"Practice what you preach" has become a cliché precisely because it rings with the truth. Loyalty leaders know that their actions speak volumes. You must become a role model, a living example of how your principles can be put into practice. You must be ever-vigilant to ensure that company policies and procedures are fully aligned with your loyalty principles. You can neither practice nor preach effectively until you articulate your principles clearly. Write down your guiding principles. The discipline involved in the process of writing will deepen your own understanding, compelling you to define your terms precisely and to recognize and resolve any inherent inconsistencies in your logic or discrepancies in your message. Once you have crafted your sermon, teach all your partners what you stand for, how to put the principles into practice in daily activities, and, in turn, how to spread the message to others. Loyalty leaders don’t delegate this critical task; they assume personal responsibility for teaching the core principles to the rest of their organization. The essence of loyalty is not self-sacrifice. On the contrary, it is the only way to achieve your long-term interests. A vital step toward building loyalty is to show your partners that loyalty is a logical strategy for the pursuit of self-interest when self-interest is defined in the context of lifelong success, not success just for today, this quarter, or this year. Examples of Bain's work The Acid Test Survey: Climbing to the high road requires the right tools - in particular, tools to measure loyalty as carefully as profits. Satisfaction metrics are a good first step, but you shouldn't stop there.
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