Number three, a jealous leader is threatened by talented or popular people in the organisation. You see this a lot in transition, like when an organisation goes through transition and someone else comes in and their gifts are obvious, boy the jealousy comes out. Listen, when someone walks in and they're obviously more gifted in a certain area than you, if you get jealous - that's where it challenges the jealousy in your heart. That's when it does that. When you have a transition of personnel jealousy comes out. When you have a transition of authority rebellion comes out. Why? Because someone who has rebellion in their heart, once the authority structure is set someone with rebellion in their heart will figure out a way to manipulate the system in order to get what they want. When you change the authority structure now those same people have to come up with a new way. They have to start all over and that's bad. It's bad.
Number four, the jealous leader measures success in terms of other's failures. So the variable in a jealous leader's thing of success is how is everybody else failing, not how is the organisation winning. Now here are the consequences of that: a culture filled with negativity. Why? When there are turf wars and there's all of this stuff and you don't want anybody else to win because if they win it means you lose, then it's filled with negativity with everybody pointing out the problems of everybody else. Two, a culture void of leadership development. The reason you can't develop new leaders in that culture and that environment is because no one wants anybody else to win, and listen, I'm telling you something. Someone with a real leadership gift will not tolerate being in an environment where it's impossible for them to win. They won't do it. They'll leave. They'll leave. Number three, it's a culture that does not recognise and celebrate high achievers. They don't recognise and celebrate high achievers. Okay, now we talked about a lot of the negatives. Let's get at least one solution for each one okay.
So here are some solutions, four habits of a healthy leader. These are four heart diseases; let me give you four habits. The cure for guilt: the cure for guilt is to confess. Within the realm of reason, like let me tell you what I mean by that. There are certain pastors in the world that I would never tell them what I'm struggling with, never ever in a million years. Why? Because I'd look the next day and it would be on their internet blog. [Laughter] It would, and in their heart they would think they were protecting the body of Christ, when in actuality they're just jealous of the gift of God on my life and they're trying to bring me down. So there are certain people I would never tell my stuff to and it is wisdom not to be an open book to everybody. However if your organisation can't be set up in such a way where the people in this room at least are safe, then the organisation's going to suffer. This organisation, for it to be most effective, you ought to be able to be struggling with something and you share that with her and know that it's not going to go out there. You've got to.
The only way to be healthy as an organisation is to be able to take things that are in darkness and put a big lamp on it. It's the only way to do it is to bring stuff out into the open so it can be dealt with. It's the only way to do it - and the only way to do that is to create an environment of safety. Like if you're struggling with drinking 17 shots of Whiskey every night [you look like that would be 00.43.15] [Laughter] I mean you ought to be - if you want to deal with that, for this church to be healthy if she wants to deal with that she ought to be able to deal with that without fear of losing her job. [That's right.] She ought to be able to go to Mike and say Mike, you don't know this about me but I want to put a big lamp on something here. I struggle with alcohol, like I'm not talking about I have a glass of wine at dinner. I'm talking about I have a bottle in an hour. I'm talking we've got massive problem here. Huh? [unclear 00.43.54] Yeah, I don't know. [Laughter] So it depends on who you are. [unclear 00.43.59] But she ought to be able to say this thing is controlling my life, I need help, and she needs to know that if she's that open and that honest that she is in no fear of losing her job over it.
And she's in no fear of it being talked about from the stage, and she's in no fear of it going through the whole church. She's in no fear of getting an email from a church member three days later that goes I want you to know I'm praying for you with your issue. [Laughter] We have to have an environment where people can confess and put big lights on things in order to have health okay. Listen, we are hesitant - listen, this is so important. We will all, all of us will follow leaders who make mistakes, all of us will. Every person in this room if you're healthy will follow a leader who makes mistakes, but none of us in this room - well let me say it this way. All of us in this room will follow leaders who make mistakes, but all of us in this room equally are reluctant to follow leaders who cover up their mistakes. [Yeah.] We're all okay with making mistakes because why? Because we all make them. It's when there's a light on something we're all okay with that. If there's a light on something it's okay, but when someone's covering something up that's when we're reluctant to follow people. Alright, so as long as there's a light okay.