Luke MurrayMD, MBA, Pilot, Co-Founder Awesome Inc.

Two uncomfortable emotions nobody discusses.

26 Jul 2026 · 1 min

Watch on YouTube

1:23

In this excerpt from his YouTube video, Luke Murray reflects on the uneasy feelings that arise after his company let go of a long‑tenured employee. He identifies two primary emotions: anger—directed either at the boss for making the decision or at the boss for not acting sooner—and a surprising sense of excitement or relief about the departure. Murray questions how one can simultaneously miss a colleague and feel glad they’re gone, likening it to ending a personal relationship that is no longer healthy. He emphasizes that such mixed emotions are rarely discussed in business settings, argues that open communication about feelings is essential when making tough personnel decisions, and invites viewers to watch the full video for a deeper dive into the emotional landscape and his coping strategies.

Chapters

Last week we let go of an employee that had been with us almost longer than any other employee. These are particularly uncomfortable for me to feel just in life and certainly would be a difficult thing to say out loud in a company format. But these two emotions are anger and actually excited. So a couple of things. One could be, hey, I am angry at you, boss, for letting this person go because I disagree. The second thing they could be angry at the boss about is, why didn't you do this sooner? And that's a fair question as well, depending on how open your communication is with the team. The last one, and this honestly feels like the most uncomfortable or the most inappropriate, is straight up excited. And this is something I didn't even— I thought to ask this, I didn't even consider asking this because it felt so wrong. Can I miss this person and also be glad that they're gone? Well, has anyone ever been in a relationship with someone that they loved and known that they needed to let them go? And if you'd like to know what other emotions came up and how I dealt with them and why it's important to talk about emotions when you let someone go or any other time in business, then click on the link below for the full video.