Consilience Mapping: Revisiting Friedman and Walker
Revisiting the writings of Edwin Friedman and Simon Walker has provided me with a renewed understanding of the inner and systemic dynamics of leadership. Friedman’s A Failure of Nerve reframes leadership not as a set of management techniques but as an act of self-definition within anxious systems. What stands out most now is his description of the self-differentiated leader who “is less likely to become lost in the anxious emotional processes swirling about” (Friedman 2007, 15). Leading in a multi-site mega church, I recognise more than ever that differentiation is not detachment but clarity in connection. Leadership courage, in Friedman’s terms, is the refusal to allow collective anxiety to dictate conviction.
Walker’s The Undefended Leader approaches the same terrain from another angle. His central claim that the mature leader leads from a core identity rather than from ego structures has taken on new resonance. Initially, I saw his “undefended” concept as primarily psychological, a call to drop pretences. Now I see it as profoundly theological, an invitation to lead from the security of being loved by God rather than from the need to be impressive (Walker 2010, 23). Where Friedman calls for differentiation within systems, Walker calls for integration within the self. Both require an inner stability that precedes outer effectiveness.
The two frameworks intersect around presence. Friedman’s non-anxious presence and Walker’s undefended posture are parallel expressions of mature leadership identity. However, they diverge in tone: Friedman can sound clinical, emphasising courage and conviction, while Walker emphasises grace and vulnerability. Together, they form a paradox: courage without domination and vulnerability without collapse. Their dialogue reveals that leadership health encompasses systemic and spiritual aspects. Friedman provides the language of boundaries; Walker provides the language of soul.
Threshold concepts emerge at these intersections. One threshold for me has been understanding that anxiety is not an enemy to be eliminated but a signal of growth. Leadership maturity lies in containing anxiety, not resolving it prematurely. Another threshold has been realising that undefendedness is not weakness, but strength grounded in grace. These crossings have shifted my paradigm of leadership from performance toward presence.
Moments of dissonance between Friedman and Walker have also deepened my insight. Friedman’s bold stance against empathy in over-functioning leaders once unsettled me; he argued that too much empathy can entangle leaders in others’ anxiety (Friedman 2007, 132). Walker, by contrast, elevates empathy as essential to love in its proper order. Holding this tension has caused me to distinguish between compassionate presence and anxious rescuing. Leadership maturity involves empathy disciplined by differentiation.
These ideas resonate with other leadership thinkers. Heifetz’s adaptive leadership reminds me that leaders must “regulate the heat of the system” without losing purpose (Heifetz and Linsky 2002, 108). Greenleaf’s servant leadership aligns with Walker’s theology of self-emptying power (Greenleaf 2002, 33), and Palmer’s The Courage to Teach echoes Friedman’s call for integrity and inner coherence (Palmer 1998, 11).
From these converging voices, I notice patterns of consilience, an integration of theology, psychology, systems theory, and leadership studies. Theology provides moral orientation, psychology explains the ego and defence mechanisms, and systems theory reveals relational dynamics. Together, they construct a holistic anthropology of leadership. This consilient perspective reframes leadership as vocation and formation: a leader is called to be the non-anxious and undefended presence through whom peace and wisdom can flow into anxious systems.
This integrated understanding has reshaped my perspective on presence, power, and resilience. Presence is less about charisma and more about congruence. Power is redefined as the ability to contain anxiety without transmitting it. Resilience is born not from trust, not from control. The synthesis of Friedman and Walker has led me to realise that leadership is not a skill set but a posture of the soul, a paradoxical strength rooted in humility.
Ultimately, revisiting these authors through a consilient lens reveals leadership as formation before function. The differentiated and undefended leader embodies a courageous love that integrates conviction with compassion. This synthesis invites me to lead with steady conviction and open heart, becoming a presence where theology meets psychology and soul meets system.
Friedman, Edwin H. A Failure of Nerve: Leadership in the Age of the Quick Fix. New York: Seabury, 2007.
Greenleaf, Robert K. Servant Leadership: A Journey into the Nature of Legitimate Power and Greatness. New York: Paulist Press, 2002.
Heifetz, Ronald A., and Marty Linsky. Leadership on the Line: Staying Alive through the Dangers of Leading. Boston: Harvard Business Review Press, 2002.
Palmer, Parker J. The Courage to Teach: Exploring the Inner Landscape of a Teacher’s Life. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 1998.
Walker, Simon P. The Undefended Leader Trilogy. Carlisle, UK: Piquant Editions, 2007–2010.
About the Author
Glyn Barrett
I am the founding & lead Pastor of !Audacious Church in Manchester, England. I was born in Manchester, but moved to Australia at the age of two. My wife and I were married in Australia and began married and ministry life in England 29 years ago. After serving as youth pastors for 12 years, we moved to Manchester to pioneer !Audacious Church. As a church we now have 7 locations. 3 in Manchester, Chester, Cardiff (Wales), Sheffield, and Geneva (Switzerland). In 2019 I became the National Leader of Assemblies of God in Great Britain. We have over 650 churches in our movement and have planted 98 new churches since May 2022 with a goal of planting 400 new churches between May 2022 and May 2028. I am the Global Chair for Church planting for Assemblies of God which currently has 420,000 churches and also chair Empowered21 Europe. I'm happily married to Sophia, with two children, one dog and two motorbikes. I love Golf, coffee and spending time with friends. I love to laugh, make friends and create memories!2 responses to “Consilience Mapping: Revisiting Friedman and Walker”
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Glyn
I appreciate your comments about empathy. I too struggled at first reading Friedman’s comments about empathy, but once I understood where is was coming from I see his point. Have you or will you use these books in a sermon? What I am asking is do you feel these concepts are written in a way that they average lay person can understand them and apply them to their growth, spiritual and emotional?
Thanks Glynn. I especially like, “courage without domination and vulnerability without collapse.” What does this look like in practice?