Against Loyalty
Normal people value loyalty, practically and morally. They're usually wrong to do so. My loyalty hierarchy at work goes like this:
- Loyalty to my ethics
- Loyalty to my clients
- Loyalty to my firm
Where a course of action contradicts my ethics, I will not do it consequences be dammed. Where I can tell a client what they want to hear, helping my firm get contracts but harming the client, I won't. What's interesting about this kind of ethical thinking is that it works just as well if you remove the word "loyalty".
What loyalty means is acting differently towards someone because of your relationship or history with them. This is a good strategy for rent-seeking, but wrong morally and bad for the collective. You should treat people equally and fairly. This means telling people you're "loyal" to that they're wrong and standing against them in meetings when necessary, even if they're your boss. This means firing or demoting low-performers, even if they're your friends. Doing otherwise may be better for your career in most places (most firms are dysfunctional), but it's not right.
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