Immunity to change revisited: Theoretical foundations for awareness based practices for leadership development

Abstract

This article presents an inquiry into how the understanding of Kegan and Lahey’s immunity to change process can be enhanced through examining it in relation to two other theoretical lenses, the work of David Bohm and the Arbinger Institute. This is taken as an exemplar of the conception of awareness based practices for leadership developmentwhich is introduced as the larger focus of the article. A brief review of literature in relevant fields is presented to situate the present work. A set of methodological considerations is described along withtheprocess for the analysis of textual extracts from the three sources. This is followed by a description of ten themes emerging from this analysis. These themes are examined for interconnections and key insights. The discussion centers around two elements. First isthe wisdom of self-transcendence in relation to the immunity to change process. Second ishow the emerging view of awareness can contribute to understanding leadership development. Concluding reflections summarize the findings and identify limitations of the inquiry.