The price of loyalty

Babe Ruth was one of the greatest baseball players of all time. His record of 714 home runs remained unbroken for decades until Hank Aaron finally surpassed him. The Babe was the idol of sports fans but, in time, age took its toll, and his popularity began to wane. Finally, the Yankees traded him to the Braves.

In one of his last games in Cincinnati, Babe Ruth began to falter. He struck out and made several misplays that allowed the Reds to score five runs in one inning. As the Babe walked toward the dugout, chin down and dejected, there rose from the stands an enormous storm of boos and catcalls. Some fans actually shook their fists. Then a wonderful thing happened. A little boy jumped over the railing and, with tears streaming down his cheeks, he ran out to the great athlete. Unashamedly, he flung his arms around the Babe’s legs and held on tightly. Babe Ruth scooped him up, hugged him, and set him down again. Patting him gently on the head, he took his hand and the two of them walked off the field together.

Now that’s loyalty. The little boy didn’t care that there were thousands of adults in the stands with a different opinion. He knew his hero was hurting and he did the only thing he could think of to help — he gave Babe Ruth a hug! My guess is that for Ruth, suddenly the miserable game didn’t mean all that much.

Over the weekend, the topic of loyalty came up at our house. One of the things my wife and I have tried to instill in our kids is a sense of loyalty. Well, this weekend the topic of conversation was the price that we sometimes pay for our loyalty. Specifically, what do you do when your allegiance is not returned?

Our youngest son, Brayden, had a situation in which he had remained loyal to someone even though it really wasn’t in his own best interest. He felt he owed his loyalty because of the history of the relationship, and we encouraged this in him. However, recently the person to whom he was loyal made a decision detrimental to Brayden because it served his own best interest. Brayden’s loyalty was betrayed.

The situation caused him to question his moral code. In this case, Brayden questioned whether he had made the right decision in remaining loyal to this person even though it came at a cost to him, especially now that the other person had acted so selfishly at Brayden’s expense. In other words, is being loyal worth it if others don’t return that loyalty to you?

We told our son that “the right thing to do … is the right thing to do” regardless of how the situation turns out. That is, if you felt that was the right thing to do in the situation, then you shouldn’t question your decision to be loyal. What he might question is the type of person he is loyal to.

Loyalty is also important in business. As a leader, if you want people to be loyal to you, you must demonstrate loyalty to them. Too often I see people in management positions who assume the loyalty of the people who work for them for the sole reason that they’re in charge. People may work for you and follow your direction because it’s required of them, but don’t mistake that for loyalty. Stephen Covey said it very well, “You can buy a person’s hands but you can’t buy his heart. His heart is where his enthusiasm, his loyalty is.” Loyalty is earned through a pattern of behavior that others can rely upon. Nothing more and nothing less.

Another lesson from our son’s situation is to be careful about who you are loyal to. Blind loyalty can be a dangerous thing. At the end of the day, business is about relationships. If you choose wisely whom you work with and for, then your loyalty will be well placed and you will likely be rewarded for it. If you don’t choose wisely, then your loyalty may come at a price, as it did for Brayden.

Since I started with a Babe Ruth story, I thought I would end with a couple of quotes from baseball. And as a life-long Chicago Cubs fan, I thought it was only appropriate to include one from Mr. Cub, Ernie Banks. He once said, “Loyalty and friendship, which is to me the same, created all the wealth that I’ve ever thought I’d have.”

And this from Yogi Berra, “When you’re part of a team, you stand up for your teammates. Your loyalty is to them. You protect them through good and bad, because they’d do the same for you.”

Loyalty is important in business, as it is in life.