Jack and Suzy Welch over at BusinessWeek had a good article a few days ago on the role of loyalty in corporate culture - especially in hard times. I thought it was useful to consider in the context of building a new business.

Your business is off the ground and you've hired a few people. Then hard times come along. Does loyalty matter? If you have to let someone go, what role does past loyalty play? The Welch's make a very good point just in saying that now is not the time to answer that question. It should have been answered yesterday. And more importantly, the answer should have already been communicated to employees at some point in the past.

...most managers know full well that employees shouldn't discover which corporate values matter most on their last day of work. Values should be a first-day, every-day topic...

It's an interesting discussion of the place of loyalty in particular and company values in general. You can read it here.


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