A Senior Leader’s First Loyalty
- Aug 8, 2025
- 3 min read
Things were getting heated. The voices and emotions in the room were increasing, while the collective logic and rationale were decreasing. It was our weekly senior leadership meeting (the CEO and his direct reports), and things were going off the rails.
What happened? A senior leader had presented some information that put another leader in a bad light. The problem was not the message. The issue arose because the leader, who was being “thrown under the bus,” had not been given the opportunity to review the data or conclusions before they were presented as facts to the broader team. The message, whether accurate or not, was now secondary. Trust was lost and it quickly got ugly.
This happened many years ago, but I remember it vividly. Our CEO was brand new at the time, and we had no clue how he would handle this chaos. What he said next not only got things back on track, but it also got the entire team aligned going forward. It was one of the best lessons I ever received about the responsibilities of a senior leadership team, and creating a healthy culture from top to bottom.
The CEO asked us how often we met without him in the room, whether as a full team or a partial team, when working through our team strategies and execution planning. The answer…we really didn’t meet for planning purposes, only when there was a big fire drill that needed immediate attention.
He said it was clear that we weren’t working as one team, rather we were acting like six separate functional silos that appeared to be “competing” with each other. No one could disagree.
Things had to change. We fully expected a lecture about “playing nice” with each other or else, but that didn’t happen. Instead, the advice he gave was specific, efficient, and actionable.
He demanded that our first loyalty be to each other, even before our own teams.
He then provided more details behind his reasoning:
Enterprise-level thinking Senior leaders are expected to optimize for the whole, not just their part. If every exec only defends their turf, the company becomes fragmented and dysfunctional.
Trust and cohesion at the top drive culture below When leadership teams are aligned, they set the tone for collaboration across departments, as employees tend to follow what is modeled by leadership.
Strategic decisions require trade-offs Resource allocation, priorities, and organizational change often require one team to sacrifice for another. Loyalty to the leadership team helps facilitate those tough decisions.
Reduces turf wars and politics Prioritizing peer alignment over self-interest minimizes “us vs. them” thinking and internal competition.
Helps to holistically embrace the company’s mission and long-term goals Being loyal to fellow leaders reinforces a unified commitment to the mission—even when it means pushing back on your own team or stepping out of your comfort zone.
He did caution that “first loyalty” doesn’t mean our only loyalty. Once we were aligned as a senior leadership team, we then had to communicate clearly to our respective functional teams. This provided them with direction while showcasing our alignment. From there, we then had to practice “servant leadership.” This meant listening to our teams while constantly working to support them, including removing the obstacles that were holding them back. Not doing so would create the appearance of an out of touch executive “inner circle,” so we still had to find that balance with our own teams to bring it all together.
I knew things were getting better when the “enemies” we were battling became the competition in the marketplace and not each other. We were bouncing ideas off each other. We had a collective business roadmap, not just our own functional roadmaps. We had each other’s backs. We went on the offense. We were having fun!
I learned a lot from this CEO, but this one lesson really changed my thinking regarding how great senior leadership teams function. When I now see senior leadership getting this wrong it screams at me, as I’ve lived it and now can’t unsee it.
But when I see businesses that are working well cross-functionally, with minimal in-fighting and functional silos, this is a common denominator amongst them. A simple philosophy that can literally change everything for the better.
