Book Report of Immunity to Change: How to Overcome It and Unlock the Potential in Yourself and Your Organization

Book Authors: Robert Kegan & Lisa Lahey

Book Report Written By: Tess Hobson, LinkedIn.com/in/tesshobson/

Point 1: “It is not changes that causes anxiety; it is the feeling that we are without defenses in the presence of what we see as danger that causes anxiety” (p. 49). This quote really stood out to me because it has become a norm in our society that change is what causes discomfort and anxiety. This point helps to highlight that it’s not the change itself, but rather something deeper, what’s underneath the change, that leads to feelings of discomfort and anxiety.

Point 2: We all have a psychological immune system that protects us from perceived threats to our safety, just like we have a physical immune system. Sometimes our immune system can get it wrong, which holds us back from making the changes we say we want to make. In other words, we may perceive a danger to exist that doesn’t really exist in the way our subconscious mind thinks. This point captures the essence of the Immunity to Change framework. It highlights why creating change can be so hard for us even if the change is something we say is important to us. Underneath all of our behaviors there are reasons we act in alignment or misalignment with the changes we say we want to make, and it all boils down to our perceived sense of safety, our identity, and the stories that have shaped how we view the world. Utilizing this knowledge, we can help our clients dive deeper into what’s holding them back from the changes they seek.

Point 3: The more people are connected to their “gut,” “head and heart,” and “hand” the more likely they are to overcome their immunities. In terms of being connected to their “gut,” people need to have a powerful enough gut feeling that the cost of self-protection has become too big a price to continue paying, or they need a burst of hope that comes from their gut from seeing a way forward that wasn’t clear before. In regard to being connected to their “head and heart,” recalculating risks and benefits entails a simultaneous “thinking about feelings” and “feeling our way into new ways of thinking.” Lastly, the “hand” refers to the action that must take place for change to happen. In addition to feeling and reflecting, we must begin to take intentional and specific actions that challenge our immunities to change.

Point 4: Diagnosing our immunities to change involves a four-step process. First is identifying a commitment or improvement goal that feels significantly important to becoming the person we want to be. Second, is listing out all of the actions we are doing and not doing that work against that improvement goal. The third step is identifying hidden competing commitments. We do this by imagining ourselves doing the opposite of the behaviors we identified in step 2. The question we can ask is, “If I imagine myself trying to do the opposite of this, what is the most uncomfortable or worrisome feeling that comes up?” From here, we are able to identify the hidden commitments we have that compete with our improvement goal. The final step is to identify our big assumptions that keep our immune system in place. Identifying our big assumptions that inform the rest of our immune system is vital in beginning to challenge them in order to create the change we identified in the first step.

Favorite passage and why: “Not long ago a medical study showed that if heart doctors tell their seriously at-risk heart patients they will literally die if they do not make changes to their personal lives – diet, exercise, smoking – still only one in seven is actually ablet o make the changes. One in seven! And we can safely assume that the other six wanted to live, see more sunsets, watch their grandchildren grow up. They didn’t lack a sense of urgency. The incentive for change could not be greater. The doctors made sure they knew just what they needed to do. Still, they couldn’t do it. If people cannot make the changes they dearly want to when their very lives are on the line, then how can leaders at any level, in any kind of organization, expect to successfully support processes of change – even those they and their subordinates may passionately believe in – when the stakes and the payoff are not nearly as high? As with the heart patients, the change challenges today’s leaders face are not, for the most part, a problem of will. 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” (pgs. 1-2).

This was my favorite passage because it so clearly highlights that creating change in our lives is much more complex than the will do so. When people fail to make the changes they want to, I think we often chalk it up to them just not wanting it bad enough. That explanation is too simplistic and invalidating to the very real nature of human behavior. This passage helps to highlight the importance of our work as coaches. Helping clients get underneath what’s keeping them stuck, and deeply and genuinely listening to their experiences in order to do so, is where we have the potential to make a deep and lasting impact.

Application to my coaching: There are so many applications to coaching from this book and the Immunity to Change model. I believe there are even certifications to become an Immunity to Change coach. This model seems to inform the “Inviting your Fears to the Table” tool we learned in class. There are a multitude of coaching questions that could be supported by this model. Once a client has identified their change goal, some questions might include:

-       What are you currently doing that works against your goal?

-       What are you currently not doing that work against your goal?

-       If you were to do the opposite of those behaviors, what might you lose?

-       If you were to do the opposite of those behaviors, what fears or worries would come up for you?

-       What assumptions are at play for you that make those fears plausible?

-       What small experiment could you try to challenge that assumption?

I can utilize this framework to help clients unpack psychologically what’s keeping them stuck in making progress on their goals and generate ideas and action steps to expand their view of themselves, their potential, and the world in which they operate.