Rethinking Managerial Loyalty

Moving from a vertical and self-centered bond to a horizontal and altruistic one.

Some managers place loyalty to themselves above loyalty to the organization they serve—and even above competence.

Of course, a certain degree of personal loyalty is important for a manager-employee relationship to function properly, since this virtue fosters trust. It is impossible for a manager to work effectively with someone they constantly fear might stab them in the back.

But this simplistic understanding of loyalty leads to two major mistakes.

First, if loyalty is viewed as a personal matter, it cannot be one-sided. The trust it creates must flow equally from manager to employee as from employee to manager. In fact, the employee often needs trust even more than the leader does. They must know they have the right to make mistakes in order to learn and take risks (to innovate, seize opportunities, manage crises…), provided that (i) they do not make the same mistake twice, and (ii) they seek progress only in the interest of the greater good.

Second—and above all—the manager’s view of loyalty should, in my opinion, be turned upside down. A manager should not monitor how loyal others are to them personally. Instead, they should hire or promote people who share their values—and then ask those people to hold them accountable for staying loyal to those values.

At work, as in friendship, one of the ultimate signs of loyalty is telling someone what they don’t want to hear. It is the manager’s role to foster an environment where employees understand that the integrity expected of them is not about protecting the manager’s ego, but about upholding the organization’s greater good and core values.

Loyalty is not allegiance: A manager should not demand loyalty to themselves alone, but should embody it toward a collective purpose greater than themselves.

Loyalty becomes a true virtue only when it is altruistic.