Over the course of this semester, I have looked at four US presidents through the lenses of leadership style and emotional intelligence. As I return to Simon Walker’s “The Undefended Leader” trilogy, I decided to continue with the thread of his different leadership strategies by looking at a former British Prime Minister, Sir Winston Churchill and the Pacesetting strategy.
Like Franklin Roosevelt (Commanding) and Theodore Roosevelt (Affiliative,) Churchill’s Pacesetting strategy is a primarily “front stage” style. The Pacesetting strategy of leadership “is concerned with creating the confidence, motivation, and means to achieve more. Change, belief, hope, and challenge are the key outcomes. Inconsistencies are no longer tolerated and the status quo and accepted norms are rejected in favour (sic) of opportunity and growth.”
Churchill served at Prime Minister from 1940-1945 and 1951-1955. “In total contrast to the humility of (Jimmy) Carter (I will explore Carter’s Serving strategy in another post,) the modesty of Lincoln (see previous post,) or even the humorous warmth of Reagan (see previous post comparing Teddy Roosevelt and Ronald Reagan,) (Churchill’s) ego was magnificently dominant.” His ambition and energy were legendary, made even more remarkable by the fact that the most memorable parts of career occurred after the age of 65.
Churchill relished the front stage and was a showman. But unlike other charismatic front stage personalities who might have only wanted the spotlight in order to satisfy a personal ego, Churchill seemed to understand the deeper aspects of the role he was playing and he spent intentional time and energy preparing for how he would meet the public. During the challenging years of World War II, Churchill’s blustering confidence helped to keep the anxiety of the people from becoming overwhelming.
Walker writes that Pacesetting “leadership is all about the leader himself; it is his own ego projected onto a social or historical canvas, compelling circumstances around him to conform to his personal will.” Hmmm, where else in more recent history have we seen this story play out?
This very public strategy of leadership has shadow sides. But looking at Edwin Friedman’s “A Failure of Nerve,” it is clear that a healthy sense of self is necessary for an emotionally healthy leader. He writes, “there certainly is reason to guard against capricious, irrational, autocratic, vainglorious leadership in any form of organized life.” He goes on to write, “it is only when leaders value self that they can prevent it from being eroded by the chronic anxiety of a society in regression.”
The other shadow side to the Pacesetting leadership strategy is entirely about pace and what happens when the leader gets tired. Walker writes of Churchill’s bouts of depression and his difficulty when the spotlight was not on him. Pacesetting leaders are often leaders for a particular moment or movement, so it is necessary for the leader to be intentional about their own energy levels and keeping their “cups” (spiritual, emotional, physical, and mental) filled. Unfortunately, this “back stage” work rarely comes with the attention a Pacesetting leader thrives on.
There are specific times and occasions where the Pacesetting strategy is necessary. In those seasons, under the right leadership, an organization can achieve more than it might have believed possible or overcome an adversity that might have seemed insurmountable. But this leadership often comes at a great personal cost, one that often catches leaders by surprise. As the saying goes, “knowing is half the battle,” but if the pace of the leader is the primary influence on the pace of the team, an emotionally intelligent leader must tend to the inner work as much as they do preparing for their leadership performance.
 Simon Walker, “The Undefended Leader,” (Carlisle, UK: Piquant, 2010,) 191.
 Ibid, 241-2.
 Ibid, 242.
 Ibid, 243.
 Ibid, 245.
 Ibid, 174.
 Edwin Friedman, A Failure of Nerve,” (New York: Church Publishing, 2017,) 185.
 Walker, 247.