There is a major difference between the two concepts of loyalty and fealty.  I am a very loyal person and when I make a friend, I intend to keep them for life.  I don’t make close friends quickly because I like to see a person’s character under pressure which takes time.  But when a person has earned my respect, they have also earned my loyalty.  I believe true loyalty and respect go together.  I am very loyal to Pastor Robert Dickie because he has earned my respect, trust, and love over the last decade.  Remember, Pastor started mentoring me when I was a broke engineer with bad relationships in every category – family, friends, and associates.  Pastor Dickie had no idea that God would ever bless me in my business and personal relationships.  I certainly had no idea what God had in store for my life.  I had a dream and surrendered my family, business and life to Jesus Christ.  He has done a much better job of getting results than I ever did! 

Loyalty must begin with the proper principles.  I am loyal to mentors because they are loyal to the true principles.  A leader should never ask people to be loyal to them when they are disloyal to God’s principles.  But even when this happens, a loyal follower should confront the leader personally and not just abandon the leader.  That is loyalty to the principle and to the person.  Go back and read the Biblical account of Nathaniel confronting David.  He didn’t attack David’s reputation with other people.  Nathaniel had the courage and loyalty to confront David with the truth in love.  David saw the error in his ways and repented.  This restored David and proved that Nathaniel was a true friend.  Nathaniel did not just leave when he thought David was off track.  I say all this to point out a couple of things. 

1.  Even when a follower sees something wrong they should not just abandon ship.  Laurie and I had our share of issues when we were first married.  Neither of us came from ideal conditions growing up.  The key principle was that both Laurie and I were loyal to each other and didn’t cut and run at the first sign of trouble.  We stayed in our bad marriage for over five years until we learned how to get it right.  Not a perfect marriage, but one that honors the God we serve and provides a loving environment for our children.  I shudder to think of what could have happened had Laurie or I not been loyal to our bonds of marriage and the principles we espoused.

In the same way a follower should not just quit on their leaders.  Maybe the follower is not seeing the complete picture.  Perhaps the top leaders see more of the mountain side and with the same view they would do the same thing.  Maybe the leaders don’t understand what you are seeing and you need to confront them because you are loyal.  Confront with truth and love to restore your relationship.  I have been attacked by some for staying loyal for over 3 years to Quixtar after confronting Doug Devos with a letter addressing the severe business issues.  The critics say I should have just packed it up and left.  Like Nathaniel, I believed I needed to confront the issue because there was a problem.  I followed the loyalty principle by confronting the owners with the issues to ensure they knew the true facts.  The more I (and others) confronted the owners, the more of a pariah we became.  I would do the same over again and have no regrets.  I would rather be loyal and be injured by others disrespect than be disloyal and injure others by my disrespect.

2. When a follower has confronted the leaders directly and views the mountain from the same vantage point as the leaders, then they must confront reality.  If the leaders know the truth and will not change, then loyalty to the leaders is no longer loyalty to truth.  This is where you must choose between God and mammon.   On August 9^th a group of IBOAI board members confronted the Quixtar Corporation with the intent of a peaceful separation.  Our principles were in conflict and after 3 and half years of confrontation we had reached an impasse.  The Board members were not going forward with the new Amway and the Amway/Quixtar managers were not allowing any further dissent.  Instead of a peaceful separation the Quixtar Corporation chose to terminate and litigate to the detriment of all parties involved.  Our peaceful settlement proposal was ignored, our stand still agreement was ignored and we were told to, “Do what you have to do” when Quixtar would not come back to the table and mediate reasonably.

 I still do not understand how the Quixtar managers thought termination was a workable plan.  If a large church were to terminate the two popular co-pastors without the approval of the church congregation – what do you expect the congregation to do?  If the Church Board mistakenly assumed the co-pastors had started a competing church and announced this to the congregation without ever retracting their error – what would happen to the Church Board’s credibility and trust?  The Church Board clearly was not following truth or they would have admitted their error on the competing church.  If the congregation had any loyalty at all to the co-pastors and truth they would object to this Church Board action.  If the Church Board then sent threatening emails (we will excommunicate you from our church) to the congregation asking them to choose the Board or the co-pastors new church (that didn’t exist) - then they must expect people to choose truth over threats and lies.  When the congregation does not choose the Board, the Board then sues the former pastor’s for alleged interference with the Church’s business?   The co-pastors are incredulous.  Not only are they “fired”, but are they now to be held liable for the incompetence and the emotional decisions of the Church Board?  Sadly, this is the closest parallel I have found to describe the lack of leadership understanding that the Quixtar managers have displayed.

Continuing to stay in an environment where the principles of truth are no longer followed is not loyalty, but fealty.  Fealty is choosing to stay in a situation, not because of principles and truth – but for convenience, fear, money, or sloth.  When Nathaniel confronted David, he knew he was risking his name, finances, and life.  David had the power of life and death over Nathaniel.  If Nathaniel was not truly loyal to David he could have chose the easy route and slid into fealty instead of loyalty.  Fealty determines to follow the leader even though they have confronted the leader and know the leader is wrong or never confronted the leader out of fear and cowardice.  The follower sacrifices their principles on the altar of peace and affluence, not realizing the price they pay for compromising their character. 

Loyalty is a must for any team of people that are striving to accomplish great things.  Fealty must be rooted out or it is a cancer that will grow in the organization.  This is such an important subject and separates the true leaders from the ambitious pretenders.  Ask yourself, why do you follow your leaders?  Do you follow for financial gain regardless of the principles?  If you do – you are not displaying loyalty, but fealty.  Do you follow the leaders because both of you are loyal to the principles of truth?  If you do then you are loyal and will follow even if sacrifices are necessary.  Let every person examine themselves.  Loyalty or Fealty?   Convictions or Conveniences?  As for me and my family, I choose Loyalty, Convictions, and Truth regardless of the cost.  Laurie and I are proud to be associated with a group of leaders who have proven by their actions to be loyal men and women.  I believe we have assembled a team of people who can restore Truth into our culture.  I believe we have a group of people who will stand for Truth even when it hurts.  This team of leaders will never surrender their loyalty for fealty regardless of the personal cost.  I truly believe that the team has been assembled to do something great.  Pastor Dickie used to read to me from the book of Esther the verse, “Perhaps you have been brought into the Kingdom for a time such as this.”   I believed God then and I still do today!  God Bless, Orrin Woodward 

Here is a portion of an article on Loyalty and Fealty by Jeffrey Grandz.

Good leaders understand that there is a difference between real loyalty and a related but different concept--fealty.

Give me loyalty, not fealty

Both loyalty and fealty share some things in common; they call for allegiance, faithfulness, and fidelity. But they differ in one remarkable respect. Loyalty embraces the concept of allegiance to an authority to whom such faithfulness is lawfully and morally due. Fealty, on the other hand, describes the fidelity of a vassal, slave or feudal tenant to his lord and master or, in modern parlance, the unqualified fidelity of a person to his or her boss.

Fealty is dangerous in corporations as well as in other social organizations. It leads to unethical, corrupt and often illegal actions spreading to the many rather than the few, to covering up those actions sometimes to the point of obstructing justice. Loyalty, on the other hand, is a positive dimension of business since it provides a force of energy that binds people together in the pursuit of worthwhile goals.

Fealty can be coerced or bought. Consequently, when the power relationship no longer exists or a better "deal" is available elsewhere--from another employer, or a prosecutor offering a more lenient sentence--the bond of fidelity is snapped. This is not an act of disloyalty but, rather, a belated recognition that the bond was composed only of self interest. The more enlightened that self-interest, the more individuals will act in ways that are beneficial to them.

Loyalty is made of sterner stuff. It is built on sound moral foundations, of which lawfulness is one but is not the only one. People who are bound by common values and moral beliefs are not easily deterred from supporting each other. They are neither discouraged by adversity nor deflected by better offers.

It explains why many people do work for which there is little extrinsic reward, why they serve their countries or churches or other social movements as volunteers or in poorly-paid positions; why they choose to work for companies that pursue socially responsible and responsive policies; why they are attracted to companies that have reputations for treating individuals and groups with dignity and respect, who are committed to their development, who provide employees with the opportunity to speak up and speak out about things with which they disagree, who have good whistle-blowing policies and who do not tolerate leaders who do not support these value-driven actions.