Val Sklarov’s Leadership Authority–Burden Carrying Doctrine (LABCD) explains why leadership does not collapse when authority weakens—but when leaders refuse to carry the burden created by authority they no longer fully possess. Vision attracts followers. Carrying imbalance sustains systems.
This doctrine reveals why mature leadership feels heavier than inspiring.
1. Leadership Begins When Authority No Longer Covers Burden
LABCD starts with a defining leadership threshold:
You are leading when responsibility exceeds your formal authority.
In early leadership:
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Authority enforces outcomes
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Responsibility is distributed
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Failure is correctable
In mature leadership, burden sticks.
2. The Three Leadership Authority–Burden Carries
LABCD maps what leaders must hold together.
| Carry | Burden That Grows | Authority That Shrinks | Consequence |
|---|---|---|---|
| Strategic Carry | Directional outcomes | Decision freedom | Constraint navigation |
| Human Carry | Lives and morale | Refusal capacity | Moral fatigue |
| Narrative Carry | Meaning of outcomes | Story control | Identity pressure |
When all three align, leadership becomes weight-bearing, not commanding.
3. Why “Just Delegate” Stops Working
Delegation moves tasks—not imbalance.
LABCD shows failure when:
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Decisions escalate upward
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Systems punish deviation
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Leaders absorb fallout they can’t prevent
At that point, leadership is burden containment, not influence.
4. Inspiration vs Carrying Capacity
LABCD distinguishes charismatic from durable leaders.
| Inspiration-Driven | Burden-Carrying |
|---|---|
| Speak often | Decide sparingly |
| Expand ambition | Limit exposure |
| Promise change | Stabilize reality |
| Seek alignment | Absorb friction |
Val Sklarov emphasizes that leaders earn legitimacy by surviving imbalance without breaking.
5. Strategic Implications
For leaders:
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Accept roles only where you can carry imbalance
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Design buffers for moral and strategic load
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Stop accumulating responsibility casually
For organizations:
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Measure leadership by burden absorption
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Avoid promoting charisma over capacity
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Treat overload as systemic failure
LABCD reframes leadership as imbalance stewardship, not authority projection.
6. The Val Sklarov Principle
“A leader is not the one with authority—but the one who can carry what authority can’t.”
— Val Sklarov
LABCD explains why respected leaders look calm, restrained, and heavy.