Is Loyalty Dead or in Need of Renewal?

Keiningham & Aksoy's Book Why Loyalty Matters

How many times has the word loyalty been batted around and put down as an emotion or feeling that is fast becoming a thing of the past. People continually ask "Does loyalty still exist? Why did loyalty fade? Does it matter what happened to loyalty? Is anyone loyal these days?"

New Book: Why Loyalty Matters

In their new book, Why Loyalty Matters (Benbella Books, Inc., 2009), Timothy Keiningham and Lerzan Aksoy, with Luke Williams, tell readers that "We need one another to be whole: physically, emotionally, and spiritually. And research consistently shows that we need one another to be happy."

Loyalty matters, according to the authors, because it is a means to all these ends, and because it helps to build relationships and bind people together.

Kinds of Loyalties

There are many kinds of loyalties including those that bind us to the wrong relationships for the wrong reasons. These loyalties are "toxic":

• Blind Faith Loyalty on the Spiritual Level
• Blind Faith Loyalty on the Psychological Side
• Partisan Loyalty
• Discrimination Loyalty
• Emotionally Unsustainable Loyalty
• Calculative Loyalty
• Systemic Loyalty
• Virtuous Loyalty

Faith and Loyalty

One of the most interesting chapters in the book is on Faith and Loyalty. The author's research found that many of our superstitious beliefs in natural phenomena have been explained by science. Nonetheless, 84% of the world's population declares they have a religious faith or loyalty. The chapter goes on to detail the history of religion, separation of church and state, and the undying loyalty to the eternal.

A Loyal Life

The other chapters in the book discuss teaching loyalty, knowing oneself, and building loyal relationships. The last chapter is about enlightened loyalty and how to live a loyal life.

The authors wrote, "There is nothing more powerful than the human will, nothing more precious than the human spirit. Through our loyalty, we literally invest that will and spirit to create something greater than we can achieve alone."

This chapter introduces the PR Process which helps readers define:

P = Pinpoint where you are now.

P = Prioritize things that matter.

R = Reinforce connections to others.

R = Reach out to others.

Assessing Loyalty

This book makes a good case for reexamining loyalty and applying it to life, work, and relationships. Readers also get a free one-time access to the LoyaltyAdvisor, a self assessment tool to help examine one's loyalties.