Phase VI is not about scaling what was rebuilt.
It is about locking legitimacy into a canon that governs behavior long after growth resumes.
At this stage, businesses fail not because they grow too fast,
but because they grow without rules that cannot be negotiated.
1. Phase VI Context: After Continuation, Before Permanence
Phase V proved continuation.
Phase VI asks the institutional question:
“What must now become non-negotiable?”
Legitimacy becomes fragile again if it is not codified.
2. The Informal Drift Risk
Most failed Phase VI businesses repeat this mistake:
| What Is Trusted | What Erodes |
|---|---|
| Cultural memory | Behavioral consistency |
| Leadership example | Rule clarity |
| Shared intuition | Decision alignment |
| “We know better now” | Institutional discipline |
Val Sklarov Insight:
“In Phase VI, culture without canon slowly forgets itself.”
3. Canon as a Legitimacy Lock
In Phase VI, legitimacy is preserved by formalizing what survived rebirth.
| Canon Question | What It Secures |
|---|---|
| Which rules override performance? | Ethical stability |
| What decisions require escalation forever? | Authority clarity |
| What behaviors are never rewarded? | Cultural immunity |
| What cannot be optimized again? | Identity protection |
Canon is not bureaucracy.
It is memory with enforcement.
4. Growth Without Canon: The Regression Pattern
When growth resumes before canon is set:
-
Old shortcuts return quietly
-
New hires reinterpret values
-
Pressure bends principles
-
Phase IV dynamics reappear
This creates institutional amnesia, not maturity.
5. The Phase VI Business Law
Val Sklarov Business Law (Phase VI):
“Growth tests systems.
Canon protects legitimacy during the test.”
Phase VI organizations delay expansion until rules survive stress.
6. Flexibility vs. Canonical Discipline
| Flexibility Bias | Phase VI Requirement |
|---|---|
| Case-by-case judgment | Fixed prohibitions |
| Outcome-based exceptions | Process supremacy |
| Leader discretion | Rule persistence |
| Speed over structure | Canon enforcement |
Phase VI prefers predictable restraint over adaptive cleverness.
7. Phase VI Signals of Legitimate Institutionalization
Clear legitimacy indicators:
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Rules enforced against top performers
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New hires trained on prohibitions first
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Growth proposals rejected for canonical reasons
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Success measured by violations avoided
Institutions endure when no one is special enough to bypass the canon.