The tension leaders are wrestling with right now

Reader,

This week, I have a quick favor to ask!
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And now for our topic this week...

In most companies, there’s an ever-present tug of war between boundaries and freedom. It’s the most significant tension I’ve been seeing this year, and it’s equally challenging for CEOs and rising leaders.

Opposing forces.
Generally, CEOs and execs want more boundaries. Teams want more freedom. And rising leaders feel like the rope in the middle, while also battling the tension inside themselves.

I felt it as a young leader. I constantly wanted more freedom, room to lead, responsibility, trust, opportunity, autonomy. Just more. I was like a nutty toddler running around, getting into everything, burning myself out while insisting, “I’m not tired!”

But the sugar that unhinged me wasn’t candy—it was a lack of clarity.

When boundaries equal clarity.
Every company is different, but necessary boundaries include:

A vision or purpose that clearly and specifically defines the company’s work.
Values that define how people must always and must never behave.
Standards that define what excellent, complete work looks like.

For example:
Imagine a founder who starts a company with one purpose: to develop new technologies that transform how people live. The one behavior never allowed is interrupting, because it kills creativity. And every invention must meet four specific standards and metrics.

Within those boundaries, the development director has complete freedom to pursue any project. The team can unleash their creativity, ideas, and energy because they know where they can’t go—everything else is fair game.

The boundaries free the founder to trust the team and let them bring the vision to life in their own way.

When boundaries are unclear.
Now reimagine the same founder—but this time the purpose, values, and standards are vague. Boundaries still exist, but they’re not clear or visible until they’ve been violated.

So team members feel like they’re walking around in the dark, wondering if they’re going to run into something. They learn to go slow, taking only a few small steps at a time, minimizing the risk of stumbling into a hidden boundary.

Then the CEO thinks, “I don’t know why my team won’t lead!”
While the team thinks, “I’ve tried that and it didn’t go well for me.”

When boundaries aren’t clear, people hold the responsibility without the freedom to act. It creates chaos, hesitation, resentment, and attrition.

Boundaries are the key to freedom. Not its opposite.

Where is the line?
One of the hardest parts of leadership is finding that sweet spot between boundaries that turn into over-control and freedom that slips into under-guidance. And this year, professionals at every level seem to be trying to figure it out.

Here’s what I’m noticing:

Rising leaders don’t resist boundaries. They want clarity.
Teams know what it takes to execute, so they want freedom in how they bring the vision to life.
Rising leaders appreciate hearing the vision, but they want to inform it too.
Leaders don’t want to micro-manage, but they wrestle with where to be involved and where to let the team figure it out.

The differentiator.
What separates leadership that sets people loose from leadership that limits? Two things:

Believing your team’s creativity, energy, and ingenuity is the key to your success—not something to constrain.
Setting boundaries that are clear enough to free, visible enough to trust, and adaptable enough to evolve.

That’s why the best boundaries don’t box people in. They give people room to play with possibilities.

Clear boundaries don’t restrict freedom. They create it.

How are you navigating the line between boundaries and freedom? I'd love to hear about it!