Loyalty: The Cokeman Story

(From Personal Archives)
Unlike policies, guidelines and procedures, loyalty is something that you cannot enforce. It has to come voluntarily and from within our hearts. To an organisation, loyalty of the employees means higher commitment and increased productivity, which translate to higher generation of revenues and profit.

But, does it exist these days? Are we too self-centred to be loyal to anything? In the era when people are willing to step on other people’s toes to reach the top, does it pay to be loyal? Is it worth it to stay and slave yourself in an organisation when the rest of the world hop from one job to another and while doing that, securing higher pays and climbing up the corporate ladder faster than you are? Are our lives driven only by dollars and cents that we are only loyal to an organisation that rewards us with promotion, hefty performance bonuses and exponential salary adjustments?

I didn’t have the answers to those questions until I met a forty-something Executive from one of the most successful MNCs, Coca Cola Corporation. He has been working with the company for 10 years, now heading the Asia Pacific Regional Headquarters in Indonesia, which covers 9 countries including Australia, New Zealand, Thailand, Papua New Guinea and Indonesia.

He was wearing a collared Coca Cola polo shirt, a Coke-labelled denim and a blue sport wristwatch with Coca Cola logo when we met.

“This is what I always wear. I seldom wear clothing that does not have Coke labels. Even at parties, I would wear shirts that have Coke logo on them and my Coke dress watches presented by the President of Coca Cola Corporation, USA when he visited our Indonesian office.”

As if that did not give me enough shock, with a huge grin, he added, “I don’t eat at restaurants that serve Pepsi or those under Pepsi account. If my kids want to go to KFC, I would order a take-out and we would eat at home.”

“At our house, I have all the Coca Cola souvenirs on display and that includes all the merchandise and collectives dated from as early as the 50s. I even have the tiles for swimming pool, which make up a big Coke bottle on the bottom of the pool.”

When we teased him about his being a fanatic, he replied, ”Come on, Coca Cola pays for everything I took home to the family. The least I could do is to support the Company.”

And, guess what he gave me as a souvenir? A black round-collared Coke t-shirt!