John J. Clancy

If you look at the psychology of loyalty—which I did—you see that it’s instinctive. It’s a survival technique that dates back to our pre-human ancestors. It’s a profound psychological need. You can’t dispense with it. At one point, we projected loyalty onto organizations. Now, we’re projecting it onto other people.

There can be other loyalties, too. Software developers are loyal to their product. They are willing to sacrifice for it. They feel fiercely proud of it. They reject outsiders’ manipulation of it, criticism of it, anything—just like an old-time loyal employee or loyal soldier.

I think software developers should be a clue to management. Through organizational design and other techniques, management has to find ways to build on the natural tendency toward loyalty. Creating new loyalties is the best way to approach the loss of corporate loyalty—you’re not going to be able to make people loyal to good, old IBM or good, old whatever.

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