One of the characteristics of becoming a “successful person” in the workplace is the ability to suppress one’s feelings and grievances. French philosopher Rousseau touched upon the double-edged nature of money as a tool for maintaining freedom, “The money in our hands is a tool for maintaining freedom, but the money we pursue is a tool that makes us slaves.” This reflects the paradox faced by professionals striving for financial freedom.
Indeed, the state of life for many young professionals aligns with what Rousseau said. Despite enduring hardships at work, they hope one day to achieve financial freedom and high-ranking power, to in turn enjoy the “freedom” imposed upon them.
In my everyday work interacting with entrepreneurs and executives, I have noticed that in pursuing this kind of financial freedom, employees’ emotional health and psychological well-being are often overlooked. Especially for those from the post-70s and post-80s generations, enduring in silence seems to be a necessary survival skill in the workplace.
However, with the inclusion of the post-90s, post-95s, and post-00s generations into the workforce, this management mindset is becoming outdated. The rise of social media and the arrival of the information age have made the younger generation increasingly unwilling to tolerate long-term unfair treatment and emotional repression. Their psychological thresholds and expectations from the workplace significantly differ from those of their predecessors.
This new generation of employees places greater importance on “emotional freedom.” “Emotional freedom” does not mean irresponsible whims, but rather being respected in the workplace, being able to express personal emotions, and avoiding undue emotional harm. This freedom encompasses not being emotionally harmed by leaders and companies, having one’s emotions respected and space for expression, the ability to generate positive emotions easily within an organization, and not misusing one’s emotions in a way that harms the emotional freedom of others.
Employees pursuing emotional freedom may choose to do what they like, even if it means being misunderstood or not earning as much money. They tend to believe that emotional freedom is one of the elements of self-actualization and mission-driven purpose, even if they may not know exactly what they like, but they know what they dislike.
Nowadays, businesses and leaders are gradually realizing that young workers no longer pledge loyalty so easily. They are tired of being fed various “success stories” and simply wish to be a “working person” in peace. They are starting to understand that on the path to pursuing financial freedom, they often help elevate their bosses to the highest level, while inadvertently depriving themselves of their emotional freedom.
More and more people are starting to pursue independent career paths, choosing to start their own ventures rather than being bound by traditional workplace rules. They prefer to establish business partnerships rather than traditional employment relationships, replacing hierarchical management with an egalitarian cooperative model. This type of business partnership can bring about a greater sense of emotional freedom, unfettered by strict bureaucratic systems.
In many traditional organizations, people often feel they can only show part of their capabilities, such as intellectual and physical capacities, while their emotional needs are ignored. The rigidity of this organizational structure is also reflected in emotional inequality; for example, senior leaders can vent their emotions freely, while ordinary employees are expected to remain professional. Pursuing emotional freedom is essentially pursuing emotional equality.
Even though there is inequality between employees and bosses in terms of job hierarchy and decision-making power, as well as significant differences in compensation, everyone should at least have equal emotional rights. Enterprises that lack emotional freedom exhibit many problems, such as leaders’ anger towards top management possibly leading to the suppression of their genuine opinions, which in turn affects the decision-making and efficiency of the entire organization.
Fear is an emotion that comes at a cost. If a company does not allow for mistakes, employees will feel insecure, which will further reduce the overall performance of the team. Google’s “Project Aristotle” found that a common characteristic of high-performing teams is psychological safety: members believe they can express their opinions freely without fear of punishment, allowing them to perform more fearlessly at work.
Professor Amy Edmondson advocates the concept of a “Fearless Organization,” where employees enjoy emotional freedom. She also emphasizes that to be successful in an innovation-driven world, it is not enough to simply recruit smart, ambitious talents; more importantly, an environment must be created that allows talent to express themselves freely and foster creative collisions.
Clearly, traditional organizations often adopt a fear-driven model, encouraging employees to show their strong professional side and hide vulnerability and emotions. However, this old model is gradually being challenged and reshaped in the modern workplace, with more organizations and individuals recognizing that emotional freedom is key to innovation and efficiency.
In cultures of widespread fear within the workplace, where management exerts pressure on employees, staff often feel insecure. For many managers, the very apprehension of the employees is an indication that the culture of fear is functioning effectively. However, high-performance teams are completely different from this management model; they encourage team members to freely share their fears, sorrows, and confusions in a psychologically safe environment and to engage in difficult, equitable dialogues with even the most challenging colleagues without fear of harming each other.
“Fear” can be a driving force, but it is only applicable in very limited scenarios—goals must be specific and achievable, progress is directly observable, and tasks can be completed independently by an individual. However, in today’s era where creativity reigns supreme and people need to solve ever-changing complex problems through collective intelligence and collaboration, relying solely on fear cannot promote organizational development. For an organization to grow sustainably, it must first provide a supportive environment that allows its employees to fully unleash their potential. Such an organization is not just a workplace that makes employees feel delighted but also fertile ground for innovation, growth, and tangible results. Google’s “Project Aristotle” confirmed that organizations with high psychological safety have lower turnover rates, clearly showing that emotional freedom is a key factor in achieving a win-win for employees and the organization.
Therefore, the emotional freedom of senior executives is of paramount importance. If executives cannot properly handle their own emotions, it will cause significant strain on the team, forcing others to care for their feelings, and the executives themselves will not be able to feel at ease. If the top executive fails to address emotional issues effectively, the negative impact will be even greater. In the development of executives, how to deal with emotional issues is a key point. As mentioned earlier, the precondition for achieving emotional freedom is that individuals do not abuse emotions and do not harm the emotional freedom of others. This is especially relevant to executives, particularly those in the top position.
When coaching corporate executives, I often emphasize the concept of “Emotions compensate when abilities are insufficient.” Many CEOs misunderstand “passion,” projecting their emotions onto the team and mistakenly believing they are omnipotent saviors who always make the right decisions from above. When faced with different opinions, they become overly defensive. If this free rein of emotions is not addressed, problems often shift from the professional realm to personal feelings. You might have heard of the Dunning-Kruger effect; these self-indulgent CEOs are often complacent within their cognitive biases, detached from reality. If they fail to recognize the situation and change in time, the entire executive team and the company might be affected.
As leaders, they must be mature and rational, not immature. Being a mature adult doesn’t mean abandoning emotional freedom entirely, but rather developing an attitude of “I love freedom, but I love truth more.”
Smart executive teams are adept at meeting on the path to truth. Without this pursuit of truth, emotional problems are difficult to solve fundamentally. In discussions, truth becomes clearer through debate, and exceptional executives should communicate and argue deeply on fundamental assumptions. In their pursuit of truth, executives need to have the confidence and determination that they currently embody the truth, as well as the humility to accept that they only hold partial and temporary truths.
In practice, excellent executives learn to bow quickly before truth and embrace self-criticism. If the management team fosters a culture of reverence for truth, conflicts are fierce but always bring the team closer to truth. When the pursuit of truth resonates with the team, managers face feedback with a healthier attitude—they value but are not overly dependent on feedback, remaining responsive without being overly sensitive. Everyone becomes less petty about details, more resilient, and steps closer to emotional freedom.
After establishing the keynote of pursuing truth, organizational leaders must strive to balance the “triangular relationship” of emotional freedom. We can understand this concept through examples—some teams oppose challenging goals while others are excited and motivated. These differences may arise because the first type of team lacks consensus and belief in strategic goals, not believing in their ability to achieve difficult tasks, or due to a lack of safety and trust among team members, fearing harsh consequences for unmet goals.
My understanding is that the core of emotional freedom lies in achieving a powerful balance between “a sense of direction and discipline,” “a sense of excitement and meaning,” and “a sense of security and trust.” Therefore, building a “generative field” is essential, where the potential of talents is fully activated, and the organization can develop continuously. (Content removed)
When we observe the changes of the times through the lens of “emotional freedom,” our perspective suddenly broadens. Financial freedom and emotional freedom, the former leans more towards the material, the latter more towards the spiritual. The freedom of money, while concrete, is not easily satisfied immediately, whereas emotional freedom can be satisfied instantly. Once such a demand becomes widespread, it is difficult to suppress. From another perspective, valuing emotional freedom reflects the improvement of economic development. Only when basic needs are met can people aspire to emotional freedom.
Emotional freedom belongs to the needs of social interaction and respect, while money is more about victory and a sense of security. For many people, emotional freedom is part of their higher needs in self-actualization. From a societal standpoint, more and more people realize the significant influence of parental emotions on an individual’s lifelong happiness. A good emotional state is the most precious gift to the next generation. Therefore, it is essential to maintain a good emotional state to ensure that children grow up in an environment of emotional freedom. This progress is undoubtedly worth celebrating. Exceptional enterprises and leaders must quickly adapt to this change, creating a “fearless organization” that can bring emotional freedom to team members.