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Meta Description:
When authority stays too close to the center, teams hesitate. Scott Smith explores what it feels like to carry responsibility without permission to stand on your own judgment.

🎙️ Episode Summary

“A man must stand erect, not be kept erect by others.” — Marcus Aurelius

Before teams disengage, they hesitate.

In this episode, Scott Smith looks at authority from the team’s perspective. When decision-making remains centralized, capable people learn to wait. Responsibility exists, but authority feels conditional.

This is not a motivation problem or a talent gap. It’s a clarity problem. And over time, restraint becomes the habit.

🧠 What You’ll Learn Today
• What hesitation looks like inside healthy teams
• Why responsibility without authority erodes judgment
• How centralized authority conditions restraint
• The ethical cost of being “propped up”
• Why teams pause long before they push back

🔍 Tags:
Stoicism, Marcus Aurelius, Leadership, Authority, Role Clarity, Judgment, Team Dynamics, 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!