An emotionally unhealthy leader operates in a continuous state of emotional deficit, lacking sufficient internal resources to support the effective execution of their daily tasks and leadership decisions. This definition, though concise, opens a window onto a complex and often overlooked dynamic within organizations, teams, and communities. The implications of emotionally unhealthy leadership ripple outward, influencing not only the leader’s personal well-being but also the culture, productivity, and morale of those they lead.

In business, owners focus on marketing, branding, and growth. But as Christian business owners (CBOs), we should also ask a deeper question: How is our character? Who are we becoming? Can we grow a brand outwardly while losing character inwardly? 

Most of us in business do not wake up intending to ‘amuse ourselves to death.’ We wake up thinking about payroll, customers, margins, and the decisions waiting on our desks. Yet an old book, Amusing Ourselves to Death, presses an uncomfortable question on Christian professionals: What if the very media environment in which we work is quietly training us to prefer diversion over depth, optics over truth, and performance over faithfulness?

When I was a little guy, I helped my grandmother plant an apricot sapling, more stick than a tree at first, but year after year it thickened, stretched, and sent roots deeper until I was eating apricots from its branches. Fruitfulness did not arrive in a single dramatic moment. Four years of steady growth passed before we enjoyed the fruit. In the same way, healthy companies do not “order” leaders from the outside when they suddenly need them. They cultivate them from the inside as a normal part of life together.