The negative side of loyalty's equation, from Marshall's first key point. Each case is a leader of immense talent undone by an inability to build or sustain mutual loyalty. **Oda Nobunaga.** "As talented of a commander and man as you'll ever meet, *except in his ability to engender and build mutual loyalty*." Well on his way to unifying all of Japan, he was betrayed by his general Akechi Mitsuhide and killed in a treacherous ambush. Fault lay on both sides — Nobunaga had publicly embarrassed Mitsuhide, and Mitsuhide's mother had been killed by a rash Nobunaga move. "Thus, both Nobunaga and Mitsuhide left the world stage, broken and defeated, having failed to achieve their aims." **Belisarius and Justinian.** The Byzantine commander "could probably have re-unified all of Rome if his relationship with Justinian had been more mutually loyal and trusting. Justinian, fearing Belisarius, did not support him adequately. Rome was never again united." **Hannibal and Carthage.** "The Carthaginian Senate was famously unsupportive of Hannibal's very successful aggressive invasion of Italy." Hannibal had to return to Africa after "just barely failing to defeat Rome," was defeated at Zama by Scipio Africanus — "and shortly afterwards, Carthage was erased from history." The pattern: raw individual brilliance is not enough. Where mutual loyalty fails, the talented and the disloyal alike are destroyed. --- *Source: [[Book Inventory/Progression|Progression]] (Sebastian Marshall, 2016) — Uncommon Virtues #7 — Loyalty*