Workplace Multiplier by Tola Akinsulire

June 30, 2026

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Why Trusted People Get Called Back

Howdy ,

I have a confession to make.

I am a Mourinho fan.

I have been one since his time at Porto.

Not when they won the Champions League. Before that. It started the season they won the UEFA Cup.

I still remember the final against Celtic. Porto did not win because they entertained everyone. They won because they understood the moment.

Finals are not for applause. Finals are for winning.

So when the news broke that "The Special One" was going back to Real Madrid, I smiled. Because I had seen this story before.

Mourinho knows how to work with strong, result-driven bosses.

Not by flattering them. Not by pretending to be their friend. By understanding what they value.

Results. Control. Respect.

Winning when the room expects winning.

Think about Chelsea.

After Roman Abramovich fired him the first time, Mourinho did not seem to treat it as a final judgment on his identity.

It was a judgment on the results at that time. That is how powerful rooms work.

He later said Abramovich was never his friend. It was an owner-manager relationship.

Respectful. Clear. Professional.

And years later, Abramovich brought him back.

Why?

Because when results mattered, Mourinho still represented a known quantity.

The same pattern holds with Florentino Pérez.

Madrid is not a sentimental institution. The pressure is institutional. The room is political. The expectations are brutal.

Mourinho knows this.

And that is precisely why he is back.

Not because Pérez likes him.

But because when the room needs someone who will not flinch, will not freelance, and will deliver, Mourinho is a known quantity.

Not easy. Known. And powerful bosses can manage difficult.

What they cannot manage is unreliable.

Mourinho's problems are known. His ceiling is known. His floor is known.

That predictability is worth more to a results-driven principal than a pleasant unknown.

Thirteen years later. Same room. Clearer terms.

That is not loyalty. That is professional legibility.

This is the workplace lesson.

Your boss does not need you to be needy. Your boss does not always need you to be liked.

Your boss needs to know that you can deliver results in a way that protects their priorities, respects the room, and reduces their risk.

Many competent professionals miss this.

They deliver work. But they do not study power. They produce results. But they do not understand what those results mean to the person above them.

They want recognition. But they have not engineered trust.

Here is the shift. Do not just ask:

"Did I do good work?"

Ask:

"Did I solve the problem my boss is being measured on?"

"Did I make the decision easier?"

"Did I reduce pressure or create more?"

"Did I deliver in a way that made the room feel respected?"

"Did I make myself predictable enough that my boss can deploy me with confidence?"

That is how you become more than useful.

You become trusted. And trusted people are remembered.

Sometimes even called back.

Years later.

Keep winning at work and in life

Tola Akinsulire

Your Strategic Workplace Mentor