Loyalty

Is loyalty too expensive? Not for Nucor.

I would say it is expensive to not have it.

I once tried to make the case to a group of MBA students in one of my classes that loyalty was not something companies cultivated but was something that they needed to rely on. One student, an accountant by day, said that cultivating loyalty was too expensive. Nucor suggests that it isn't and that it is a necessary thing. But setting that aside, my student was looking at it from a "we-have-to-buy-it" perspective. But can loyalty be bought, really? Isn't loyalty a result of respect, mutual respect? Does that cost anything?

A lot of it is simply being human. But that is tough for some MBA educated sorts who see businesses as machines made up of replaceable parts. If a manager feels he can easily get a replacement--something that is not obvious at all-- what kind of respect will there be?

A company with a loyal workforce can weather all kinds of storms. And it will have a number of eyes watching out for the interests of the company. How much is that worth? But this won't be the case with a company where employees are doing what is required of them only and waiting for their next paycheck--and the company sees that paycheck as the limit of their obligation.