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Immunity to Change: How to Overcome It and Unlock the Potential in Yourself and Your Organization
A recent study showed that when doctors tell heart patients they will die if they don't change their habits, only one in seven will be able to follow through successfully. Desire and motivation aren't enough: even when it's literally a matter of life or death, the ability to change remains maddeningly elusive. Given that the status quo is so potent, how can we change ourselves and our organizations? In Immunity to Change, authors Robert Kegan and Lisa Laskow Lahey show how our individual beliefs-along with the collective mind-sets in our organizations-combine to create a natural but powerful immunity to change. By revealing how this mechanism holds us back, Kegan and Lahey give us the keys to unlock our potential and finally move forward. And by pinpointing and uprooting our own immunities to change, we can bring our organizations forward with us. This persuasive and practical book, filled with hands-on diagnostics and compelling case studies, delivers the tools you need to overcome the forces of inertia and transform your life and your work.
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First published January 13, 2009
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About the author
Robert Kegan
16 books162 followersRobert Kegan is a developmental psychologist, consulting in the area of adult development, adult learning, professional development and organization development.
He taught at Harvard University for 40 years until his retirement in 2016.
The recipient of numerous honorary degrees and awards, his thirty years of research and writing on adult development have contributed to the recognition that ongoing psychological development after adolescence is at once possible and necessary to meet the demands of modern life.
His seminal books, The Evolving Self and In Over Our Heads, have been published in several languages throughout the world.
He taught at Harvard University for 40 years until his retirement in 2016.
The recipient of numerous honorary degrees and awards, his thirty years of research and writing on adult development have contributed to the recognition that ongoing psychological development after adolescence is at once possible and necessary to meet the demands of modern life.
His seminal books, The Evolving Self and In Over Our Heads, have been published in several languages throughout the world.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 209 reviews
July 21, 2014
I had high expectations for this book and didn't feel like it delivered. The first chapter is about how powerful this book has been with groups... so I kept reading to figure out the details. Reading the book felt like listening to a infomercial on how groups can change when their steps are implemented.
1. Understand that people are resistant to changing
2. Make sure that you identify the problem you are trying to solve carefully and that everyone involved in the solution is on-board.
3. Recognize that sometimes people have a vested interest or insecurities about changing that will make it hard to implement.
Ok... that just saved you 300 pages.
1. Understand that people are resistant to changing
2. Make sure that you identify the problem you are trying to solve carefully and that everyone involved in the solution is on-board.
3. Recognize that sometimes people have a vested interest or insecurities about changing that will make it hard to implement.
Ok... that just saved you 300 pages.
May 27, 2012
A reviewer on Amazon described this book well: Immunity to Change is a challenging analysis of how our well-developed methods of processing information and experience become barriers that hinder our attempts to achieve adaptive change. The first section of the book describes the theory and can be pretty tough going. The second applies the theory to case studies of organization change. The last is a primer on how to detect and overcome change immunity in your own organization.
What I liked about this book was that it always felt personal. I could see how my friends, colleagues and especially myself have created our own immunities to make important changes in our behaviors. It also made me realize why so many training programs don't deliver on the promise of new behaviors. As the authors pointed out, the changes that we or our organizations need to take are often complex, requiring an adaptive approach to change. Instead, we treat the change as if it's a technical problem through training, setting goals and simply 'keeping track'. Significant change requires deep reflection about our own behaviors and understanding how we create these immunities to protect us from a perceived danger. Until we get to a deep understanding of how our immunities reinforce the status quo we will not develop either individually or organizationally.
What I liked about this book was that it always felt personal. I could see how my friends, colleagues and especially myself have created our own immunities to make important changes in our behaviors. It also made me realize why so many training programs don't deliver on the promise of new behaviors. As the authors pointed out, the changes that we or our organizations need to take are often complex, requiring an adaptive approach to change. Instead, we treat the change as if it's a technical problem through training, setting goals and simply 'keeping track'. Significant change requires deep reflection about our own behaviors and understanding how we create these immunities to protect us from a perceived danger. Until we get to a deep understanding of how our immunities reinforce the status quo we will not develop either individually or organizationally.
October 9, 2017
Awful book, kind of typical for the genre, unbearably smug management self-help masquerading as science beamed down from planet boss (where no one hates their job). The kind of book that essentially reads like an advertisement for itself.
The core concepts are two-fold the first revolves around "why do people not change when it's obviously for the better", and the solution "because of some unresolved trauma that has created an immune response", has the veneer of insight, but literally all the evidence presented is anecdotal, a simple experiment with controls measuring stress hormones in the blood would go some way to prove or disprove the claims made, there is no indication in the thirty or so years the authors boast of researching anything like this was even considered, instead we get before and after surveys based on subjective criteria like ‘innovation’ (a meaningless cliché term that a MBA will teach you means “Maguyvering’, but a dictionary will tell you means ‘restoration’), oh wow you mixed people up and got them to talk to each other and now they rate ‘communication’ higher? Sensational! But pray now do we know the techniques themselves worked, versus the notion of simply getting people to confront obvious problems collectively in a non-judgemental environment? How do we know the survey answers aren’t just the responders being polite to the expensive people from Harvard the board got in post-merger? How do we know it isn’t a placebo effect, where the more elaborate syringe is more affective than the humble sugar pill, thus it’s more a matter of having important people come in to deal with the important problem and now that important people have dealt with the important problem the important problem has been dealt with, than any specific techniques or breakthroughs? This is basic stuff I would expect anyone who’d stayed awake through more than 10% of psych 101 to account for when using surveys as evidence, yet at no point are they accounted or controlled for, nor is there any indication this was ever done, which gives the entire thesis and enterprise the reek of snake oil. The follow-up interviews conducted three months later are at least conducted by third parties, but don’t exactly allay these concerns.
Even the anecdotal evidence is weak, for example in the story of 'Cathy', a woman who works herself off her feet to make herself indispensable, to the point of having a nervous breakdown, post her 'breakthrough' (she realises that her trauma was based on failing at medical school, though this is further re-framed as the thing that made her who she is now and therefore positive), she is still talking in terms of giving "110%" but really expecting "150%", the only change is now co-workers will tell her when she is being a bit too much and she will take a time out or realise that not everything is in her control and to act accordingly. Which of course helps I'm sure, but these people are Harvard professors, surely there's a bit more meat on the bone than basic common sense in dealing with someone who has hospitalised themselves due to overwork? None of the underlying beliefs have changed, it's akin to telling a drunk driver to put on a safety belt and verges on medical malpractice. And heaven forbid a company should take responsibility for working a clearly mentally unstable employee to the point of exhaustion and beyond, by permanently reducing her workload, or insist she seek out actual help rather than the potentially damaging attention of a bunch of productivity quacks from Harvard.
The second aspect, the various levels of self-development is essentially a post hoc reification of the corporate career path, again I see very little to back this up, a basic knowledge of brain function will tell you the areas which deal with the capacity for self-control are the last to develop and the first to decline with age, at no point is this accounted for, it's progress all the way up, even if in their examples people seem to be never neatly fit into one box, but instead are a hybrid of different states.
As is also typical for the genre all these examples are people in well-paid, high-status positions (from that narrow band of people, the top 10% of protected salaried income earners who’s income has increased in the past 40 years at the expense and misery of everyone else who've gotten declining wages, longer hours, more debt all the while delivering increasing productivity, the fruits of which have been entirely captured by the top earning bracket, go look at a wage/productivity chart if you don't believe me), as in literally the class of people who in all recorded history are probably least in need of help (yet still insist they on it), in many respects what these people need to change based on societies values is very little, if anything, if the only thing you need to change is something relatively trivial such as David’s need to "become a better delegator and to better focus on a few critical things,” this is easily addressed with the help of outside parties. Don’t forget every test case here is literally wealthy enough to hire Harvard professors to help them with their problem, if you are in the income bracket that has to buy the book rather than hire the consultant, it’s a waste of your time and money, if you are in the income bracket that can afford to hire a dedicated professional consultant or coach why waste your time spending 6 to 8 hours reading a book when you can get the real experience tailored for you? Either way this book strikes me as a waste of money and time.
It is frankly bizarre to read a book about changing behaviour by people from a quasi-scientific background, who've researched this for years that doesn't account for biology, environment or any other contextual factor other than the symptomatic manifestations that affects the organisations productivity.
I'd almost give them two stars, because the immunity map may have some small merit (I can see how old belief system may have had a use in the past as a kind of ego-preservation matrix, but it is very utilitarian in outlook and assumes you know what you 'really' want (which coincidentally is also what the higher ups want from you) and that this is both desirable and achievable, but of course once you know what you 'really' want things like the map become somewhat redundant), but I can't because the writing is so turgidly awful, so obnoxiously self-satisfied and unself-critical (its tone reminds me of Hilary Clinton’s post 2016 pose), the experience of reading is like being stuck in a lift for three hours with a self-important bore who won't shut up about themselves and their exaggerated achievements, so that by the third hour you've long-since stopped listening and are just fantasising about the cable snapping and a quick and merciful death.
Now I’ve slated the book it’s only fair I offer alternatives. If it's change you're looking for start with fundamentals, look at your environment and take on things like meditation, exercise and better diet, if you want motivation you could do worse than read Dan Pink's 'Drive', which covers the actual science and is informative, illustrative, shorter and vastly better written than this. Also consider researching executive function skills (avoid anything that positively refers to or written by Roy Baumeister, he’s been debunked, his work on will power as glucose was not replicated by others, but he’s only popular because he’s right-wing and authoritarian and re-affirms those values, albeit sneakily), developing the capacity to self-control and better manage yourself is the fundamental muscle you need to develop, after all if you don’t have a firm grip of the wheel how can you be expected to properly steer (again problem with these kinds of books is that they are written by management for management and assume you have access to resources such as a personal secretary, people reporting to you who’s livelihood depends on your good graces, and not insignificant disposable income, all things that make implementing the kind of ‘change’ such books advocate a far, far easier endeavour). I’m personally not a fan (if you want re-heated watered down stoicism, then go read the stoics, Seneca’s ‘letters to a young stoic’ is a good starting place, also Marco Aurellius’ ‘Meditations’, but bear in mind this is the ideology and mindset of an empire in terminal decline), but many people report CBT useful, there’s books out there on how to do it to yourself. Try and read as much in general, books not web, mix hard factual/philosophical with softer fiction, limit time online and delete your social media accounts (especially if you have a robust offline social world, if not consider how closing down the social media outlet may force you to build one), they waste time and cause depression. Vary your diet and I don’t just mean food, new ideas, people, places, experiences etc. Listen to the Ursula Le Guin’s translation of the Tao on youtube more than once. If you can get away from it all, it need not be anywhere fancy, just far away, take a time out and let the noise dampen down, go for walks, chop wood that kind of malarkey. Do it incrementally banish terms like “I need to”, you “need” oxygen, food and a reasonably hospitable environment, that fosters protection, socialising and reproduction (not just sexual), the rest is noise, take one-step at a time, and small steps at that, focus on fundamentals first, don’t overload yourself and don’t get cocky, being patient when excited is as important as being active when you feel lazy, with bipolar depression the depression and the mania are equally symptomatic. Lastly (if you’ve no history of psychosis) you might consider the ritualised ingestion of consciousness altering substances.
All this assumes the reader isn't uneducated, working class, destitute, mentally ill, holding down more than one job with children, or any other pesky real life phenomena that may impair the capacity to 'self-actualise', you know the kind of stuff written about in books like 'Nickel and dimed' which might as well be Swahili in brail for all the solipsistic denizens of planet boss deign to know of it. Of course none of these management type books ever account for anything like that, because the only true solution is either mass unionisation (to better secure bargaining position) or revolution.
The core concepts are two-fold the first revolves around "why do people not change when it's obviously for the better", and the solution "because of some unresolved trauma that has created an immune response", has the veneer of insight, but literally all the evidence presented is anecdotal, a simple experiment with controls measuring stress hormones in the blood would go some way to prove or disprove the claims made, there is no indication in the thirty or so years the authors boast of researching anything like this was even considered, instead we get before and after surveys based on subjective criteria like ‘innovation’ (a meaningless cliché term that a MBA will teach you means “Maguyvering’, but a dictionary will tell you means ‘restoration’), oh wow you mixed people up and got them to talk to each other and now they rate ‘communication’ higher? Sensational! But pray now do we know the techniques themselves worked, versus the notion of simply getting people to confront obvious problems collectively in a non-judgemental environment? How do we know the survey answers aren’t just the responders being polite to the expensive people from Harvard the board got in post-merger? How do we know it isn’t a placebo effect, where the more elaborate syringe is more affective than the humble sugar pill, thus it’s more a matter of having important people come in to deal with the important problem and now that important people have dealt with the important problem the important problem has been dealt with, than any specific techniques or breakthroughs? This is basic stuff I would expect anyone who’d stayed awake through more than 10% of psych 101 to account for when using surveys as evidence, yet at no point are they accounted or controlled for, nor is there any indication this was ever done, which gives the entire thesis and enterprise the reek of snake oil. The follow-up interviews conducted three months later are at least conducted by third parties, but don’t exactly allay these concerns.
Even the anecdotal evidence is weak, for example in the story of 'Cathy', a woman who works herself off her feet to make herself indispensable, to the point of having a nervous breakdown, post her 'breakthrough' (she realises that her trauma was based on failing at medical school, though this is further re-framed as the thing that made her who she is now and therefore positive), she is still talking in terms of giving "110%" but really expecting "150%", the only change is now co-workers will tell her when she is being a bit too much and she will take a time out or realise that not everything is in her control and to act accordingly. Which of course helps I'm sure, but these people are Harvard professors, surely there's a bit more meat on the bone than basic common sense in dealing with someone who has hospitalised themselves due to overwork? None of the underlying beliefs have changed, it's akin to telling a drunk driver to put on a safety belt and verges on medical malpractice. And heaven forbid a company should take responsibility for working a clearly mentally unstable employee to the point of exhaustion and beyond, by permanently reducing her workload, or insist she seek out actual help rather than the potentially damaging attention of a bunch of productivity quacks from Harvard.
The second aspect, the various levels of self-development is essentially a post hoc reification of the corporate career path, again I see very little to back this up, a basic knowledge of brain function will tell you the areas which deal with the capacity for self-control are the last to develop and the first to decline with age, at no point is this accounted for, it's progress all the way up, even if in their examples people seem to be never neatly fit into one box, but instead are a hybrid of different states.
As is also typical for the genre all these examples are people in well-paid, high-status positions (from that narrow band of people, the top 10% of protected salaried income earners who’s income has increased in the past 40 years at the expense and misery of everyone else who've gotten declining wages, longer hours, more debt all the while delivering increasing productivity, the fruits of which have been entirely captured by the top earning bracket, go look at a wage/productivity chart if you don't believe me), as in literally the class of people who in all recorded history are probably least in need of help (yet still insist they on it), in many respects what these people need to change based on societies values is very little, if anything, if the only thing you need to change is something relatively trivial such as David’s need to "become a better delegator and to better focus on a few critical things,” this is easily addressed with the help of outside parties. Don’t forget every test case here is literally wealthy enough to hire Harvard professors to help them with their problem, if you are in the income bracket that has to buy the book rather than hire the consultant, it’s a waste of your time and money, if you are in the income bracket that can afford to hire a dedicated professional consultant or coach why waste your time spending 6 to 8 hours reading a book when you can get the real experience tailored for you? Either way this book strikes me as a waste of money and time.
It is frankly bizarre to read a book about changing behaviour by people from a quasi-scientific background, who've researched this for years that doesn't account for biology, environment or any other contextual factor other than the symptomatic manifestations that affects the organisations productivity.
I'd almost give them two stars, because the immunity map may have some small merit (I can see how old belief system may have had a use in the past as a kind of ego-preservation matrix, but it is very utilitarian in outlook and assumes you know what you 'really' want (which coincidentally is also what the higher ups want from you) and that this is both desirable and achievable, but of course once you know what you 'really' want things like the map become somewhat redundant), but I can't because the writing is so turgidly awful, so obnoxiously self-satisfied and unself-critical (its tone reminds me of Hilary Clinton’s post 2016 pose), the experience of reading is like being stuck in a lift for three hours with a self-important bore who won't shut up about themselves and their exaggerated achievements, so that by the third hour you've long-since stopped listening and are just fantasising about the cable snapping and a quick and merciful death.
Now I’ve slated the book it’s only fair I offer alternatives. If it's change you're looking for start with fundamentals, look at your environment and take on things like meditation, exercise and better diet, if you want motivation you could do worse than read Dan Pink's 'Drive', which covers the actual science and is informative, illustrative, shorter and vastly better written than this. Also consider researching executive function skills (avoid anything that positively refers to or written by Roy Baumeister, he’s been debunked, his work on will power as glucose was not replicated by others, but he’s only popular because he’s right-wing and authoritarian and re-affirms those values, albeit sneakily), developing the capacity to self-control and better manage yourself is the fundamental muscle you need to develop, after all if you don’t have a firm grip of the wheel how can you be expected to properly steer (again problem with these kinds of books is that they are written by management for management and assume you have access to resources such as a personal secretary, people reporting to you who’s livelihood depends on your good graces, and not insignificant disposable income, all things that make implementing the kind of ‘change’ such books advocate a far, far easier endeavour). I’m personally not a fan (if you want re-heated watered down stoicism, then go read the stoics, Seneca’s ‘letters to a young stoic’ is a good starting place, also Marco Aurellius’ ‘Meditations’, but bear in mind this is the ideology and mindset of an empire in terminal decline), but many people report CBT useful, there’s books out there on how to do it to yourself. Try and read as much in general, books not web, mix hard factual/philosophical with softer fiction, limit time online and delete your social media accounts (especially if you have a robust offline social world, if not consider how closing down the social media outlet may force you to build one), they waste time and cause depression. Vary your diet and I don’t just mean food, new ideas, people, places, experiences etc. Listen to the Ursula Le Guin’s translation of the Tao on youtube more than once. If you can get away from it all, it need not be anywhere fancy, just far away, take a time out and let the noise dampen down, go for walks, chop wood that kind of malarkey. Do it incrementally banish terms like “I need to”, you “need” oxygen, food and a reasonably hospitable environment, that fosters protection, socialising and reproduction (not just sexual), the rest is noise, take one-step at a time, and small steps at that, focus on fundamentals first, don’t overload yourself and don’t get cocky, being patient when excited is as important as being active when you feel lazy, with bipolar depression the depression and the mania are equally symptomatic. Lastly (if you’ve no history of psychosis) you might consider the ritualised ingestion of consciousness altering substances.
All this assumes the reader isn't uneducated, working class, destitute, mentally ill, holding down more than one job with children, or any other pesky real life phenomena that may impair the capacity to 'self-actualise', you know the kind of stuff written about in books like 'Nickel and dimed' which might as well be Swahili in brail for all the solipsistic denizens of planet boss deign to know of it. Of course none of these management type books ever account for anything like that, because the only true solution is either mass unionisation (to better secure bargaining position) or revolution.
January 15, 2010
Finally a readable book by a developmental psychologist explaining stages of adult development. The author Robert Kegan at Harvard is probably the leading developmental psychologist in the country, but his first book Evolving Self was a tough read, just like Fowler's Stages of Faith. This book explains much more clearly how to identify stage changes and then gives many examples (mostly in work settings) of how people made changes in their lives. He explains how even when we really want to make changes there are psychological factors and other issues that create immunity and block us from making changes. In the last few chapters he describes a format for understanding and beginning to work past the things that block us from changing. The implication is that if we find the most important or "one big thing" to work on it and are able to change it -- this change process may trigger a stage change to a higher level of development.
February 11, 2019
1. I really like Kegan's developmental psychology model.
2. While the model is interesting conceptually, apparently the empirical evidence for it is more tenuous than Kegan admits.
3. Kegan then comes up with a method how to work through personal and professional changes (this book).
4. The immunity to change method is linked to his dev-psych model. This link is nice - but mostly an embellishment, rather than a functionally important piece.
5. The method itself is a super boring/dry 4 column sheet with a interview/introspection type of session(s)
6. Kegan touts the competing motivations/assumptions as a major discovery (enabled by the dev-psych model). In fact, recognizing competing motivations is part of a TON of psychological approaches. This is totally nothing new.
7. The description of the diagnostics part is long/repetitive/boring/redundant. The description of actual interventions is neigh non-existent. Is the actual work a breeze after the careful diagnostic? I don't think so. Neither does Kegan. But still the focus is only on diagnostics.
8. Kegan for some reason loves big corporation environments and most of the case studies revolve around this. Such a waste of potential. Here is the result of ~30 year high concept ivy league research. Now it will help you to cope with feelings of overwhelm from work emails... Great.
9. Cynically here is the summary: hey, this is an awesome method everybody can use! You just need to work with 2+ Harvard trained psychologists for 6+ months. Also we offer it only for C-suites of Fortune 100 companies.
10. Overall a major disappointment. I've complained about Everybody Culture too... The dev-psych model is super-cool (though empirically the legs are from clay), why does he waste it on corporate professional development? I know I sound now like a hippie...
That's all. Not good.
2. While the model is interesting conceptually, apparently the empirical evidence for it is more tenuous than Kegan admits.
3. Kegan then comes up with a method how to work through personal and professional changes (this book).
4. The immunity to change method is linked to his dev-psych model. This link is nice - but mostly an embellishment, rather than a functionally important piece.
5. The method itself is a super boring/dry 4 column sheet with a interview/introspection type of session(s)
6. Kegan touts the competing motivations/assumptions as a major discovery (enabled by the dev-psych model). In fact, recognizing competing motivations is part of a TON of psychological approaches. This is totally nothing new.
7. The description of the diagnostics part is long/repetitive/boring/redundant. The description of actual interventions is neigh non-existent. Is the actual work a breeze after the careful diagnostic? I don't think so. Neither does Kegan. But still the focus is only on diagnostics.
8. Kegan for some reason loves big corporation environments and most of the case studies revolve around this. Such a waste of potential. Here is the result of ~30 year high concept ivy league research. Now it will help you to cope with feelings of overwhelm from work emails... Great.
9. Cynically here is the summary: hey, this is an awesome method everybody can use! You just need to work with 2+ Harvard trained psychologists for 6+ months. Also we offer it only for C-suites of Fortune 100 companies.
10. Overall a major disappointment. I've complained about Everybody Culture too... The dev-psych model is super-cool (though empirically the legs are from clay), why does he waste it on corporate professional development? I know I sound now like a hippie...
That's all. Not good.
January 24, 2019
There were only 2 interesting and helpful concepts in the entire book. One was the idea of “mental complexity” which is the measure of one’s ability to inspect and manipulate their own perspective rather than getting caught up in it. The second idea is that most people’s hesitancy to change, terribly entitled “immunity”, (it appears as though the authors were unaware of the positive connotations of the word) is due to an underlying core belief that they may or may not be aware of. To help someone overcome that core belief simply convince them to challenge that belief with a change in behavior. The idea is not to outright prove the change in behavior is better, but to use this opportunity for the “immune” person to run a simulation and allow them to truly put that core belief to the test. If their core belief is proven wrong, we have begun the road to overcoming that “immunity.”
The book downplays the role of emotions in the process. The authors seem to indicate that once someone recognizes the fault in their core belief that it becomes relatively easy for people to change their behavior... not in my experience.
The bigger issue with the book is that it is FAR BIGGER than it needs to be. Like WAY BIGGER. Their contributions in thinking through change management can be boiled down to a good essay... maybe a 50 page booklet if they are being verbose. Instead they choose to add over 300 pages of examples of how their 4 step method worked miracles... I felt like I was reading one of those all night info-mercials for a knife set. It was boring, it was self-congratulatory, it was cheesy.
Two stars for two great ideas... read chapters 1 and 2 and then give it to someone you don’t like.
The book downplays the role of emotions in the process. The authors seem to indicate that once someone recognizes the fault in their core belief that it becomes relatively easy for people to change their behavior... not in my experience.
The bigger issue with the book is that it is FAR BIGGER than it needs to be. Like WAY BIGGER. Their contributions in thinking through change management can be boiled down to a good essay... maybe a 50 page booklet if they are being verbose. Instead they choose to add over 300 pages of examples of how their 4 step method worked miracles... I felt like I was reading one of those all night info-mercials for a knife set. It was boring, it was self-congratulatory, it was cheesy.
Two stars for two great ideas... read chapters 1 and 2 and then give it to someone you don’t like.
February 28, 2019
How does one break out of the MATRIX? Mindset change for people and organizations is possible but it is usually taken as a technical challenge which is setting up for failure (adaptive challenges cannot be solved with technical approaches). The book intro was very intriguing and I was not that impressed after halfway through the book but it got better towards the end and the book does make some unorthodox statements on transformation of people and teams in order to cope with the growing complexity of organizations. The concepts were definitely interesting but a bit too much to try to implement practically the next day, I probably need to come back to this book at some point in the future...
The three plateaus of adult development:
THE SOCIALIZED MIND:
*We are shaped by the definitions and expectations of our personal development.
*Our self coheres by its alignment with, and loyalty to, that with which it identifies.
*This can express itself primarily in our relationships with people, with our ideas and beliefs or both.
THE SELF-AUTHORING MIND:
*We are able to step back enough from the social environment to generate an internal "seat of judgement" or personal authority that evaluates and makes choices about external expectations.
*Our self coheres by its alignment with its own belief system/ideology/personal code; by its ability to self-direct, take stands, set limits, and create and regulate its boundaries on behalf of its own voice.
THE SELF-TRANSFORMING MIND (few people reach this level):
*We can step back from and reflect on the limits of our own ideology or personal authority; see that any one system or self-organization is in some way partial or incomplete; be friendlier toward contradiction and opposites; seek to hold on to multiple systems rather than projecting all but one onto the other.
*Our self coheres through its ability not to confuse internal consistency with wholeness or completeness, and through it's alignment with the dialectic rather than either pole.
Mapping the hidden dynamics of immunity to change:
1) Behavior goals - visible commitments (worded rather as positive than negative statements)
2) Behaviors that work against the goals - Doing/not doing instead
3) Hidden competing commitments to maintain immunity to change
4) Defining assumptions/hypothesis to be validated in respective situations
The three dimensions of immunity to change:
*Change prevention system (thwarting challenging aspirations)
*Feeling system (managing anxiety)
*Knowing system (organizing reality)
“If you have wanted to lose ten pounds for ten years and a diet finally helps you do it, you might well assume you have accomplished your goal. But your goal actually isn’t to lose ten pounds. Many people (even you?) have lost ten pounds many times! The goal is to lose ten pounds and keep the weight off. Dieting doesn’t lead to weight loss that endures. For this we must join a change in behavior with a change in the way we think and feel—and in order to change the way we think and feel, we need to change our mindsets. When we are working on truly adaptive goals—ones that require us to develop our mindsets—we must continually convert what we learn from behavioral changes into changes in our mindsets.”
“Reflection without action is ultimately as unproductive as action without reflection.”
The three plateaus of adult development:
THE SOCIALIZED MIND:
*We are shaped by the definitions and expectations of our personal development.
*Our self coheres by its alignment with, and loyalty to, that with which it identifies.
*This can express itself primarily in our relationships with people, with our ideas and beliefs or both.
THE SELF-AUTHORING MIND:
*We are able to step back enough from the social environment to generate an internal "seat of judgement" or personal authority that evaluates and makes choices about external expectations.
*Our self coheres by its alignment with its own belief system/ideology/personal code; by its ability to self-direct, take stands, set limits, and create and regulate its boundaries on behalf of its own voice.
THE SELF-TRANSFORMING MIND (few people reach this level):
*We can step back from and reflect on the limits of our own ideology or personal authority; see that any one system or self-organization is in some way partial or incomplete; be friendlier toward contradiction and opposites; seek to hold on to multiple systems rather than projecting all but one onto the other.
*Our self coheres through its ability not to confuse internal consistency with wholeness or completeness, and through it's alignment with the dialectic rather than either pole.
Mapping the hidden dynamics of immunity to change:
1) Behavior goals - visible commitments (worded rather as positive than negative statements)
2) Behaviors that work against the goals - Doing/not doing instead
3) Hidden competing commitments to maintain immunity to change
4) Defining assumptions/hypothesis to be validated in respective situations
The three dimensions of immunity to change:
*Change prevention system (thwarting challenging aspirations)
*Feeling system (managing anxiety)
*Knowing system (organizing reality)
“If you have wanted to lose ten pounds for ten years and a diet finally helps you do it, you might well assume you have accomplished your goal. But your goal actually isn’t to lose ten pounds. Many people (even you?) have lost ten pounds many times! The goal is to lose ten pounds and keep the weight off. Dieting doesn’t lead to weight loss that endures. For this we must join a change in behavior with a change in the way we think and feel—and in order to change the way we think and feel, we need to change our mindsets. When we are working on truly adaptive goals—ones that require us to develop our mindsets—we must continually convert what we learn from behavioral changes into changes in our mindsets.”
“Reflection without action is ultimately as unproductive as action without reflection.”
January 19, 2014
What is preventing you from being able to change? What is your "immunity to change"? I found this book to be extremely useful. The authors provide many examples of how people may want to change but are also holding themselves back - as though they have one foot on the accelerator but also, and unconsciously, have one foot on the brake - no wonder change is not happening! They also discuss the importance of selecting one big thing to focus on changing and stress the importance of selecting that carefully to ensure you can create the greatest impact. The approach presented in this book has a clear process and is very practical. The section toward the end, guides you in working with your own "one big thing" you may want to change. This book will be remaining on my desk as I re-read parts and give it a go in my life.
November 4, 2019
This book had some really interesting ideas. I liked the emphasis on addressing the gap between intention and behavior. But the title is terrible - it still confuses me. Resistance to Change would make much more sense. And like most books on academic subjects written by the researchers, the book goes on too long and begins to feel redundant. It was a good book, but I don't feel strongly about recommending it as a must read.
June 7, 2012
The book is a little tough to read cover to cover, but the ideas behind the concept are SOLID and have totally worked for me!
February 28, 2017
KILL ME NOW.
So boring, so unhelpful.
So boring, so unhelpful.
September 26, 2019
One of the things I’m really trying to change is sticking to books that suck. This is most certainly one such book. What a self-congratulatory, pompous, ridiculously repetitive waste of time.
December 19, 2023
I found Lisa Lahey's interview on Brene Brown's podcast really insightful, so I decided to pick up the book. I still think the immunity to change framework is helpful, but I didn't get a whole lot out of the book that you can't get from googling short articles on it. Most of the book was just examples of people who went through the exercise and reported raving success. It began to feel like a sales pitch when I wanted to read more about people's struggles and adaptations along the way. Still a useful exercise that I'm applying in my job.
June 28, 2017
Some good information, some good insights, but my experiences in executive coaching tell me that for most readers, it'd be a Grand Canyon-sized leap from grasping the model to using it well for change...
March 9, 2022
This book was recommended by the Annie E. Casey Leadership Develop Team, which is supporting our company to design a complex change initiative and to develop the mindsets to do it well. Immunity to Change provides a powerful developmental framework for individuals and teams to get better at their most important thing. A few key quotes:
- "... we are calling upon workers to understand themselves and their world at a qualitatively higher level of mental complexity." (25)
- "Anxiety, we have gradually come to appreciate, is the most important -- and least understood -- private emotion in public life." (48)
- "... we cannot succeed with adaptive challenges without recognizing that we are putting at risk what has been a very well functioning way of taking care of ourselves." (50)
- "... one needs to develop an even more complex way of knowing that permits one to look at, rather than choicelessly through, one's own framework." (53)
- "Creating a picture of our immunity to change surfaces optimal conflict." (54)
- "Our clients are our teachers." (61)
- "One of the famous sayings in child welfare is, 'You can't do this work unless you believe that families can change.'" (77)
- "... the hidden role of emotion in meeting the challenge of change, the need for us to find a way to bring what we have tended to think of as private experience into to the public realm of work... the idea that emotion that isn't dealt with comes back in a dysfunctional form in some way, will show up in dysfunctional form." (79)
- "... commitment to the journey of personal learning for public results." (81)
- "The worries people produce bring us to the doorway of their hidden commitments." (91)
- "... if we don't change, we are putting someone we love or something we care about at risk." (211)
- "... behavior is symptomatic of a system, and any lasting change will require the system to change." (222)
- "... reflection without action is ultimately as unproductive as action without reflection." (222)
- "I am more self-aware and more self-regulating." (275)
Features of a developmental stance:
1. It recognizes that there is "life after adolescence"; that adulthood, too, must be a time for ongoing growth and development.
2. It honors the distinction between technical and adaptive agendas.
3. It recognizes and cultivates the individual's intrinsic motivation to grow.
4. It assumes that a change in mindset takes time and is not evenly paced.
5. It recognizes that mindsets shape thinking and feeling, so changing mindsets needs to involve the head and the heart.
6. It recognizes that neither change in mindset nor change in behavior alone leads to transformation, but that each must be employed to bring about the other.
7. It provides safety for people to take the kids of risks inherent in changing their minds.
- "... we are calling upon workers to understand themselves and their world at a qualitatively higher level of mental complexity." (25)
- "Anxiety, we have gradually come to appreciate, is the most important -- and least understood -- private emotion in public life." (48)
- "... we cannot succeed with adaptive challenges without recognizing that we are putting at risk what has been a very well functioning way of taking care of ourselves." (50)
- "... one needs to develop an even more complex way of knowing that permits one to look at, rather than choicelessly through, one's own framework." (53)
- "Creating a picture of our immunity to change surfaces optimal conflict." (54)
- "Our clients are our teachers." (61)
- "One of the famous sayings in child welfare is, 'You can't do this work unless you believe that families can change.'" (77)
- "... the hidden role of emotion in meeting the challenge of change, the need for us to find a way to bring what we have tended to think of as private experience into to the public realm of work... the idea that emotion that isn't dealt with comes back in a dysfunctional form in some way, will show up in dysfunctional form." (79)
- "... commitment to the journey of personal learning for public results." (81)
- "The worries people produce bring us to the doorway of their hidden commitments." (91)
- "... if we don't change, we are putting someone we love or something we care about at risk." (211)
- "... behavior is symptomatic of a system, and any lasting change will require the system to change." (222)
- "... reflection without action is ultimately as unproductive as action without reflection." (222)
- "I am more self-aware and more self-regulating." (275)
Features of a developmental stance:
1. It recognizes that there is "life after adolescence"; that adulthood, too, must be a time for ongoing growth and development.
2. It honors the distinction between technical and adaptive agendas.
3. It recognizes and cultivates the individual's intrinsic motivation to grow.
4. It assumes that a change in mindset takes time and is not evenly paced.
5. It recognizes that mindsets shape thinking and feeling, so changing mindsets needs to involve the head and the heart.
6. It recognizes that neither change in mindset nor change in behavior alone leads to transformation, but that each must be employed to bring about the other.
7. It provides safety for people to take the kids of risks inherent in changing their minds.
March 1, 2017
This book is easier to read than Kegan's prior work. I think the additional author really kept it from getting too disorganized and wordy.
The book builds on the themes in In Over Our Heads, and extends them to talk about how to grow as a person. The overall thesis is that people all interpret the world around them at different levels of complexity, and the levels of complexity are distinct and different from each other. The higher your own level of complexity can be, the more productive and happy you'll be.
Kegan and Lahey break down the difference between improving at something in a technical manner and improving in an adaptive manner. Technical improvement is the act of learning new skills or facts. Adaptive improvement is the act of changing your self and your ways of understanding the world to better accomplish your goals. It is adaptive improvement that allows people to make the most growth in their lives, but adaptive improvement is also much more difficult.
Immunity to Change presents a specific exercise to promote adaptive improvement. By examining why people do things that oppose their own goals, the underlying assumptions that the people have about the world can be exposed. Once exposed, people can test those underlying assumptions directly. Those tests allow people to move past inaccurate assumptions about the world.
Overall I liked this book. It got a bit bogged down by the examples, but it was pretty straight forward and much easier to understand than In Over Our Heads.
The book builds on the themes in In Over Our Heads, and extends them to talk about how to grow as a person. The overall thesis is that people all interpret the world around them at different levels of complexity, and the levels of complexity are distinct and different from each other. The higher your own level of complexity can be, the more productive and happy you'll be.
Kegan and Lahey break down the difference between improving at something in a technical manner and improving in an adaptive manner. Technical improvement is the act of learning new skills or facts. Adaptive improvement is the act of changing your self and your ways of understanding the world to better accomplish your goals. It is adaptive improvement that allows people to make the most growth in their lives, but adaptive improvement is also much more difficult.
Immunity to Change presents a specific exercise to promote adaptive improvement. By examining why people do things that oppose their own goals, the underlying assumptions that the people have about the world can be exposed. Once exposed, people can test those underlying assumptions directly. Those tests allow people to move past inaccurate assumptions about the world.
Overall I liked this book. It got a bit bogged down by the examples, but it was pretty straight forward and much easier to understand than In Over Our Heads.
October 26, 2023
In the book "Immunity to Change" by Lisa Laskow Lahey and Robert Kegan, the authors explore the significance of personal evolution in effective leadership. They highlight the idea that mental growth is not limited to childhood but is a lifelong process. The book emphasizes the importance of advancing through different levels of cognitive complexity, from the socialized mind to the self-authoring mind and ultimately to the self-transforming mind.
The authors underscore the vital connection between leadership competence and cognitive complexity, showcasing how leaders with a self-transforming mind demonstrate superior problem-solving skills and the ability to build strong relationships and empower their teams. However, a substantial number of individuals remain stuck at earlier cognitive stages, posing a challenge in the context of a rapidly changing world.
To bridge this gap, the book introduces the concept of "immunity to change," which addresses the discrepancy between desired changes and the behaviors that hinder progress. Central to this framework is the "immunity X-ray," a tool that exposes the paradox between aspirations and counteractive behaviors. It helps individuals confront and reassess foundational beliefs by identifying underlying commitments and deep-rooted assumptions, often stemming from hidden anxieties, that shape cognitive boundaries.
The "immunity X-ray" serves as a transformative journey, prompting leaders to reflect and pave a path toward authentic personal development. By understanding and analyzing these underlying assumptions, individuals can facilitate genuine cognitive growth and break free from the constraints of their current mental frameworks. The book emphasizes the significance of navigating the evolution from being influenced by external factors to developing an independent self-authoring mindset and eventually attaining the self-transforming mind.
In the pursuit of effective leadership and personal growth, "Immunity to Change" advocates for confronting internal resistance and embracing change, offering a framework that guides individuals towards genuine growth and adaptive transformation within a dynamic and evolving world.
The authors underscore the vital connection between leadership competence and cognitive complexity, showcasing how leaders with a self-transforming mind demonstrate superior problem-solving skills and the ability to build strong relationships and empower their teams. However, a substantial number of individuals remain stuck at earlier cognitive stages, posing a challenge in the context of a rapidly changing world.
To bridge this gap, the book introduces the concept of "immunity to change," which addresses the discrepancy between desired changes and the behaviors that hinder progress. Central to this framework is the "immunity X-ray," a tool that exposes the paradox between aspirations and counteractive behaviors. It helps individuals confront and reassess foundational beliefs by identifying underlying commitments and deep-rooted assumptions, often stemming from hidden anxieties, that shape cognitive boundaries.
The "immunity X-ray" serves as a transformative journey, prompting leaders to reflect and pave a path toward authentic personal development. By understanding and analyzing these underlying assumptions, individuals can facilitate genuine cognitive growth and break free from the constraints of their current mental frameworks. The book emphasizes the significance of navigating the evolution from being influenced by external factors to developing an independent self-authoring mindset and eventually attaining the self-transforming mind.
In the pursuit of effective leadership and personal growth, "Immunity to Change" advocates for confronting internal resistance and embracing change, offering a framework that guides individuals towards genuine growth and adaptive transformation within a dynamic and evolving world.
July 13, 2022
Interesting structure for thinking about adult development.
Unfortunately it’s couched in this sort of infuriating sales-consulting language. There are maybe 20 pages in this book worth your time, but somehow it’s been stretched to 300+ pages.
The authors keep telling you how impactful this is going to be, how magical the end results are, and at the end of the day it’s simply a framing shift on why you get in your own way when trying to make changes.
With all the bullshit boiled alway, the authors propose that we get in our own way because at some point our behaviors were adaptive to the situations we found ourselves in. Unfortunately in order to grow and develop, we need to leave behind those same thought processes once they no longer are adaptive. “What got you here can’t get you there“ Saved you a couple hours.
Probably a really good single page handout and worksheet. Not a very good book.
Unfortunately it’s couched in this sort of infuriating sales-consulting language. There are maybe 20 pages in this book worth your time, but somehow it’s been stretched to 300+ pages.
The authors keep telling you how impactful this is going to be, how magical the end results are, and at the end of the day it’s simply a framing shift on why you get in your own way when trying to make changes.
With all the bullshit boiled alway, the authors propose that we get in our own way because at some point our behaviors were adaptive to the situations we found ourselves in. Unfortunately in order to grow and develop, we need to leave behind those same thought processes once they no longer are adaptive. “What got you here can’t get you there“ Saved you a couple hours.
Probably a really good single page handout and worksheet. Not a very good book.
October 30, 2023
Change is an intrinsic part of the human experience, yet so few of us know how to bring about it in ourselves. From keeping a loved one to getting a promotion, what we desire may require us to do things differently. Kegan and Lahey have created a way of approaching change in ourselves, and as a collective, that promises to transform us. This book helped me to clearly think about my own challenges, and for anyone ready to put in months of work, change may be possible.
July 7, 2024
The practice they created is great. The book is meh.
February 21, 2023
Kegan and Laslow present a method for transformation that addresses the human side. Many change initiatives on a personal or collective level fail because the change is treated technically. We just have to learn new skills and then change will follow. In my experience, many times people know what their situation is, they know what they should be doing and they have good intentions, but they fall back to old patterns nevertheless and little change is achieved. It feels like one foot is on the gas and one is on the break leading to going in circles.
In Immunity to change the authors explain that this is due to adaptive challenges. We have to adopt a new mindset, a new set of beliefs and assumptions in order to overcome our psychological need for self-preservation. Our immunity to change stems from our protection of our self-identity, who we believe to be in the world. In other words, our ego does not like to feel pain. Taking a constructive developmentalist perspectives the authors argue that we construct our meaning of the world through our beliefs. Therefore, if we change our beliefs through experiential knowledge (intentional action and reflection leading to insights) we can change our perception and behavior.
Immunity to change is a groundbreaking book that brings spiritual, philosophical and emotional aspects to a clear and straight-forward business jargon. It makes us aware that we are more than a homo economicus, not just a rational but also emotional being and that our immune system is a self-protection system that organizes our beliefs so it serves to make painful experiences of the past unconscious. This results in blind spots in our thinking / feeling and to a resistance of change. Validating that resistance helps us to eventually overcome it by creating more complex frames of how we make meaning of the world, that integrates our old beliefs while it also leads to creating a new set of beliefs. This evolution of the mind allows the existence of multiple contradictionary beliefs through a more complex worldview (Weltanschauung).
Only four stars though, because the second part of the book are long chapters describing the cases which feels like unwanted advertisement. On the other hand having documented efficient change on a personal and organizational level only strenthens the newly proposed theory for transformation. For me it would have been sufficient though to read the introduction and the last part where the methodology is explained for own application.
In Immunity to change the authors explain that this is due to adaptive challenges. We have to adopt a new mindset, a new set of beliefs and assumptions in order to overcome our psychological need for self-preservation. Our immunity to change stems from our protection of our self-identity, who we believe to be in the world. In other words, our ego does not like to feel pain. Taking a constructive developmentalist perspectives the authors argue that we construct our meaning of the world through our beliefs. Therefore, if we change our beliefs through experiential knowledge (intentional action and reflection leading to insights) we can change our perception and behavior.
Immunity to change is a groundbreaking book that brings spiritual, philosophical and emotional aspects to a clear and straight-forward business jargon. It makes us aware that we are more than a homo economicus, not just a rational but also emotional being and that our immune system is a self-protection system that organizes our beliefs so it serves to make painful experiences of the past unconscious. This results in blind spots in our thinking / feeling and to a resistance of change. Validating that resistance helps us to eventually overcome it by creating more complex frames of how we make meaning of the world, that integrates our old beliefs while it also leads to creating a new set of beliefs. This evolution of the mind allows the existence of multiple contradictionary beliefs through a more complex worldview (Weltanschauung).
Only four stars though, because the second part of the book are long chapters describing the cases which feels like unwanted advertisement. On the other hand having documented efficient change on a personal and organizational level only strenthens the newly proposed theory for transformation. For me it would have been sufficient though to read the introduction and the last part where the methodology is explained for own application.
May 17, 2013
If you love books about personal development and love books about organizational change, this book will probably be in your sweet spot. The premise is this: often the areas of our life that we want to change are inadvertently sabotaged by our own emotional, unconscious assumptions about ourselves and the world. Using a four-step process, the authors help a person articulate their change goal, understand what they ware doing to fight against that goal, what fears are driving them toward those actions, and ultimately what assumptions they are making that drive the way they behave contrary to their goals. They give readers a process to test out new assumptions in order to continue growing.
Although it becomes a bit repetitious toward the end, it seems that the authors repeat themselves to make heir point clear--not to fill more pages.
I can certainly see myself using this material with myself and probably with teams of people. It address both individual growth as well as how this can be implemented for a whole team of people.
Although it becomes a bit repetitious toward the end, it seems that the authors repeat themselves to make heir point clear--not to fill more pages.
I can certainly see myself using this material with myself and probably with teams of people. It address both individual growth as well as how this can be implemented for a whole team of people.
January 1, 2017
I really appreciated Kegan's case study framework in approaching the problem of leadership. His dichotomy of identifying blocking issues into technical (ones that require a persistence of execution) and adaptive problems (ones that require a systems thinking approach to identify conflicting values) was helpful both in the office, and in the home. Highly recommended for those interested in applied emotional intelligence.
August 12, 2012
I read this as part of a leadership institute I attended and believe that this book and core concepts should be integrated in all teacher preparation, instructional coaching professional development, and educational leadership programs. It is an enlightening philosophy of the structures we protect in our blind efforts to resist change.
April 15, 2009
Excellent review of why we don't do what we want to do, and do do what we don't want to do. Sounds like do do to me! :)
January 15, 2016
Placeholder
June 22, 2019
Meh. Very repetitive.
August 20, 2011
Good book with some great insights as to why people don't change and how it can be facilitated.
February 16, 2018
When I told somebody that I was reading a book called “Immunity to Change” by Robert Kegan and Lisa Laskow Lahey, I was asked if I was reading it to become immune to change! Well, the book definitely does not tell you how to become immune to change but it describes how to overcome immunity and unlock the potential in yourself and your organisation.
According to Kegan and Lahey, desire and motivation aren’t enough to go about making a change, even if it’s a matter of life or death. So then, what does one do to overcome this immunity? The key is to uproot this immunity. Everybody is convinced that improvement and change is dynamic and this challenge is often misunderstood as a need to cope or deal with the complexity. Coping and dealing with something are skills, and valuable skills at that. But to overcome immunity to change is more than just skills. It is about understanding yourself – which we all think we do – and by identifying a widespread misconception about the potential trajectory of mental development across one’s lifespan. The X-ray technology is one such tool which explains the hidden dynamics of immunity to change. This tool talks about discovering the hidden competing commitments within us which will help us overcome the resistance to change.
This book also helps one discover the three levels of mental complexity which are the socialised mind, the self authoring mind and the self transforming mind and according to a research done by Eigel – University of Georgia, in 1998, the highly effective leaders are at the self transforming level. People who are at the level of the socialised mind are strongly influenced by what they believe others want and how they think others will be influenced, whilst those in the self authoring level strongly believe that their decision is what is needed by the others. They are likely to the drivers. The self authoring minds on the other hand have a filter and these people can stand back from the filter and not only look at it but through it.
This book is packed with powerful illustrations and examples which can help at an individual and organisational level. Many business books on change present simple solutions to problems with which managers have long wrestled. This book, on the other hand, offers a complex mental and philosophical methodology to identify the overwhelming barrier to individual and organizational change.
Kegan and Laskow, have been research and practice collaborators for twenty five years. Kegan is the William and Miriam Meehan Professor in Adult Learning and Professional Development at Harvard’s University’s Graduate School of Education. Lahey is the Associate Director of Harvard’s Change Leadership Group and a founding principal of Minds at Work, a leadership learning professional services firm.
According to Kegan and Lahey, desire and motivation aren’t enough to go about making a change, even if it’s a matter of life or death. So then, what does one do to overcome this immunity? The key is to uproot this immunity. Everybody is convinced that improvement and change is dynamic and this challenge is often misunderstood as a need to cope or deal with the complexity. Coping and dealing with something are skills, and valuable skills at that. But to overcome immunity to change is more than just skills. It is about understanding yourself – which we all think we do – and by identifying a widespread misconception about the potential trajectory of mental development across one’s lifespan. The X-ray technology is one such tool which explains the hidden dynamics of immunity to change. This tool talks about discovering the hidden competing commitments within us which will help us overcome the resistance to change.
This book also helps one discover the three levels of mental complexity which are the socialised mind, the self authoring mind and the self transforming mind and according to a research done by Eigel – University of Georgia, in 1998, the highly effective leaders are at the self transforming level. People who are at the level of the socialised mind are strongly influenced by what they believe others want and how they think others will be influenced, whilst those in the self authoring level strongly believe that their decision is what is needed by the others. They are likely to the drivers. The self authoring minds on the other hand have a filter and these people can stand back from the filter and not only look at it but through it.
This book is packed with powerful illustrations and examples which can help at an individual and organisational level. Many business books on change present simple solutions to problems with which managers have long wrestled. This book, on the other hand, offers a complex mental and philosophical methodology to identify the overwhelming barrier to individual and organizational change.
Kegan and Laskow, have been research and practice collaborators for twenty five years. Kegan is the William and Miriam Meehan Professor in Adult Learning and Professional Development at Harvard’s University’s Graduate School of Education. Lahey is the Associate Director of Harvard’s Change Leadership Group and a founding principal of Minds at Work, a leadership learning professional services firm.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
February 12, 2024
I wanted to rip this book anew so many times as I was reading it because of how the information was presented. It so happens that when I finished it I had a personal experience in life that got me moving right forward in my mind and now that it's been a couple days I don't care too much about how poorly this book was executed. Still, I feel like it deserves what it gave me.
Imagine you get to go see an art masterpiece for an entire 2 hours with two world-renowned experts who will guide you through it. So you go and you are so excited and when you get to the museum they tell you, first we're going to have you meet in a room with the experts so they can share with you how best to appreciate the art. You're happy to oblige since you still have lots of time to see it. But, then these experts talk for 110 of the 120 minutes about how much you will get to appreciate the art and how so many others have appreciated the art because of what they have done! That's the frustration this book makes.
These two should-know-better professors from Harvard have written a book where they LITERALLY don't tell you the model until they have spent 8 of the 11 chapters talking about how the model has worked with others! They literally wrote it backwards. The first 8 chapters were probably a 2 star experience. And, I think the most frustrating and hypocritical part is that at one point they point out the irony of a social worker group who doesn't treat their coworkers with the same social worker principles they are trying to instill in their families. Why ironic and hypocritical? BECAUSE IT IS A HARVARD TEACHING PROFESSOR AND PSYCHOLOGY PROFESSOR WHO DOESN'T KNOW HOW TO PRESENT THEIR MATERIALS NOR LET PEOPLE WRESTLE WITH THEIR MATERIALS IN ANY USEFUL WAY! Like, c'mon, of all people in the world you should be able to write a book that is engaging and useful. Instead, it feels like the editor (and authors) just assumed people would love it because they are Harvard professors, I guess? Maybe the authors just kinda recorded themselves talking about their experiences and edited it for grammar? I would be turned off from hiring these guys because this book is so poorly executed. It gives me very little confidence in their ability to present something useful.
The only redeeming quality is chapter 9 and then maybe chapter 10. Literally you can probably skip the rest. With that said, the model is great if you are willing to put the time in. If you can dedicate work each week talking to people and working on things openly then I'm sure you can get the change they suggest. That's what I plan to do.
Imagine you get to go see an art masterpiece for an entire 2 hours with two world-renowned experts who will guide you through it. So you go and you are so excited and when you get to the museum they tell you, first we're going to have you meet in a room with the experts so they can share with you how best to appreciate the art. You're happy to oblige since you still have lots of time to see it. But, then these experts talk for 110 of the 120 minutes about how much you will get to appreciate the art and how so many others have appreciated the art because of what they have done! That's the frustration this book makes.
These two should-know-better professors from Harvard have written a book where they LITERALLY don't tell you the model until they have spent 8 of the 11 chapters talking about how the model has worked with others! They literally wrote it backwards. The first 8 chapters were probably a 2 star experience. And, I think the most frustrating and hypocritical part is that at one point they point out the irony of a social worker group who doesn't treat their coworkers with the same social worker principles they are trying to instill in their families. Why ironic and hypocritical? BECAUSE IT IS A HARVARD TEACHING PROFESSOR AND PSYCHOLOGY PROFESSOR WHO DOESN'T KNOW HOW TO PRESENT THEIR MATERIALS NOR LET PEOPLE WRESTLE WITH THEIR MATERIALS IN ANY USEFUL WAY! Like, c'mon, of all people in the world you should be able to write a book that is engaging and useful. Instead, it feels like the editor (and authors) just assumed people would love it because they are Harvard professors, I guess? Maybe the authors just kinda recorded themselves talking about their experiences and edited it for grammar? I would be turned off from hiring these guys because this book is so poorly executed. It gives me very little confidence in their ability to present something useful.
The only redeeming quality is chapter 9 and then maybe chapter 10. Literally you can probably skip the rest. With that said, the model is great if you are willing to put the time in. If you can dedicate work each week talking to people and working on things openly then I'm sure you can get the change they suggest. That's what I plan to do.
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