.png)
The Stoic Inner Strategy – A Leadership & Strategy Podcast
The Stoic Inner Strategy – Leadership, Stoicism, and Decision-Making Under Pressure
The Stoic Inner Strategy is a daily leadership podcast for founders, CEOs, executives, and operators navigating high-stakes decisions.
Hosted by Scott Smith, Principal Advisor and founder of Akhada Consulting, this show blends Stoic philosophy with modern business strategy, executive decision-making, and leadership clarity. Each short episode explores topics like judgment under pressure, strategic thinking, emotional discipline, execution focus, authority, resilience, and founder psychology.
Drawing from Stoic thinkers such as Marcus Aurelius, Seneca, and Epictetus, Scott translates timeless philosophy into practical leadership frameworks for today’s business leaders.
This is not motivational content.
It is measured thinking for people responsible for outcomes.
If you lead a company, carry decision weight, or want sharper judgment in business and life, The Inner Strategy delivers a daily reset.
Stillness before strategy.
Strength without noise.
Episodes
240 episodes
Ep 232 – Stop Drifting Quietly
Meta Description: Drift rarely looks dramatic. Scott Smith explains how unclear goals, scattered focus, and undefined offers cause leaders to lose direction—and how defining your “port” restores momentum and strategic clarity....
•
Season 2
•
Episode 232
•
3:01
.png)
Ep 231 – Be Deaf to the Noise
Meta Description: Clarity cannot survive constant noise. Scott Smith explains why selective attention is a leadership skill, how stillness cuts through distraction, and why leaders must choose what they allow to influence them.
•
Season 2
•
Episode 231
•
2:30
.png)
Ep 230 – Silence as Self-Control
Meta Description: Silence is not withdrawal. Scott Smith explains why restraint through silence is a form of self-control, how discernment protects leadership energy, and why not every situation deserves a response.🎙️ Episo...
•
Season 2
•
Episode 230
•
3:15
.png)
Ep 229 – Restraint as Self-Mastery
Restraint is not weakness. Scott Smith explains why self-mastery is the highest form of strength, how emotional control preserves authority, and why calm leadership outlasts force.🎙️ Episode SummaryRestraint is often mistak...
•
Season 2
•
Episode 229
•
2:28
.png)
Ep 228 – When More Stops Being Better
Meta Description: Endless growth without limits creates exhaustion. Scott Smith explains why unchecked ambition erodes judgment, how defining limits sharpens focus, and why restraint protects leadership authority.🎙️ Episode...
•
Season 2
•
Episode 228
•
2:21
.png)
Ep 227 – Learn to Say No and Define What Matters
Meta Description: Saying no is not rejection. Scott Smith explains why restraint is a leadership discipline, how every yes carries a cost, and why clarity begins with intentional boundaries.🎙️ Episode SummarySayi...
•
Season 2
•
Episode 227
•
3:40
.png)
Ep 226 – Struggle, Strength, and Becoming
Meta Description: Struggle is not a signal to stop. Scott Smith explores why resistance shapes strength, how pressure forms character, and why growth often feels hardest right before it takes hold.🎙️ Episode Summary...
•
Season 2
•
Episode 226
•
7:14
.png)
Ep 225 – Repetition Is the Strategy
Meta Description: Results are visible. Repetition is not. Scott Smith explains why consistency beats intensity, how daily reps build mastery, and why success compounds quietly over time.🎙️ Episode SummaryEverybod...
•
Season 2
•
Episode 225
•
2:47
.png)
Ep 224 – Define Your Win
Meta Description: Undefined success creates endless pressure. Scott Smith explains why clarity beats ambition, how chasing someone else’s scoreboard leads to burnout, and why leaders must define what winning actually means.🎙️ ...
•
Season 2
•
Episode 224
•
2:51
Ep 223 – Play the Long Game
Meta Description: Traction without direction creates movement without meaning. Scott Smith explains why chasing trends erodes judgment, how patience becomes strategy, and why enduring businesses are built deliberately over time.<...
•
Season 2
•
Episode 223
•
2:52
.png)
Ep 222 – The Power of Saying No
Meta Description: Saying no is not avoidance. Scott Smith explains why refusal is a leadership skill, how undisciplined yeses erode purpose, and why clarity creates momentum instead of motion.🎙️ Episode SummarySa...
•
Season 2
•
Episode 222
•
1:51
.png)
Ep 221 – When Your Actions and Values Don’t Match
Meta Description: Inner conflict reveals where alignment has been lost. Scott Smith explores how integrity restores coherence between values and action.🎙️ Episode Summary“Let it make no difference to you whether you are...
•
Season 2
•
Episode 221
•
4:28
.png)
Ep 220 – The Fatigue of Forced Innovation
Meta Description: Innovation pushed past its natural pace exhausts teams and erodes creativity. Scott Smith reflects on why wisdom requires restraint, not acceleration.🎙️ Episode Summary“For what, then, have you been ma...
•
Season 2
•
Episode 220
•
4:53
.png)
Ep 219 – When Expectations Aren’t Obligations
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 t...
•
Season 2
•
Episode 219
•
3:52
.png)
Ep 218 — When Loyalty Quietly Breaks Justice
Meta Description: Loyalty is often treated as a virtue without examination. Scott Smith explores how misplaced loyalty quietly undermines fairness, distorts judgment, and leads leaders away from just outcomes over time.🎙️ Epis...
•
Season 2
•
Episode 218
•
3:26
.png)
Ep 217 – When Ambiguity Pressures You to Pretend You Know
Meta Description: Ambiguity creates pressure to act before judgment is complete. Scott Smith examines why leaders rush to certainty and how courage is required to remain present when clarity hasn’t yet arrived.🎙️ Episode Summa...
•
Season 2
•
Episode 217
•
4:37
.png)
Special Ep — Stoic Reflections on Political Violence
Meta Description: Political violence is often mistaken for strength. Scott Smith examines the Stoic view that cruelty and rage are signs of weakness, not conviction, and why unjust power cannot endure.🎙️ Episode Summary...
•
Season 2
•
Episode 3333
•
4:21
.png)
Ep 216 – Stillness Is Action-in-Waiting
Meta Description: Stillness is not rest. Scott Smith explains how stillness restores judgment and prepares leaders for clear, measured action under pressure.🎙️ Episode SummaryStillness is often misunderstood as s...
•
Season 2
•
Episode 216
•
2:58
.png)
Ep 215 – When Effort Costs Credibility
Meta Description: Over-functioning feels responsible, but it quietly erodes leadership credibility. Scott Smith examines the hidden cost of excess action.🎙️ Episode SummaryOver-functioning often begins as respons...
•
Season 2
•
Episode 215
•
3:03
.png)
Ep 214 – When Silence Feels Like Agreement
Meta Description: Silence is often mistaken for alignment. Scott Smith explores how leaders misread quiet as assent and the quiet costs that follow.🎙️ Episode SummarySilence can feel reassuring under pressure.
•
Season 2
•
Episode 214
•
3:23
.png)
Ep 213 – The Moment You Accept Urgency
Meta Description: Urgency is not created by circumstances. Scott Smith examines how leaders mistake pressure for necessity and how unexamined urgency replaces judgment with reaction.🎙️ Episode SummaryUrgency rare...
•
Season 2
•
Episode 213
•
3:38
.png)
Ep 212 – The Weight of Unfinished Judgment
Meta Description: Leadership fatigue isn’t always caused by workload. Scott Smith explores how unresolved judgment quietly accumulates and why unfinished decisions create cognitive weight beneath the surface.🎙️ Episode Summ...
•
Season 2
•
Episode 212
•
2:39
.png)
Ep 211 – Stillness Is Alignment
Meta Description: Stillness is not rest. Scott Smith explains how alignment restores judgment under pressure and why calm returns authority to leaders under strain.🎙️ Episode Summary“To be like the rock that the ...
•
Season 2
•
Episode 211
•
4:01
.png)
.png)
.png)