From Loyalty to Betrayal in the World of Work

Has the pendulum swung too far, or am I just a bitter Boomer?

Has the pendulum in the business world swung from rewarding loyalty to rewarding betrayal?

My career began in 1987. The number of full-time employees in jobs that paid a living wage was a success metric.

When I left my role at Radisson Hotel Group in 2018, the pendulum had swung.

Employees were 'associates', personnel were 'human capital' commodities, and in some companies, they were lumped together with procurement.

My career literally took me from the basement to the boardroom. The hotel I started in was part of a small, regional chain called SAS International Hotels.

My first office was nothing to write home about, but it’s where we decided to scrap our manuals. We were all digital before the IT Dept. was. Thanks to leaders who trusted our ability and a team who understood our purpose, we gained internal and external recognition far beyond our expectations.

Without applying for any other job, I grew along with the company as it expanded from its Nordic regional roots to become a recognized global leader.

For many years, loyalty was viewed as a valuable asset. The institutional knowledge of both people and purpose led to high levels of trust and support.

That, in turn, led to amazing growth opportunities. The company grew on the strength of its people. People like me, buoyed by visionary and encouraging leaders, grew along with it.

Loyalty wasn’t a virtue I held on my own. In our small team of close colleagues, none of my direct reports ever left the company. It wasn’t just us, either. Our IT team, which was one of the most innovative in the industry, was also led by long-serving, loyal leaders.

As the years passed, I stayed, I learned, I led, and I watched both the world and the world of work change.

In my 28th year at the company, the facilitator of a leadership programme asked me how I could still be so enthusiastic and engaged.

I suggested his time would be better spent asking colleagues who'd been in the company for far fewer years why they weren't as enthusiastic and engaged as I was.

When you're challenged, when you know your business, know your job, and know your purpose, enthusiasm and engagement come naturally.

When you're challenged, but focused on personal gain, don't fully understand the business, its purpose or your role, it's understandable that frustration and disengagement set in.

Today, loyalty feels like an outdated concept.

“I don’t think I’m gonna have any issue betraying anybody in this game.”

Culturally, we’ve grown used to seeing betrayal rewarded more than loyalty. (So-called "reality game shows" like The Snake (see the trailer above) and Traitors reward winners' betrayal and disloyalty.)

The corporate world, especially in North America, is no different.

- Want more money? Betray your company and join a competitor.
- Want more opportunity? Betray your company and join a competitor.

So what’s better for people, and for business?

A career built on loyalty, or one built on leverage and the threat of betrayal?

Companies today are as likely to betray a loyal employee as an employee is likely to betray the company.

I believe in building companies and careers in ways that promote and reward loyalty. I believe in the value of creating strong, mutually beneficial relationships. I believe in the long-term power of nurturing internal capabilities while adding necessary new knowledge.

From the barren basement office to the UN Security Council Counter Terrorism Committee at UN HQ. A journey made possible by long term loyalty, earned trust, and mutually beneficial relationships.

What's your take: Has loyalty helped or hurt your career? Does loyalty have its place in today's world of work? Should people be viewed as whole humans or costly commodities?

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Hi! I’m Paul.

I was born, raised, and currently live in Canada. After high school, I embarked on a gap year in Europe. It lasted four decades. I went to university in Norway and started my hotel career in the basement of a five-star hotel in Oslo. The manager who hired me told me I was too old, too educated, and had too many opinions to be a security guard. He also told me that the only other person who applied for the job didn’t want it.

Thirty years later, I left that same company. It had grown from a small regional hotel chain with twenty-something hotels in Scandinavia to become a large, multi-brand hotel group with over a thousand hotels in almost one hundred countries.

Along the way, I moved from Norway to Denmark to Belgium. Before I left, the company awarded me their highest individual honour for leadership, and security professional peers selected me as the world’s most influential corporate security executive.

I’m a hospitality professional. I’m a security professional. If you ask, I will tell you that security was my job, and hospitality was my business.

Today, I’m an educator and a consultant passionate about hotels, hospitality, and keeping people safe during their travels.

In addition to the Always Care Community, I also write for Risk Resiliency’s Keep Travel Safe. If safe, secure hospitality, hotels, and travel are important to you, please subscribe to KTS!

Written with the clarity of hindsight, the accuracy of a faded memory, and countless creative liberties, the Always Care Community is a newsletter of how life has made me an emigrant, an immigrant, and gifted me experiences I never dreamed possible.

Thanks for reading. Your support is my motivation and I’m genuinely grateful that you’re here. Please share, subscribe, and connect with me.