Survey results show that tomorrow’s leaders take a clear stance against a purely egocentric interpretation of freedom, in favor of limits and responsibility towards society.

From a philosophical perspective, freedom is an exceptionally complex construct. A universal understanding hardly exists. The specific interpretations and ideals have always been shaped by cultural and historical factors.  Especially in modern times, there has been a widely shared understanding that individual freedom of speech and action is positively connoted. In recent years though, an awareness of the destructive aspects of not only unlimited markets but also of unbounded individual freedom has also emerged: Examples are behaviors that damage the environment, the dark sides of the Internet, or elites who visibly allow themselves abundant freedoms to the detriment of other world regions and younger generations – culminating a few months ago in the clash of the boomer and younger generations on various social media platforms with the “OK boomer” meme (Romano, 2019).

So how do the Leaders of Tomorrow conceive of freedom, its constituent parts, and its limits? To answer this question, the Nuremburg Institute for Market Decisions and the St. Gallen Symposium have teamed up for its annual “Voices of the Leaders of Tomorrow” Report. Building on a survey of almost 900 top-talent young professionals from the St. Gallen Symposium’s Leaders of Tomorrow community, the Report offers unique findings on what freedom means to the next generation of global leaders:

A purely selfish conception of freedom, emblematic for the 80s and 90s of last century, seems to have served its time. Given the new opportunities but also new threats heralded by technology, it may be high time to rebalance freedom of the individual and the individual’s responsibility and constraint required by living in a shared world.

• When it comes to individual freedom in general, the Leaders of Tomorrow’s understanding is clearly characterized by consideration for others. The agreement to the different statements shows a clear ranking with a purely egocentric interpretation in the last place, and statements in favor of limits and responsibility for society in the leading positions.
• Most respondents disagreed with the statement that freedom may be more of a burden than a gift. This means that freedom in terms of free choice is not perceived as pressure but seems to be appreciated by the Leaders of Tomorrow.
• Freedom, from the perspective of most Leaders of Tomorrow, seems to be considered a global, and not a solely Western value, that is, an issue of worldwide relevance.
• The most philosophical statement about freedom – “freedom of choice is an illusion” – led to the biggest polarization between respondents. More than 40% of the Leaders of Tomorrow agree with the idea that freedom of choice is an illusion and that one cannot escape the influences of the environment and genes.

In view of the rapid development of new intelligent technology and the debate about its sometimes claimed superiority over human decisions, the question of what can boost or constrain human free will is going to take on a completely new relevance.

Read the full Voices of the Leaders of Tomorrow Report here for all findings and detailed analysis.