Featured News and Resources
In this special newsletter, we explore the impact that becoming a certified ITC Coach has made on coaches’ work, life, and outlook.
Coach Certification Program 2025-2026
Space is still available in the 2025-2026 cohort of the ITC Coach Certification Program! This year-long course is the only path to becoming a certified ITC Coach. You’ll learn to overcome your own Immune System while coaching others to do the very same.
Register here for an ITC workshop with Dr. Robert Kegan! Participants will leave with a draft of their Immunity Map and ideas of how to start challenging their limiting Big Assumptions.
The Internal Tug-Of-War: Why We Struggle To Change
Dr. Maggie Warrell’s Forbes piece excellently illustrates how wanting change simply isn’t enough. Our brains, our fears, and our Immune Systems work hard to protect us from danger. It takes powerful internal work to address those fears, recognize our Competing Commitments, and create change.
Happy Holidays! We appreciate getting to share another year with you, our wonderful Minds at Work community. Thank you for all of the shared learnings, memories, and growth!
November 2024 Newsletter: We Each Contain Multitudes
It is important to remember that each person in our shared communities has diverse perspectives and experiences. Immunity to Change™ provides a helpful framework for understanding and celebrating those differences.
The Real Reason People Won’t Change
Even when we know why and how we want to change, making the change and making it last isn’t easy. Robert Kegan and Lisa Lahey explore what stops us from making those meaningful changes and how Immunity to Change™ can help make lasting progress.
September 2024 Newsletter: Checking With Your Limbic System
It can be all too easy to identify noble Hidden Commitments. We want to get better, move forward, and make progress on our Column One goals. In this newsletter, we explore how a check-in with the limbic system can help identify those upsetting, intense fears that hinder progress on our goals—the perfect Column Three entries.
Transformative Leadership Conversations Podcast: Part 1
Curious about ITC? On the Transformative Leadership Conversations podcast with Winnie da Silva, Deb Helsing explains how Immunity to Change can challenge our hidden Immune Systems.
Transformative Leadership Conversations Podcast: Part 2
Listen in on an Immunity to Change coaching session with Deb Helsing! On the Transformative Leadership Conversations podcast, Deb walks a participant through the Immunity to Change mapmaking process, providing a valuable look at what an effective coaching session looks like.
Registration for our 2025 programs is now open! Read through our newsletter to browse our program calendar, and to sign up for a coach training program while spaces last!
The Harvard Graduate School of Education features Immunity to Change as a “Story of Impact,” celebrating its effectiveness and resourcefulness.
Tools for Humanity: Rage and Love as Acts of Resistance and Renewal
Sit in on Lisa Lahey’s session at the 2023 Race, Gender, and Equity at Work Symposium. Lisa walks sets up what an Immunity to Change workshop is, grounding it in the work to develop healthier individuals and workplaces.
It can be a challenge to find the right questions to ask during a coaching session. In this issue, we explore how to focus your coaching questions and maximize impact.
The Immunity to Change framework is grounded in Constructive Developmental Theory (CDT). Learn more about CDT through our programs: Introduction to Robert Kegan’s Adult Development Theory and the Subject-Object Interview Workshop.
In our December issue, we reflect on 2023 using Immunity to Change and the work of Australian musician Nick Cave.
Deb Helsing shares how a resistance to change isn’t stubbornness, but rather an act of protection designed by our psychological Immune Systems. The Immunity to Change approach, she explains, can help us identify these underlying causes and address them to make real change.
Lisa Lahey on Power Presence Academy
Lisa Lahey sits down with Janet Ioli of Power Presence Academy and discusses discovering the authentic “you,”, the challenge of vulnerability, uncovering limiting Big Assumptions, and more!
Voister: “You Have a Right to Grow in Your Workspace”
With Voister, Bob Kegan dives into growth, burnout, and what a supportive workplace that prioritizes employee development looks like. Bob Kegan joins the Australian Workforce Summit to discuss fostering a growth culture, empowering employees, and transforming organizations.
Additional 2024 Coach Training Programs
We are excited to announce new program dates for 2024, as well as a brand new program: Introduction to Robert Kegan’s Adult Development Theory! Learn more in our newsletter here
Our 2024 program calendar is now live! With in-person and online sessions serving a range of time zones, we’ve got something for everyone. We can’t wait to see you in 2024!
In this issue, we address how understanding Immunity to Change’s grounding in Constructive-Developmental Theory can better serve our clients.
In our June newsletter, we explore how the Immunity to Change method can be an effective intervention tool to improve mental health.
Join Lisa Lahey, a featured guest on the Power Presence Academy podcast as she walks through her personal Immunity to Change and helps us make sense of the methodology as a whole.
April 2023 Newsletter: Growing Your Business and Growing Yourself
This month, we dive into what’s holding us back. We explore how Immunity to Change™ can transform the lives of our clients while simultaneously help us unleash our full potential as practitioners.
The Three Steps to Meeting Your Monsters and Getting Ahead at Work
Bob Kegan joins the Australian Workforce Summit to discuss fostering a growth culture, empowering employees, and transforming organizations. Read more about his talk here.
March 2023 Newsletter: Using a Survey with Immunity to Change Work™
Overturning Immunity to Change™ doesn’t stop at creating an ITC Map. Join Dave Osh, our newest certified ITC Coach, as he examines how ITC surveys transform the scope of his work.
February 2023 Newsletter: The Chances I Wish I Had Taken
Letting our Big Assumptions make decisions for us can lead us to feel regretful. In our newsletter, we examine how Immunity to Change™ can help us overcome regret and make lasting change.
In our January 2023 Newsletter, we follow Carola, a mother with a change goal to exercise more, on her Immunity to Change journey™. Read on to learn more about how Carola used ITC to implement new, lasting habits, our upcoming coach training programs, and our personal development programs
Your New Year’s golf resolution isn’t going to work, but this will
Golf Digest author Sam Weinman explores his own experience trying to perfect his swing and his resistance to changes in technique. Drawing on the Immunity to Change™ approach, he reflects on what might be brewing under the surface and how to transform his internal belief system.
Lisa Lahey on the Worst Thing about New Year’s Resolutions
Lisa Lahey explains why some New Year’s Resolutions don’t stick, and how Immunity to Change can help us make impactful, lasting change.
In our December 2022 Newsletter, we recap what we’re most grateful for, including the opportunity to have our community continue to grow. We can’t wait to continue working together in 2023!
Brené Brown’s Dare to Lead Podcast ft. Lisa Lahey – Immunity to Change™ Part 1
Lisa accompanies Brené Brown on a deeply personal journey to confront and overturn Brené’s own Immunity to Change™ .
Brené Brown’s Dare to Lead Podcast ft. Lisa Lahey – Immunity to Change™ Part 2
Lisa and Brené Brown uncover the Big Assumptions that power Brené’s Immune System and make incredible headway on reaching her personal Improvement Goal.
HBR Press Ideas with Impact List
Harvard Business Review has launched the Ideas with Impact list to celebrate HBR published works that have sold at least 10,000 copies.
November 2022 Newsletter: An Interview with Certified ITC Coach Philip Chan
Read our November 2022 Newsletter to learn more about the 2023 ITC Coach Certification Program and upcoming program dates. In this issue, Certified ITC Coach Philip Chan shares insights on his experiences in the program and reflects on his growth as a practitioner since its completion.
2023 Coach Certification Program Applications Open!
Applications are now open for the 2023 Coach Certification Program. This year-long program trains participants to effectively lead others through the entire Immunity to Change™ coaching arc, transforming themselves and their work in the process. Learn more and apply today here.
Bob Kegan joins Future Squared to talk through how individuals can work together to improve organizational culture.
Phronesis: Practical Wisdom for Leaders Podcast
On the Phronesis: Practical Wisdom for Leaders Podcast, Deb Helsing discusses the feeling of being “stuck,” and how Immunity to Change™ can unlock leadership potential.
Bob Kegan and Lisa Lahey join the HBR IdeaCast to unpack what makes an organization truly successful, and how a culture of vulnerability, honesty, and transparency supports individual and organizational growth.
The Messy Middle Podcast ft. Lisa Lahey – Immunity to Change™
Lisa Lahey joins Andrew Horsfield on The Messy Middle podcast to explore the leadership potential in confronting and overcoming one’s Immunity to Change™.
Facing the Fears That Hold You Back at Work
Certified Immunity to Change™ coaches Rebecca Zucker and Ruth Gotian brilliantly explore how fear can manifest in surprising ways, and how to reclaim control.
I’ve spent my career studying bad habits. Here’s what I’ve learned about breaking them.
Lisa Lahey draws on personal experience to illustrate how hard our Immune Systems work to protect us and offers strategies to make meaningful progress.
In our Fall Newsletter, we announce our 2023 program dates, both online and in-person, and share exciting new work within the Immunity to Change™ community.
5 Questions With Robert Kegan, Lisa Lahey And Andy Fleming On ‘An Everyone Culture’
Bob Kegan, Lisa Lahey, and Andy Fleming share what a Deliberately Developmental Organization is, and what makes one so revolutionary.
Your Immunity to Change and How to Overcome It
Tami Simon of the Insights on the Edge podcast sits down with Lisa Lahey to discuss identifying an Immunity to Change™, how it impacts work and self, and how to take the necessary steps to overcome it.
In our Summer 2022 newsletter, we discuss the relationship between Immunity to Change™ and sustainable development across the globe, as well as how to start or continue your own Immunity to Change™ journey!
Adaptive versus Technical Challenges
Lisa Lahey joins William Laitinen on the Talent Equals podcast series to unpack adaptive vs. technical challenges, adult development, and Immunity to Change™.
With thought-provoking opening and closing workshops, participants in the Developmental Sprint® will build valuable skills to maximize success. Join The Developmental Edge® in an upcoming public offering this May-June or July-August.
Evolve Magazine Interview with Robert Kegan
Bob Kegan sits down with Evolve Magazine, an impactful collection of work regarding culture and consciousness, to dive into his work regarding Immunity to Change™ and Adult Development Theory. Access the interview through Evolve Magazine’s website here.
Interview with Karen Doyle Grossman: The SOI
Since being certified in the Subject-Object Interview (SOI), Karen Doyle Grossman makes use of the tool in her coaching practice. It helps develop a robust understanding of her clients, their needs, and their goals. Learn more about the SOI and its use in practice through her interview with Deb Helsing.
Growing Up as Grown-Ups Podcast
On the Growing as Grown-Ups Podcast, Bob Kegan sits down with Drs. Sara Musgrove and Keith Eigel to explore the incredible capacity for human growth. They expand on developmental cultures, personal and group improvement, and Adult Developmental Theory. Watch the entire interview here.
Our team is growing! Learn more about Minds at Work staffing updates, and consider joining us for our 2022 coach training programs.
In our February 2022 Newsletter we dive into the Big Assumptions that undermine happiness, growth, and effectiveness, and discuss how to make meaningful, lasting change.
Announcing our 2022 Coach Certification Program! The Coach Certification Program is a transformative training program that empowers participants to create meaningful change by training and coaching others in the Immunity to Change™ framework.
We appreciate all the work we’ve been able to do together in 2021, and are looking forward to a new year in community together! We hope you will join our 2022 public programs and continue growing with Minds at Work.
Rolling out Immunity to Change™ in an Organization
Explore how Certified Immunity to Change™ Coach, Glenn Terrell, worked with an engineering and sustainability company in Seattle to roll out Immunity to Change™, beginning with the leadership team and then expanding to work across the company.
Interview Series with Glenn Terrell: Rolling out Immunity to Change™ in an Organization
We interviewed Glenn this summer to learn about Immunity to Change™ work he did with this organization, how he measured progress, and what led to the impressive results.
2022 Program Dates and Celebrating Success
We are thrilled to announce new program dates for the start of 2022 and we want to celebrate how one of our program graduates – Immunity to Change™ certified coach Glenn Terrell — has used Immunity to Change™ to help transform the culture of an Engineering and Sustainability company in Seattle.
The mental demands of the modern world.
TKC Interviews | Prof. Robert Kegan – The increasing demands on employees
Bob Kegan on Immunity to Change™ and the Strengths-Based Approach + new program dates!
In this Newsletter Bob Kegan explores Immunity to Change™ and strengths-based approach to change and people development. We are also pleased to announce new summer program dates for Mapmaking for 1:1 Coaching and the Adult Development Assessment: The SOI.
Immunity to Change™ and the Strengths-Based Approach: A Provocation
What if the opposite of our “strengths” is not our “weaknesses,” but our unrealized potential? You may find appealing an approach that promises to ignore your weaknesses. How appealing would you find an approach that ignores your unrealized potential?
Feelings about Assumptions and Assumptions about Feelings
The mindset reflected in an Immunity to Change™ is not simply a cognitive phenomenon. It is also an emotional phenomenon. We created our Big Assumptions to manage our anxiety, to protect ourselves from dangerous dread named in our Worry Boxes. When we test our Big Assumptions, we are in part exploring whether they are ever unnecessarily protecting us.
Minds at Work’s 2021 programs: registration open now!
We are excited to announce our 2021 offerings – all online! Our programs emphasize facilitation skills and tools. To better accommodate members of our global community, all of these offerings will be held online with varied start and end times.
You might want to check out the just-published My Antelope Loves Cantaloupe, a young children’s picture-book by our co-founder, Bob Kegan! It’s “an ear-worm of affectionate silliness.” Bob wrote it for his grandchildren. You can get it direct from the publisher or on Amazon.
September Newsletter: Octopuses and SOIs
As coaches, we often try to connect deeply with others. Our ability to establish these types of connections with others depends on two things. We must understand the other person well enough, and we must care about them enough. One of the most useful tools we have at our disposal is the ability to listen through the lens of developmental theory and to ask questions like those in a Subject-Object Interview (SOI).
Immunity to Change™ Extra! Fall 2020 Scholarship Opportunities
Are you ready to sharpen your coaching and facilitating skills? Are you looking to take Immunity to Change™ into your work with teams? Join us online this fall in the Facilitator’s Workshop and Using Immunity to Change™ with Teams Day to hone your skills in support individual and collective change for your clients and organization.
At the simplest level, DDO is “open learning”.
Robert Kegan sat down (virtually) with the 36Kr team in China to discuss “How to break the rigid opposition between the organization and the individual and fully mobilize the vitality of the members is an unchanging puzzle for the organization no matter the past, present or future.”
Transforming an International Leadership Advisory Firm with Immunity to Change™
We recently caught up with one of our Certified Coaches, Yasushi Maruyama, Tokyo Office Leader and Executive Committee Member of Egon Zehnder, to learn how they have been using Immunity to Change™ and what impact it has had.
The Further Reaches of Adult Development
In 2013 Robert Kegan looked at WHY we are living longer and if it is really possible to grow beyond the psychological independence of the “self-authoring mind,” so often seen as the zenith of adult development?
Over the last few weeks, images of outrage over the devastating deaths of George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery, Rayshard Brooks, Breonna Taylor and countless other Black Americans have flooded news reports around the world. It has become clear that the only way White Americans can begin to grasp what we see on our streets is by accompanying it with a long look in the mirror.
New Online Coach Development Programs
Even though we often associate it with world-ending calamities, the Greek word apocalypse actually refers to that which uncovers or reveals, and by that definition, the continuing global scale and colossal impact of the COVID-19 crisis certainly qualifies. It may be that this has been an apocalyptic time for you – that you are recognizing previously unseen depths or shallows in your own ability to move through our current predicament with equanimity.
Challenging the Big Assumptions that limit how I respond to the pandemic
Dr. Deborah Helsing, Co-Director of Minds at Work, found her sense of calm challenged enough by the COVID-19 crisis that she created an Immunity Map to help her identify unhelpful, limiting Big Assumptions that could be contributing to her distress. Deb then created and conducted two simple tests of those same Assumptions, which allowed her to uncover a more beneficial mindset for living through this time.
What is this crisis teaching us about leadership?
We still don’t know what the full impact of the coronavirus will be, but even now it is revealing both treasures and wrecks. We all recognize gold in the courage, generosity, imagination and clarity that characterize leadership in settings small and global, and then watch – sometimes literally in horror — as heads of governments display a dangerous inability to navigate wisely, or even at all.
Evolve Magazine Interview with Dr. Robert Kegan
“When democratic processes lead to the election of people who have a more authoritarian or autocratic orientation, then we see that a constitution is only as good as the people’s ability to actually understand it.”
New Online Coach Development Programs
We have revamped and expanded our program offerings to meet Immunity to Change™ facilitators’ and coaches’ needs to learn and deepen their knowledge with Immunity to Change™. We are excited to announce four new online offerings: Online Facilitator’s Workshop, Immunity to Change™ Mapmaking for 1:1 Coaching, Advanced Test Design, and Using Immunity to Change™ with Teams Day – Online.
Staying connected to ourselves and to others in a time of crisis
“All of this starts with awareness, noticing our feelings, our reactions. That is what makes it possible for us to have a relationship to those feelings. By contrast, when we are unaware of our feelings, they are in charge.”
The transformative potentials in our current crisis
“The virus has the potential to show us even more deeply that we are first of all members of one single vulnerable species just trying to make its way on one single fragile planet. The more that we come to experience that, the bigger is the transformative potential–that these systems, valuable though they may be, are just constructions.”
What is our potential for transformation?
As the coronavirus continues to challenge both personal and professional “business as usual” and reveal opportunities for development on both an individual and a world-wide scale.
We all find ourselves in a mammoth moment of disruption that will require an equal measure of new adaptive capacity: We don’t know exactly how things will change but we can be confident that they will change a great deal. We will all need to change too, and all our experience tells us the very best way to face challenges is together.
We know that willpower is rarely enough to bring about a long-hoped-for improvement, and participants in our programs learn to use the Immunity Map exercise to uncover the invisible internal system that short-circuits our commitment to change. Then we identify the powerful Big Assumptions that keep us chained to disappointment.
Robert Kegan interviews Ray Dalio
How would you describe the ways people actually experience their first months in the company, and why do you think they have the kinds of difficulties they do? Why do you tape every meeting and make them available to everyone there? Can you explain this thing called the “dot collector”? How do you protect yourself from your own biases?
Becoming a Deliberately Developmental Organization
Listen to this interview with Bob Kegan, as he explores why companies still struggle to create an environment that fosters human potential.
Listen to this interview with Lisa Lahey as she explains there are three forces of nature that can impact our ability to develop, grow and transcend the status quo.
Seeing & Overcoming The Immunity to Change™
A full presentation from Lisa Lahey on how Immunity to Change™ can help you navigate change and complexity!
In this in-depth interview with Rebel Wisdom, Bob talks about his theory of adult development. If you haven’t watched it yet, you’re in for a treat.
Bob Kegan receives Tribeca Disruptive Innovation Award
Bob joined a select group including past Nobel Prize recipients, Pope Francis, and Keith Richards of the Rolling Stones when Tribeca Disruptive Innovation Awards recognized him with its Lifetime Achievement Award earlier this year!
