Immunity to Change

The core concept of this fascinating work is that people and organizations want to change, but often fail to do so because they get in their own way. Robert Kegan, a professor in Harvard’s Graduate School of Education, and Lisa Laskow Lahey, associate director of Harvard’s Change Leadership Group, delve into learning theory to provide readers with a useful framework for thinking about personal and organizational change.

Any particular expression of the immunity to change provides us a picture of how we are systematically working against the very goal we genuinely want to achieve.Robert Kegan and Lisa Laskow Lahey

The authors are perceptive about the fundamental mismatch between how people attempt to change and what they really need to do. They believe in the power of self-awareness to fuel emotional and intellectual growth, which they regard as a personal responsibility. They feel that everyone should be accountable for his or her level of emotional and perceptual maturity. However, they also urge you to remember that no true transformation happens at a steady or predictable pace. It takes time.