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Meta Description:
External expectations often masquerade as responsibility. Scott Smith examines how leaders abandon measured judgment by carrying what was never truly theirs.

🎙️ Episode Summary

“Therefore, in reasoning too, mere speech is not enough, but it is necessary that we should become able to test and distinguish between the true and the false and the doubtful.” — Epictetus

Not every expectation placed on a leader is an obligation.

In this episode, Scott Smith observes how external pressure quietly reshapes judgment. Requests, assumptions, and unspoken demands begin to feel mandatory—not because they are, but because they go unexamined.

This is where discernment matters.

Stoic leadership requires distinction: between what is expected and what is required, between obligation and invitation, between responsibility and noise.

Pressure doesn’t always come from reality.
Sometimes it comes from misreading expectations as duty.

🧠 What You’ll Learn Today

• How leaders confuse expectation with obligation
• Why external pressure distorts judgment
• The cost of carrying what isn’t yours
• How discernment restores authority
• Why clarity begins with diagnosis, not reaction

🔍 Tags:
Stoicism, Epictetus, Leadership, Discernment, Judgment, Pressure, Expectations, Inner Strategy

Support the show

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The Stoic Inner Strategy is your daily shortform podcast—your blueprint for modern leadership rooted in timeless truths.

Hosted by Scott Smith, founder of Akhada Consulting, co-founder of ChatWorx, and host of The Outsourcing Blueprint podcast, this series blends ancient Stoic wisdom with real-world business strategy to help you lead with clarity, manage both your teams and yourself effectively, and move with purpose.

No fluff. Just focused, grounded insight you can apply right now.

🔹 Subscribe to the show and leave a review if today’s insight helped you lead with more clarity and strength.
🔹 Connect with Scott at akhadaconsulting.com or on LinkedIn.

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Memento Mori — so live today to your fullest!