loyal to my assistant, will he choose loyalty over subordination?

Loyalty in its purest form is noble (and rarely practiced) it’s akin to unconditional love – the definition described it as “unswerving”. Reviewing my business and personal relationships over the past 15 years there is one constant trait – change. Change is a great litmus test of true loyalty. When you make more money, who will no longer have your loyalty? When you drop from status or position who will offer you allegiance? When conditions change where will your loyalties lie?

In my opinion loyalty (as we commonly know it) is worthless; it is based on current conditions and self preservation. Loyalty, as commonly practiced, asks the question “what can you do for me in exchange for the appearance of my loyalty” Should such a noble attribute be based in selfishness? Our 28th president Woodrow Wilson stated “Loyalty means nothing unless it has at its heart the absolute principle of self-sacrifice.” I agree with the statement because loyalty as we know it is about “what’s in it for me?”

Even though my opinion is somewhat callous about our practice of loyalty, I believe it still exists. True loyalty is commonly practiced with reference to ones faith and immediate family. These two areas in our lives harkens our core, which lends itself to more transparent and honest introspection. In other words, only when loyalty threatens to destroy our self image – do we give it the reverence it deserves.

In my opinion true loyalty is a righteous characteristic, but I think we need to use the term less. Every time we proclaim loyalty we should ask ourselves: is my loyalty unconditional? If not then choose another term, try these: transitory allegiance, fair weather friend, ephemeral friendship, symbiotic association and (my favorite) parasite.

5:38 a.m

Re-Focused
Thomas Y. Lynch

“Had I but served my God with half the zeal I served my King, He would not in mine age have left me naked to mine enemies.” – William Shakespeare