Workplace Multiplier by Tola Akinsulire

August 24, 2026

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

The problem may not be your performance

Howdy ,

There comes a point in an executive career when better performance stops producing proportionately bigger opportunity.

You are delivering. You are experienced. You know your business.

Yet certain decisions still happen without you. Bigger mandates go elsewhere. Someone with a thinner CV gets the role, the sponsorship or the room.

It is tempting to call this politics. You already know that story.

Sometimes it is.

But sometimes the issue is simpler and harder:

People respect your competence, but they do not yet experience enough trust to place greater consequence in your hands.

At senior levels, organisations are not only asking:

"Can this person do the work?"

They are asking:

If I give this person more authority, more ambiguity, more people, more money or more reputational risk…can I rest?...Peace of mind?

That is a different test.

Competence matters. Results matter.

But neither automatically produces trust.

So here is the question I want you to carry today:

What are people currently willing to trust you with?

And perhaps more importantly:

What are they not yet willing to trust you with?

Keep winning at work and in life.

Tola Akinsulire
Your Strategic Workplace Mentor