You're paying a tax you don't owe

Workplace Multiplier by Tola Akinsulire

November 21, 2025

Welcome to the Workplace Multiplier newsletter. Published Monday to Friday, equipping you to achieve your professional goals faster and without burnout or overwhelm.

You're paying a tax you don't owe

Howdy ,

Here's a pattern I see consistently with team leaders: They're exhausted not from the big decisions, but from the 47 small ones that should never have reached their desk.

I call this the Decision Tax.

Every time your team brings you a problem they could solve themselves, you pay the tax. Every time you approve something that's clearly within their authority, you pay the tax. Every time you're the bottleneck for decisions that should flow without you, you pay the tax.

By Thursday afternoon, you've paid this tax 200 times this week alone.

And here's the thing: You're not helping them by solving everything. You're training them to depend on you.

Most leaders I work with don't realize how much of their depletion comes from this invisible tax. They think they're just "being responsive" or "staying involved."

Actually, they've accidentally built a system where nothing moves without them.

The cost shows up in three ways:

• Your strategic thinking time evaporates because you're constantly context-switching to minor decisions.
•  Your team stops developing judgment because they know you'll just tell them what to do.
•  Your energy depletes faster because decision-making burns more cognitive fuel than any other leadership activity.

There's a specific system for pushing decisions down to the right level. It has three checkpoints. When you install it correctly, your decision volume drops by 60% in the first month.

But most leaders never install it because they don't see the tax they're paying until it's too late.

On Monday: The energy drains you can't see.

Here is wishing you a restful weekend.

Keep winning at work and in life.

Tola Akinsulire

Your Strategic Workplace Mentor

P.S. Quick count: How many decisions hit your desk yesterday that someone else should have made? If it's more than 10, you're paying too much tax.