Loyalty: A Poison in Disguise?

Loyalty—it's a word that carries a lot of weight. As a former Marine, loyalty was drilled into me. "Semper Fidelis," always faithful, is the Marine Corps' motto, a testament to the value of unwavering loyalty. "Never leave a man behind"—a sacred creed. So, when my mentor told me, "Loyalty is a poison," I was stunned. How could loyalty, something I held so dear, be toxic?

I spent days wrestling with that statement. The more I thought about it, the more I realized the truth behind his words. Loyalty, especially the way many leaders demand it, can indeed be poisonous.

The Misguided Loyalty

In leadership and business, we often talk about building loyalty—loyalty to the leader, loyalty to the company. But this kind of loyalty is fundamentally flawed. Why? Because it’s built on manipulation. Leaders who push for personal loyalty are often seeking to protect themselves, to create a buffer of unquestioning support. It becomes a transactional relationship: "You be loyal to me, and I'll be loyal to you."

But what happens when loyalty to a person supersedes loyalty to our core values, mission, vision, and integrity? We risk compromising what truly matters for the sake of maintaining a relationship, often with someone who may not deserve that loyalty.

The Real Loyalty

True loyalty should never be to a person alone. Instead, it should be to something higher—our values, principles, character, and integrity. When we tether our loyalty to these, we are less likely to be manipulated or led astray.

We've all seen examples of loyal followers who went down with a flawed leader, their loyalty blinding them to the leader's faults. This kind of loyalty is dangerous. It asks us to compromise our integrity, to look the other way when we should be speaking up.

In business, this kind of misplaced loyalty can lead to disaster. Imagine a manager who asks you to lie to protect the company, or worse, to protect them. If your loyalty is to the truth, to integrity, you’ll choose to do what’s right, even if it costs you. This is the kind of loyalty that should be cultivated—the loyalty that calls out wrongs and holds others accountable.

A New Kind of Loyalty

So, what if we redefined loyalty? Instead of loyalty that says, "I'll cover for you, and you'll cover for me," how about a loyalty that says, "I will call you out when you violate our values, and I expect you to do the same for me"? This is loyalty that serves a higher purpose, one that upholds the integrity of the entire team, company, or organization.

In the end

Let’s not be loyal to people in the traditional sense. Let’s be loyal to our values, our mission, and our integrity. Let’s have the courage to abandon leaders, managers, or politicians who ask us to compromise these higher principles. And in business, never lie, cheat, or steal—not for the company, not for a leader, and certainly not for a misguided sense of loyalty. Instead, be loyal to the truth, even when it costs you. That is the kind of loyalty worth having.