Cut it in half.
Then cut it in half again.

Immunity to Change provides a great framework for identifying why change is hard on an individual, group, and organizational level. The authors go through the why before addressing the how. They use stories to showcase how their system works and walk you through easy application of their tools. Even if you don't use the tool, the theory and insights are valuable.

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"If you do not attend as much to develop as leaders, then your leadership development will always be directed to the plan or agenda you have."

"The two most important things to know about people you are trying to help change: What do they really want and what will they do to keep from getting it?"

"You need to develop yourself before you can develop others."

"Ask others: what is the single thing you think is most important for me to get better at. That should be your focus."

"You can't solve by brilliant analysis later what you screwed up at the start in the original design."

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.

Liked the activity and map, repetitive in many places, hope to use this in the future for work.

Interesting look at how to uncover the underlying fears and beliefs that run counter to the changes you are trying to make in your life or organization.

When your stuck when you break it down there are unconscious beliefs that cause you to act counter to your conscious desires

Did not need to be as long to explain the concept. I skipped the middle section that was all case studies to the end where they lay out the process

The authors start off defining this phrase "immunity to change" essentially as a condition or set of conditions that keep us from changing due to our inherent disposition to preserve our current paradigms.

The book goes through in great detail a process that the authors have used in working with individuals and their organizations. While the translation of those efforts does not make for the most flowed narrative, there are elements within I found helpful. For instance:

• The difference between learning and training versus true development. Rather than bringing new skills to a given existing perspective, instead focus should be on changing the actual reference points(s): “… what passes for ‘leadership development’ will more likely amount to ‘leadership learning’ or ‘leadership training’. The knowledge and skills gained will be like new files and programs brought to the existing operating system… True development is about transforming the operating system itself, not just increasing your fund of knowledge or your behavioral repertoire” (p. 6).
• Development is uneven, going in fits and starts over time: “Development does not unfold continuously; there are periods of stability and periods of change. When a new plateau is reached we tend to stay on that level for a considerable period of time (although elaborations and extensions within each system can certainly occur). The intervals between transformations to new levels—‘time on a plateau’—get longer and longer. The line gets thinner, representing fewer and fewer people at the higher plateaus” (p. 15).
• There are three systems that make meaning: the socialized mind, consisting of team-playing, seeking direction and following others; self-authoring mind, where we lead others and follow our own conclusions; and self-transforming mind, which the authors classify as a "meta-leader" who leads in order to continue learning and is interdependent with others.
• The authors use a three-column model that classifies:
1) (Behavior goals) Visible commitments we make
2) (Behaviors that work against the goals)-- things that we do instead of or in spite of our goals
3) Hidden competing commitments that we may not actively be aware of or otherwise considering
• There's a lot of discussion today about how to manage anxiety (and plenty of source of anxiety). Although those who are good at managing anxiety are often successful in business, the authors caution us: “Successful people—develop anxiety-management systems that are very robust and self-sustaining, and they permit us to function in wide variety of situations. But we run these systems—even highly successful anxiety-management systems—at a cost. Inevitably, they create blind spots, prevent new learning, and constantly constrain action in some aspects of our living. These costs show up when we are unable to deliver on some genuinely desired change, the realization of which would bring us to a new, higher level of functioning in ways we truly want to attain” (p. 48).
• They introduce the idea of seeking "720-degree feedback", where we not only ask key work stakeholders to evaluate us, but also those in our personal lives.

This had the potential to be really good, but was filled with hard to follow anecdotes. (audiobook)
(I was reading as an individual and not as an organization)
There are a lot of other books on mindset that could be more helpful for individuals.

key takeaways:
How the way we talk can change the way we work
Immunity to change is not wanting to deviate from the way we are currently meaning making

Not wanting to change out of safety and self preservation
Our body and mind are trying to stay protected
Anxiety = the immunity to change
True barriers to change come from within

Metacognition: thinking about my operating systems

How am I getting in my own way?
The hidden role of emotion when it comes to change

A good problem is good not because of the problem it solves, but how it grows you
It will solve us before we solve it