A lesson in loyalty, and its corporate importance

Hiroo Onoda (Mar 1922 – Jan 2014) was as interesting as he was an enigma. He was an imperial Japanese army intelligence world war II officer who became the penultimate Japanese army officer to surrender after Japan surrendered to the allied forces, doing so 29 years after the war ended in 1945!

During the dying months of World War II, sometime in 1944, Hiroo was sent to Lubang Island in the Philippines with very clear orders: He and his men were to frustrate enemy attacks on the island by first destroying the only airstrip on the island and never to surrender or take their own lives. Unfortunately for him, shortly after he arrived, supported by superior fire power, allied forces overrun the island and in February 1945 Hiroo was forced to order his men to take to the hills from where they reorganized and started a guerilla war against the ‘invading’ forces. In August 1945, Japan surrendered, admitting defeat. To alert their men in the various areas they occupied through the the war about their surrender, they organized fleets of planes to drop leaflets all over the said territories ordering them to come out, lay down their arms and partake in the amnesty that had been granted. Hiroo and his men came across these leaflets but interpreted them as enemy tactics to woo them out of the fighting and capture them, so they continued to hold their ground.

Over many years of their hold out, he and his men continued to receive messages that the war was actually over and even resisted the urges of their friends and family to give in which came in the form of letters and family pictures dropped into their ‘fighting’ zone from above, with Hiroo stating that only when he received a direct order from his commanding officer would he surrender. Eventually, after many years of resisting, Hiroo was located in the jungle by a Japanese adventurer, Norio Suzuki, who had ventured into the jungle to try and find him because some circles assumed him long dead. Norio tried to convince him to abandon his worthless venture of continuing with his war, but Hiroo repeated to him that only his commanding officer, whom Hiroo believed was still at war in some other place, could order him to do so. Norio offered to go and locate Hiroo’s commanding officer and found him long retired, working as a bookseller back in Japan. Major Yoshimi Taniguchi, for that was his name, then agreed to return to the Philippines with Norio to meet Hiroo and formally relive him of his duty. Only then did Hiroo surrender and come out of the jungle. He was forgiven of his crimes committed against the people of the Philippines during his years of ‘resistance’ by the President of the Philippines and returned to a hero’s welcome in Japan almost three decades after the war had ended! He was later described by the New York Times as being “…the epitome of pre-war values, diligence and loyalty to the emperor”.

Loyalty today, especially within the corporate world, is in very short supply. New era employees tend to shun longevity in organizations, preferring to constantly, and in quick succession, move from one organization to another despite the benefits that it brings to both employee and employer. From the perspective of the employee, the benefits lie around the equity that it helps build for them over time while from an employer’s perspective they abound.

Firstly, organizations that are successful in driving employee loyalty tend to be viewed in better light by the external world than those that don’t. Employee loyalty is driven by employee satisfaction and research has shown that companies with high employee satisfaction outperform their peers in long-term share value returns.

Secondly, loyal employees in an organization tend to drive more productivity in the organization not just because they possess lots of institutional memory due to longevity of stay but also because they are desirous of seeing the organization succeed. This higher productivity leads to better customer satisfaction which in turn leads to better topline and other financial returns.

Furthermore, all organizations desire a positive value system across the employee base which in turn defines what the organization stands for. It would be an uphill task to try and deliver a value system that is in consonance with the views of the company if the employees are by and large disloyal. And last but definitely not least, an organization that drives loyalty is seen by prospective employees as an attractive place to work and therefore tends to attract the best talent, which will always give it a competitive advantage over others.

For all the above benefit it is in the interest of organizations to drive employee loyalty, but how does one go about doing that? The answer lies squarely in the leadership practices of the organization. Companies that drive open, candid communication and two-way feedback, that keep their employees at the center of all they do through practices that make them feel valued, that make the employees feel a good level of ownership in the company mission and vision and show practical interest in employee welfare and growth are those that will win on the loyalty scale. It is therefore imperative that proactive thought is placed into this effort if you are to benefit from the returns. Blind followership and loyalty of the type demonstrated by Horoo through his actions and by his famous statement to the Australian Broadcasting Corporation when he said, “Every Japanese soldier was prepared for death, but as an intelligence officer I was ordered to conduct guerrilla warfare and not to die. I had to follow my orders as I was a soldier”, just does not exist anymore.