Loyalty vs. Integrity

As you can tell from the date on this article in Slate Magazine by Jacob Weisberg, I’ve been pondering a post on the subject of the article for a while. Loyalty is often considered a great virtue. Mr. Weisberg contends it’s the most overrated virtue in politics.

But what about business? What about the workplace — from the C-Suite to the plant floor? What about human resources?

Whether overrated or not, loyalty isn’t the most important virtue. That would be integrity. What I mean by contrasting loyalty with integrity for purposes of executives, managers, supervisors, HR professionals, and all employees may be different from what you think.

Loyalty is important. It’s part of being a trusted member of the team. It can’t be so important, however, that your employees go along with whatever you say, no matter what. We’ve seen the results of that kind of loyalty. 

So, it’s not a virtue that rests on this kind of admonition given by a boss to her subordinates: “If you ever challenge anything I say, if you ever fail to support me, you’ll be gone the next day.” That may make employees afraid but not loyal.

A big part of integrity is being straightforward. That’s more than having a vague notion of doing the right thing. In the workplace, it’s speaking up, challenging ideas, and expressing a minority view.

All companies and bosses talk about the importance of integrity, but it gets confused with loyalty sometimes. Instead of the above admonition, a boss should say to his subordinates: “An important part of your job is telling me what you think, disagreeing with me, and giving me ideas I may not have thought about.” If you tell your employees that, integrity will flourish, and loyalty will take care of itself.

1. 

   Cultural Offering says:

   January 15, 2009 at 12:06 pm

   Thanks for posting this important reminder.