What do you want from work?

Workplace Multiplier by Tola Akinsulire

September 28, 2026

Welcome to Workplace Multiplier, the weekday newsletter for senior leaders tired of fixing, chasing, and rescuing. You'll learn how to build a trusted, capable team that fully owns critical responsibilities...freeing you to lead at the level your role demands.

What do you want from work?

Howdy ,

I have a simple question for you today:

What do you want from work?

Not what your company wants from you.

Not what your boss expects.

Not the next target, promotion or performance review.

What do you actually want?

I have been thinking about this question for myself.

And I realised that, beyond money, titles or achievement, there are three things I want my work to make possible.

Faith.

I want to live out the highest expression of my Christian faith wherever I find myself...including at work.

The way I lead, make decisions, treat people and use influence should be consistent with what I say I believe.

Family.

I want my work to help me build the kind of family environment I value...nurturing, secure and honest enough for everyone to speak the truth.

Career success would mean very little to me if the price was becoming unavailable to the people who matter most.

Freedom.

I want to work in a way that allows me to express the full range of what I am capable of.

To think.

To create.

To lead.

To build.

To contribute at my highest level rather than spend my life trapped in work that somebody else should be capable of owning.

That last one is particularly important for senior leaders.

Because sometimes we pursue success only to discover that our success has made us less free.

More people depend on us.

More decisions come back to us.

More problems require our intervention.

And the bigger the role becomes, the less space we have to do the work we are actually best positioned to do.

So perhaps the question isn't simply:

“What do I want to achieve at work?”

A better question might be:

“What do I want work to make possible in my life?”

Your answer may be money.

Impact.

Mastery.

Family.

Faith.

Freedom.

Or something completely different.

But it is worth knowing.

Because if you don't define what you want from work, you may spend years becoming very successful at a version of work you never actually wanted.

Keep winning at work and in life,

Tola Akinsulire
Your Strategic Workplace Mentor