Be True To Apaches (Loyalty)

As we all know the world of today is vastly different from the world our fathers knew, when it was common for a person to begin working with one company right out of college or high school and to stay with that same company until they retired 30-40 years later. My father did that as he worked as a nurse’s aide in a Veteran’s Administration hospital in Huntington, West Virginia. When my mother worked outside of the home she did that when she worked for Avon. My brother did that when he went to work as a salesman for Bell Telephone. It was the norm. Workers were loyal to their company and the company was loyal to them. That of course has changed, and it is extremely rare that a person works for the same company or even in the same field for his/her entire career.

Loyalty between employer and employee was not only the norm then but loyalty as a trait was valued in the general American culture. People rooted for the same baseball team their entire lives. Not so today. The baseball team that one roots for this year will probably be very different next year with much player turnover due to salary caps, greater salaries being offered by other teams, a shortage of quality players in key position, etc. I am an Atlanta Braves fan. Or, I should say, I was an Atlanta Braves fan. No longer. Why? I can barely recognize the team from year to year because of the tremendous player turnover. This started about 5-6 years ago when Ted Turner sold the Braves to a corporate conglomerate who cherish the year to year bottom line more than they believe in maintaining the previously loyal fan base and building the franchise value over a longer period of time. Thus, they establish unrealistic salary limits forcing the management to trade quality players they no longer can afford to keep. The result is a team that can barely win half of its games and certainly are no longer the perennial playoff team they once were. Atlanta was America’s (Baseball) Team even though there are Yankee, Red Sox and Cub fans who would disagree. The corporate conglomerate has no loyalty to the Braves fan base and thus, the fan base no longer has loyalty to the Braves.

Loyalty was not confined to employers/employees and sports teams but was, instead, something that people sought in most every facet of their lives. People were loyal to their country, their political party, their church, their family, their gasoline brand, their grocery store, the brand of automobile they drove, etc. etc. etc. Virtually all of this loyalty has disappeared. People act now, not out of loyalty, but out of self interest. That is why people respond unexpectedly and so very positively whenever someone is loyal to them. A recent personal example may best illustrate this.

My wife and I operate our own consulting firm called Geronimo Leadership Group, Inc. Not surprisingly the name comes from my book, The Leadership Teachings of Geronimo. I consult with private and public companies and organizations of all types and sizes. Many of these groups are education organizations since much of my career was in that field and since I have written another book, Achievement Now! How To Assure No Child Is Left Behind. One school with whom I work is a charter school on the Arizona/Mexican border called the Omega Alpha Academy. I have worked with this school now for about three years. Not too long ago, the Headmaster contacted me about coming out again in mid-year to reinforce some things I had been teaching in my sessions. Because we had worked together before and because the time frame was rather short, we agreed verbally to my standard contract with a set date and time. I proceeded to book air flights, hotels and car in order to save the school money on travel expenses.

With only about a week before the scheduled training, the Headmaster called and told me that he was going to have to cancel the training. His board had questioned the amount of funds the school wanted to spend on training since the school had dramatically improved their test scores and were exceeding state requirements. He knew that a big part of the increased performance was because of the training he had supplied the staff. In any event, he had to cancel the training. Because we did not have a signed contract he could have simply been self serving and said that I would just have to suffer the loss of income from turning down training elsewhere during the time I had reserved for them, as well as the travel expense costs that could not be recovered. Instead, he said that he felt badly about the situation and wanted to reimburse me for costs I had incurred. In other words, he remained loyal to me even when he was forced by his board to cancel the scheduled training.

Now it was my turn. I could have explained the lost revenue and taken him up on his offer to reimburse me for all of my travel costs including the full air fare. I realized that he had had no choice in canceling the training. I realized that he felt badly about the situation. And I realized that he had been loyal to me when he didn’t need to be. My reply was to thank him for his offer and request that if he could pay travel and training expenses I could not recover I would consider us even. I never mentioned any lost revenue. He wound up sending me a check for a little over $100. Loyalty traveled both ways. It felt good to deal with a school leader who was loyal even when he was not legally obligated. He felt he was ethically obligated to be loyal. I felt the same to him. The staff at that school is fortunate to have such a leader.

Geronimo understood the importance of loyalty. I call The Leadership Teachings of Geronimo lesson number four as Be True To Apaches. It goes like this.

When Geronimo was a young boy, his band was visited by a band of Nedni Apache relatives. Among them was a cousin by the name of Juh. The two boys became fast friends and would remain so throughout their lives. Both would become respected war chiefs, and both would become feared by the “white eyes.” Juh was a troublesome boy to Geronimo’s band because he was a bully, to use today’s vernacular. He and a small gang of other youth got in the habit of sneaking up on some of the girls in camp and scaring them. They also were prone to taking the nuts the girls had gathered and throwing them on the ground. This was great fun to them but obviously bothered Geronimo’s band. As a way of curtailing this behavior and to teach Juh a lesson, Geronimo’s grandmother instructed him to give Juh a beating the next time he bothered the girls. Geronimo, as all Apaches, were very loyal to their band and felt compelled to follow his grandmother’s directions, even though he and Juh were the best of friends. Juh did steal the nuts again, and Geronimo, true to his grandmother’s instructions, gave Juh a beating. The boys remained the best of friends despite this.

Teaching

Loyalty or allegiance to one’s company and to one’s organizational superiors is a trait that is fast disappearing but is one that is cherished by those managers and leaders who work with you. Such allegiance, especially in the face of responsibilities that run counter to your natural inclinations, is long remembered and, often, later rewarded. Certainly, a good manager or leader will listen to the thoughts and feelings of others but must occasionally need to request actions that are unpleasant. Just as you would hope and expect that those whom you supervise would loyally complete an onerous task you ask them to do, you should expect the same of yourself. In this way, the entire organization benefits.

Just as important is the leader who notices and, understands when someone is reluctant to complete a specific assignment for valid reasons. In these cases, and whenever possible, smart leaders will find a way to complete the task themselves or to assign it to someone else better equipped to handle the problem. The person will remember your sensitivity and is more inclined to help in other, equally meaningful ways.

People in any organization look to their leaders to determine if they are loyal or “true” to their organization and the people within it. Any sign that the leader is disloyal will immediately result in a turning away from the leader, even if the disloyalty is based on circumstances that are highly beneficial to the leader. This phenomenon can easily be seen in sports. Despite the benefit a player may have given to a team, if they leave or even look at the possibility of leaving to go to another team, the fans turn against the player and will boo them at the first opportunity. This will happen even when it may be highly lucrative for the player to go to another team. Loyalty means a great deal. Geronimo understood this, and so should the modern leader.

Simply put, there is still one place where loyalty is not only expected but demanded and that place resides in the leader. People must see their leaders as being loyal to them or the leaders will find themselves with no followers.