Workplace Multiplier by Tola Akinsulire
October 1, 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.
Have you made yourself too important?
Howdy
There is an interesting contradiction I see with many successful professionals.
They want more freedom.
But they have also made themselves indispensable.
They approve everything.
They attend every important meeting.
The difficult client wants them.
The team brings the difficult decisions to them.
When something goes wrong, they step in.
When a deadline is threatened, they rescue it.
When someone is unsure what to do, they provide the answer.
And because they are good at it, this behaviour gets rewarded.
Until one day they realise:
Everything works because I am here.
That can feel like success.
But it can also become a trap.
Because if everything important still depends on you, your capability has not really multiplied.
It has simply become a dependency.
This is why one of the ideas inside my Triple Win Method™ is what I call Leadership Multiplication...the ability to produce results through others, build capability around you, and create systems that sustain performance without requiring your constant intervention.
That requires a different measure of leadership.
Not:
How much can I personally get done?
But:
How much can get done well without everything coming back to me?
That shift is not always easy.
Sometimes we hold on because we believe it will be faster if we do it ourselves.
Sometimes because we are worried about quality.
Sometimes because we don't fully trust the person taking it on.
And sometimes, if we are willing to admit it, being needed feels good.
But every time you take work back from someone who could have learned to own it, you may solve today's problem while quietly creating tomorrow's dependency. That is exactly the pattern the Team Leadership Engine in my Triple Win Method is designed to address.
So here is today's question:
What is one important responsibility in your working life that should no longer depend entirely on you?
And perhaps the harder question:
What have you done — or failed to do — that has kept it dependent on you?
If this email has surfaced a specific workplace challenge you would like to work through, my Multiplier Session may be a useful next step.
It is a paid 60-minute working session where we take one specific challenge, look beneath the presenting issue, identify what is really getting in the way, and work out the next move you need to make.
You should leave with clarity on the real issue, a clear priority, and a practical next step.
If you'd like the details, simply reply MULTIPLIER and I'll send them to you.
Keep winning at work and in life
Tola Akinsulire
Your Strategic Workplace Mentor