Betrayal and back stabbing in modern times - Blair McPherson

 

Professional footballers are labelled disloyal because they no longer stay with one club but move around chasing money and winners medals. Politicians call each other backstabbers as they oust their leader and jockey for power. The chief executive complains of senior managers undermining them behind their back. The board refers to a high profile whistleblower as disloyal for going public. And your boss views any dissent as personal disloyalty. We live in disloyal times or is it that we have become confused about loyalty? 

Loyalty is a good thing, disloyalty is shameful. But in exposing wrong doing is the whistleblower acting shamefully? Just because you don't agree with your boss on an issue and say so that shouldn't be seen as personal disloyalty. Uncritical, unthinking loyalty to a cause,organisation or person is irresponsible and immature. 

Disloyalty motivated by ambition, personal gain or malevolence is ugly and shameful. But true motives are not always easy to identify, the disgruntled, overlooked employee who blows the whistle on bad practise may have less generous  motives. Those who seek to remove an ineffective or divisive leader may also be seeking to occupy the vacancy.  

Your boss expects you to be loyal and not undermine them but has no right to expect you to agree with every thing they say and do. The language is emotive because when it comes to betrayal it's always personal. It's not your enemies who stab you in the back but your so called friends, those you  believed supported you but turned out to have been plotting your down fall behind your back. This betrayal is no less painful for their claims of acting for the greater good and there is always the suspicion that their motivation was to enhance their own position. 

Blair McPherson www.blairmcpherson.co.uk