Fair enough. That final line of my original post perhaps did overstate my point (although I did try to temper that at the beginning by saying 'many people' rather than 'everyone'). But at the end of the day... it really comes down to how your game runs to determine which method does or doesn't work best.
I know personally... having a Leader delay at the beginning of a fight to go right before the Defender (thereby perhaps allowing a monster originally between them to now go first) did not add any noticeable "extra action" at the end of the fight (since by that point, while the Leader could have attacked in the final round to take the monster out... usually things have devolved enough where there was a good chance he would have done something besides attacking anyway.) And as far as the auras and things that disappear upon unconsciousness... those are game-time decisions the party makes at the time of the event. And many times we have not noticed any problems with the Defender losing a Defender Aura in exchange for gaining 15 more more points of additional "free" healing. That's been a more than adequate exchange.
So yes, one strategy isn't the end-all-and-be-all choice... but both have their place depending on situation and what type of game you are playing in. And at that point one might be strategically better than the other in 75% of combats.
