Workplace Multiplier by Tola Akinsulire

August 20, 2026

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

Choosing a Number 2 is the easy part. Here's what actually makes it work.

Howdy ,

Most leaders who try to build a Number 2 stop at the naming.

They pick someone, tell them "you're my backup," and assume the job is done.

It isn't. A title doesn't transfer trust. A process does.

If you actually want to take leave…or step away for any reason…with minimal disruption, here's what has to be in place first:

1. Decisions have to be documented, not just remembered. If the only place your judgment lives is in your head, your Number 2 isn't backing you up…they're guessing. Write down how you'd handle the recurring calls: the client escalation, the budget exception, the hiring judgment call. Not a manual. Just the logic.

2. Authority has to be real, not symbolic. If your Number 2 still has to check with you before making the calls you've supposedly delegated, you haven't built a backup…you've built a messenger. Give them the actual authority before you leave, not the day you leave.

3. The handoff has to be tested before it's needed. Don't let the first time your Number 2 runs things be the two weeks you're on a beach. Give them a smaller stretch first…a day, a week…while you're still reachable. Let them make a real call. Let it go slightly wrong. That's how trust gets built before it gets tested for real.

4. You have to actually let go. This is the part leaders skip. You can document everything and delegate real authority and still undercut it by checking your phone every hour. If you're still running things from the beach, you haven't built a Number 2. You've built an audience.

None of this is about being replaceable. It's about being the kind of leader whose word…and whose team's word…holds regardless of who's in the room that day. That's not a smaller kind of leadership. It's a more trustworthy one.

Keep winning at work and in life.

Tola Akinsulire
Your Strategic Workplace Mentor