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When numbers slip, most leaders turn up the pressure. In this episode of Calm Under Quota, Steven Werley breaks down the Stoic move that prevents panic leadership: diagnose reality before you demand more effort.

Steven shares a real coaching scene where a rep hadn’t closed a deal in 60 days. The easy move was blame. The better move was diagnosis. Using Epictetus as the lens, you’ll learn how to test your first impression, reduce uncertainty fast, and separate a “rep problem” from a “system problem.”

You’ll walk away with three diagnostic questions, a simple 60-second checklist to run before any high-pressure conversation, and a team standard you can implement immediately: diagnose with evidence before demanding more effort

Chapters / Time Markers
00:47 — Show intro
01:40 — The leader question
02:34 — The scene: the real constraint
06:48 — Why leaders default to pressure
07:30 — Stoic lens #1 (Epictetus): expose the belief
10:11 — Stoic lens #2 (Epictetus): judgment vs reality
12:48 — Leader move: diagnose before demanding
13:53 — The cost of demanding first
14:23 — Practice: 60-second diagnosis checklist
15:18 — Team standard
16:06 — How to move forward

Brought to you by https://closable.ai

Rather read it as a blog post? https://closable.ai/resources/diagnose-before-you-demand/

Rather watch the video? https://youtu.be/3-yev9z47ss

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