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Meta Description:
Over-functioning feels responsible, but it quietly weakens leadership. Scott Smith explains how doing too much violates role boundaries and erodes authority over time.
🎙️ Episode Summary
Over-functioning rarely looks like a problem.
It looks like commitment.
In this episode, Scott Smith names over-functioning as a violation of role. Drawing on Seneca’s warning that the performer must always be stronger than the task, he explores how doing too much reverses that relationship.
When leaders carry work that no longer belongs to them, fatigue sets in—not just personally, but organizationally. Teams hesitate, ownership softens, and authority erodes without conflict or rebellion.
Stoic leadership was never about maximum effort.
It was about right effort.
🧠 What You’ll Learn Today
• Why over-functioning breaks authority
• Seneca on matching strength to the task
• How fatigue signals role violation
• The difference between care and excess
• Why authority weakens when leaders do too much
🔍 Tags:
Stoicism, Leadership, Over-functioning, Authority, Seneca, Fatigue, Role Ethics, Inner Strategy
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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!
