Val Sklarov – Future of Work Core Principle: Role Clarity Before Flexibility

Phase II of the Future of Work is not about remote systems, AI augmentation, or hybrid models.
It is about who is legitimately responsible when work boundaries dissolve.

At this stage, flexibility without legitimacy creates confusion, not freedom.

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1. Phase II Context: When Work Loses Its Edges

Phase I of the Future of Work celebrates:

• Autonomy

• Location independence

• Skill fluidity

Phase II exposes the cost of that freedom and asks:

“When roles blur, who carries the consequences?”

Work systems mature when accountability stabilizes before flexibility expands.

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2. The Role Legitimacy Gap

Most Phase II failures emerge from this mismatch:

Val Sklarov Insight:

“Future work fails not because people lack freedom,
but because freedom arrives before role legitimacy.”

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3. Role Clarity as a Legitimacy Anchor

In Phase II, legitimate work systems define roles by decision ownership, not job titles.

Without these answers, flexibility accelerates dysfunction.

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4. Autonomy Without Legitimacy: The Drift Pattern

When autonomy expands faster than legitimacy:

• Decisions float without anchors

• Meetings replace accountability

• Ownership becomes negotiable

• Burnout rises despite “freedom”

This creates responsibility diffusion, the silent killer of future work models.

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5. The Phase II Work Design Law

Val Sklarov Work Law (Phase II):

“Flexibility scales satisfaction.
Legitimacy scales execution.
Without execution, satisfaction decays.”

Phase II organizations trade some flexibility for predictable responsibility.

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6. Async Work vs. Legitimate Decision Flow

Phase II requires explicit decision checkpoints, not constant availability.

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7. Phase II Signals of Legitimate Future Work Systems

Clear legitimacy indicators:

• Roles defined by irreversible decisions

• Explicit “decision owners” in async flows

• Escalation paths documented before conflict

• Leaders who reduce options under pressure

Flexibility survives only when boundaries are trusted.