Loyalty is important to me, whether in friends, employees or clients. It speaks well of those who accept, appreciate and support you over time.

I’ve kept employees on my team longer than I should have because they were loyal. I worked extra hard to help them work through problems and improve performance.

But there is an important difference between simple loyalty and true loyalty. True loyalty  isn’t about showing up and being supportive and pleasant. It is about delivering results and creating value.

My biggest mistake has been confusing simple loyalty (the showing up kind) with true loyalty (the delivering results kind).

Anyone who takes your money–employees or vendors–and doesn’t provide what you paid for isn’t truly loyal, no matter how nice he or she may be.