A business, even a family business, driven by loyalty alone will not hold together. A business dominated by loyalty becomes extremely political and rips itself apart. The same is true for a family driven by competency, it will not hold together. A family dominated by competency becomes extremely competitive and again, rips itself apart. Yet, a business without loyalty, like a family without competency, will suffer the ills of a closed system. In other words, for the survival of the business unit or the family unit, balance between loyalty and competency is needed. The key is knowing how much of each.