--- title: "Hiring for Loyalty vs. Ability: 6 Myths | Robert Nikic" description: "Robert Nikic on six hiring myths founders believe about loyalty, ability and second chances, and what actually happens in growing companies." canonical: "https://robertnikic.com/blog/hiring-for-loyalty" author: "Robert Nikic" advisory_role_profile: "https://reseated.com/robert-nikic" type: "Article" published: "2026-11-07T12:00:00.000Z" updated: "2026-11-07T12:44:56.600000" --- # Hiring for Loyalty Instead of Ability Robert Nikic on six hiring myths founders believe about loyalty, ability and second chances, and what actually happens in growing companies. **In short:** Robert Nikic on six hiring myths founders believe about loyalty, ability and second chances, and what actually happens in growing companies. Founders love to say they hire for loyalty. I get it. When you're small, one person leaving can feel like the company is falling apart. So you look for people who'll stay. But I've watched a lot of companies get this wrong in both directions. Some hired loyal people who couldn't do the job. Others hired brilliant people who left the minute it got hard. Neither works. Here are the myths I hear most, and what I've actually seen. ### Myth 1: "Loyal people are worth more than talented ones." **What I've seen:** loyalty without ability is a slow problem that gets bigger every year. The loyal employee who can't grow with the company ends up in a role they can't handle. The founder doesn't want to hurt them, so nothing changes. The team around them picks up the slack and gets resentful. Eventually the best people leave, and the loyal one is still there. Loyalty is a reason to invest in someone. It isn't a reason to keep them in a job they can't do. **What works:** hire for both, and when they conflict, be honest. Help the loyal person find the role they can be great at. That's what loyalty actually looks like from your side. ### Myth 2: "Talented people won't stay at a small company." **What I've seen:** talented people stay where they're growing, trusted and treated fairly. Size has little to do with it. Plenty of talented people leave big companies precisely because they feel like a number. A small company can offer what a big one can't: real responsibility, direct access to the founder and the chance to build something. **What works:** give talented people ownership, of a project, a team or a piece of the upside. They stay when they feel like it's partly theirs. ### Myth 3: "Hiring friends and family is safer." **What I've seen:** it feels safer. It rarely is. The problem isn't the person. It's that the relationship makes honest feedback hard. You can't easily tell a cousin their work isn't good enough. You can't easily let a best friend go. And everyone else on the team knows it. I've seen it work, but only when both sides agreed, up front and in writing, that the job came first and the relationship wouldn't protect anyone. **What works:** if you hire someone close to you, set the rules on day one. Same standards, same reviews, same consequences. Say it out loud. ### Myth 4: "A gap in a résumé is a red flag." **What I've seen:** some of the best hires I've watched companies make were people other employers screened out. The parent coming back after years at home. The person who was sick. The newcomer whose experience was in another country. The person starting over after a business failed. The person with a record who has done the work to rebuild. These people often know what a chance is worth. They protect it. They show up. They stay. **What works:** look at what someone can do, not just where they've been. Ask about the gap. Listen to the answer. Give the second chance when it's earned. It's one of the reasons I gave a whole TEDx talk on the subject. ### Myth 5: "You can't teach attitude, so hire for attitude and train the rest." **What I've seen:** this one's half right. Attitude matters a lot. But "train the rest" only works if you actually have time and people to train. A lot of small companies hire for attitude, then throw the person into the deep end with no training, and blame them when they struggle. **What works:** hire for attitude when you can genuinely teach the skill. When you need someone who can do the job on day one, hire for the skill and check the attitude. ### Myth 6: "Paying more buys loyalty." **What I've seen:** paying fairly prevents people from leaving. Paying more doesn't make them stay. People leave for money when they feel underpaid. But once pay is fair, other things matter more: whether they trust their manager, whether they're learning, whether their work matters and whether they share in what they build. **What works:** pay fairly, before people have to ask. Then put your energy into the things money can't buy. ### Myth 7: "Loyal employees never leave." **What I've seen:** some of the most loyal people I've known left companies, and they were right to. They outgrew the role. The company couldn't offer the next step. A family situation changed. They wanted to start something of their own. None of that is disloyalty. It's life. The companies that handle this well treat departures with respect. They help the person move on, stay in touch and leave the door open. Some of those people come back. Others send customers, hires and introductions for years. The companies that treat every departure as a betrayal lose that goodwill, and the people still there notice how leavers get treated. **What works:** measure loyalty by how people act while they're with you, not by whether they stay forever. And make leaving well part of the culture. People move, even in a calm job market. The Bureau of Labor Statistics counted 3.1 million quits in August 2026 alone, a quits rate of 1.9% ([BLS, JOLTS](https://www.bls.gov/news.release/jolts.nr0.htm)). Loyalty isn't something you hire once. It's something you earn every month. ### What loyalty actually is Loyalty isn't something you hire. It's something you earn, after the person joins. The companies I've seen with the most loyal teams didn't find unusually loyal people. They treated ordinary people unusually well. They were honest, they shared the upside, they gave second chances and they let people grow. ### A simple hiring test Before you make an offer, answer three things: - **Can this person do the job we need now, or can we realistically teach it.** - **Will this person still fit the job in two years, as the company grows.** - **What will we do to earn their loyalty once they're here.** If you can't answer the third one, the first two won't matter for long. ### Related reading - [Why founders should share the upside](/blog/the-people-who-build-it-share-in-it) - Robert Nikic's TEDx talk on second chances - [The five principles Robert Nikic builds by](/blog/principles) Robert Nikic is an entrepreneur, TEDx speaker and Advisory Council Chair at Reseated Councils (United Nations SDG 8 & 9). He writes about what he has seen build and break companies, and about the rules that decide whether small businesses get a fair shot. Read his writing on [Medium](https://medium.com/@robertnikic), the Open Doors newsletter on [LinkedIn](https://www.linkedin.com/in/robertnikic) and daily posts on [X](https://x.com/robertnikic).