Leaders: ⚡ Think You’ve Done Everything to Earn Loyalty? You Haven’t.

Leaders don’t get to choose who deserves loyalty. They either do the work to earn it — or they don’t. Loyalty isn’t mysterious. It’s the predictable outcome of consistent commitment and persistence, applied every single day.

Developing loyal customers and employees is hard work. Maintaining that loyalty is even harder. Frank Borman said it best about the old Eastern Airlines: “We earn our stripes every day.” Too many leaders forget that part. They want loyalty on demand, but they don’t want the grind required to build it. And because people are different, the time it takes to earn their loyalty varies just as much. There are no shortcuts.

Some companies still believe loyalty comes from attachment to a product — a brand of dish soap, a car, or the glamour of a resort’s physical building. That’s wishful thinking. At Wynn, we understood loyalty was rooted in relationships built through personalized service. We saw it every time a new resort opened. Competitors invited our customers to try their rooms, restaurants, entertainment, and games. We encouraged them to go. And they came back — not for the marble or the fountains, but for our people and our service.

But that kind of loyalty doesn’t appear by magic. It’s earned through relentless leadership discipline. A client who recently visited Wynn saw it immediately: the staff dining room was the nicest restaurant in the building; employee areas were designed with the same care as guest spaces; and the Golden Rule wasn’t a slogan — it was the operating system. Pay was competitive, not the highest. Because if you have to outbid the market to attract or retain people, they’ll leave the moment someone else pays more.

Real loyalty comes from how leaders treat people. It comes from standards, consistency, and the courage to do the right thing even when it’s inconvenient. It’s not that it’s hard — it’s that too many companies simply don’t care enough to make the effort.

This may sound like a broken record, but the evidence is clear. Wynn, Wegmans, Four Seasons, Nobu — the true Employer of Choice cultures — earn loyalty the same way: through daily behavior, not branding. Through leadership, not perks. Through commitment, not convenience.

Loyalty isn’t a one‑time achievement. It’s a possibility you keep earning — every day, starting today.

Thomas Alva Edison (1847 – 1931): American inventor (electric power generation, sound recording) and businessman (General Electric).