Immunity to Change (Leadership for the Common Good) Hardcover – January 13, 2009

Personally and as a coach I'm passionate about a powerful relationship to change. Kegan and Lahey are stoking my passion in this book. But they also appeal to my German need for utility. If it's not useful it's not beautiful. The mind-mapping process they detail in this book is beautiful. They bring it forward with clarity, focus, ease, and grace.The process they illustrate shows why change is difficult for many. One reason is that there's a distinction that many of us are blind to, namely between change that could be easy--- a technical challenge--- and an adaptive challenge which is resistive to change. Treating an adaptive challenge as if it were a technical challenge leads, if at all to change, then to change we don't sustain. The distinction is so clear, that once we see it, we don't make that mistake again.It could be said that we must first see ourselves as we are before we can become as we want to be. It is so darn difficult to see ourselves clearly, and that's another reason change is so challenging. The Immunity to Change to the rescue! That's precisely the gift Kegan and Lahey give us through their mind-mapping process. In regard to our improvement goal we see ourselves exactly as we are. It gives us a real and honest starting point. It's a point of power.What we see once the fog lifts (substitute team for we or I, because this can be done with individuals or teams) is that we have competing or hidden commitments that act as a brake to any improvement goal we haven't been able to attain. The Immunity to Change shows us how to surface those hidden commitments. We get to see that we actually have one foot on the accelerator (our improvement goal) and one on the brakes (our hidden but competing commitments). We are guaranteed to not succeed. Or if we succeed, for example, with our goal to delegate more, then three weeks later we're doing it all by ourselves again! It's maddening!But once we see it, we are no longer powerless. And we get to see it quickly, because the process outlined in the book is exquisitely designed and the culmination of 20 plus years of honing. A masterful dancer makes the dance look effortless. The mind-mapping process is a masterful dance.What we get to see in a step-by-step, organized fashion is that our goal- impeding actions make perfect sense in the paradigm we are presently inhabiting. So instead of attacking the actions, which is where we go in our first knee-jerk reaction (after all, they're impeding the path to goal!), we get to examine from a safe distance the thinking that generated the actions, the thinking that makes those actions "the only way to go." Once exposed we're ready to generate the big assumptions that give rise to our hidden commitments, and we get to design some safe, modest tests to see if those assumptions are really true or bogus.What's fascinating and delightful is that in this process people generate their own data one small, sweet step at a time. They own the data. Because the mind-map is exquisitely designed, the persons generating the data come up with high quality data that surprises even them. And they have it in black and white, so to speak. As a coach, consultant, or leader, we all know the value of great data which the client or team member "owns." Enough said!If I only had one paragraph I could write about this book it would be this: The Immunity to Change illuminates our resistance to change and gives us a clear and simple pathway to give it up. Fueled by powerful insights we generate ourselves and that permit us to challenge the reality we've constructed, we can create a new reality based on expanded thinking. Kegan and Lahey are experts on adult development . They reject the unexamined assumption that people don't or can't change much after adolescence. They share Einstein's assertion that we can't solve problems at the level of thinking that created them in the first place. And they help us to move from mind-sets we can't afford (a socialized mind-set) to higher levels of thinking that depend on self-observation and the lessons we learn from it. Everyone who wants to change what they never could change before, or leaders who see themselves as catalysts for change will use this book again and again. Or they'll attend workshops or contract for services

Change is difficult, but it can be easier. Kegan and Lahey show you why and how. Drawing upon Kegan's version of Constructive Developmental Theory, the authors show individual readers and organizations how to reveal the counter forces we ourselves hold in protective opposition to our own goals, change, and evolution; most importantly, step-by-step they reach to teach you to become the author of your own change. Not a book for seekers of the mere "change your thinking" or mere "awareness is curative" approaches to change, this is a manual that cuts into the realism of the intrapsychic forces - our "assumptions" - that we ourselves hold against our own adaptation. Helpful for clinicians, managers, CEO's, and really "anyone" who really wants to get at making some changes. Revealing, stimulating, and vitalizing, once you utilize it in earnest for yourself (with any arena of your life/self) you really do have a greater take on your self, your life, and your view of what's possible. Perhaps most importantly, the way you think about change is never the same. Indelibly solidified that its "both" Insight into Assumptions "and" designed experimental Behavior that lead to change, something both the self-help world at large and formalistic approaches have long been missing.

Immunity to Change is not so much a book about resisting change as it is a book of one's identity. The authors' claim is that the reason we are resistant to change is because change challenges one's current identity and that going through an identity crisis part of growing in leadership. The evidence backing this theory is sound and comes from 20+ years of study. The thesis statement supports this summary of the book, "The problem is the inability to close the gap between what we genuinely, even passionately, want and what we are actually able to do. Closing this gap is a central learning problem of the twenty-first century." The problem is not a lack of willingness, but a lack of awareness and methodology to overcoming this immunity to change.The writing style starts off, in the first chapter, as very much a journal article type format with numbers and charts and academic language throughout. As the book progresses, the narratives become more frequent and with individual case studies rather than overarching generalizations. The author does well in sharing only what is relevant to the text with his narrations and saving the rest of the story for the appropriate context later in the book. It reads much like Influencer or Crucial Conversations in that regard. I, personally, felt that the stories just may have been a bit too long at some points with the subject matter being too little.In sharing the real-life case studies, the authors well present their thesis to identifying and overcoming adaptive (see adaptive vs. technical) challenges. By presenting these case studies, the authors demonstrate that these are not just theories but are very real and very valid methods to creating change not just in one's own identity, but entire corporations as well. These case studies range from the common man to the corporate executive and her peer group. Furthermore, the facts and statistics that are associated to these leadership challenges are well documented and displayed throughout the book.In conclusion, a person or organization that needs help tackling challenges that have been frustratingly unsuccessful should check this book out. It goes beyond just telling a person to act this way and actually helps one to readjust his or her identity. Also, the knowledge in this book will aid in recognizing what challenges are technical and what challenges are adaptive​, and how to appropriate the solutions.