Is there a difference between loyalty and responsibility?

Is there a difference between loyalty and responsibility?

In one of my mastermind groups, one of the members discussed some potentially life changing decisions he would be making in the next few month.

These decisions would impact many people and depending on his decision, some not positively.

When he was asked what was important to him as he decided, he discussed loyalty. As we explored his description of loyalty I realized he was describing my definition of responsibility.

I can be loyal yet not chose to be responsible. I can be responsible and not be loyal.

I am not sure which is more correct – him feeling loyal or responsible.

It was true that he was responsible for whatever decisions he made but was the decisions he made come from a sense of loyalty or responsibility.

Dictionary.com define loyalty as the state or quality of being loyal; 1. Faithfulness to commitments or obligations. 2. Faithful adherence to a sovereign, government, leader, cause, etc. 3. An example or instance of faithfulness, adherence, or the like: a man with fierce loyalties.

Dictionary.com defines responsibility as 1. The state or fact of being responsible, answerable, or accountable for something within one’s power, control, or management.

I am thinking he has confused being accountable and being faithful.

This is a hard concept for me. Do you make decisions from loyalty or responsibility and if so how do you distinguish between the two?

Do you have the same understanding when making personal decisions and business decisions?

 

Sincerely,

 

Ron Finklestein
www.businessgrowthexperience.com

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