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If contemporary culture were a school, with all the tasks and expectations meted out by modern life as its curriculum, would anyone graduate? In the spirit of a sympathetic teacher, Robert Kegan guides us through this tricky curriculum, assessing the fit between its complex demands and our mental ca... More

The Evolving Self focuses upon the most basic and universal of psychological problems--the individual's effort to make sense of experience, to make meaning of life. According to Robert Kegan, meaning-making is a lifelong activity that begins in earliest infancy and continues to evolve through a ser... More

If contemporary culture were a school, with all the tasks and expectations meted out by modern life as its curriculum, would anyone graduate? In the spirit of a sympathetic teacher, Robert Kegan guides us through this tricky curriculum, assessing the fit between its complex demands and our mental ca... More

The Evolving Self focuses upon the most basic and universal of psychological problems—the individual’s effort to make sense of experience, to make meaning of life. According to Robert Kegan, meaning-making is a lifelong activity that begins in earliest infancy and continues to evolve through a serie... More

What will distinguish your leadership from others' in the years ahead? The authors of this chapter believe it will be your ability to develop yourself, your people, and your teams. They apply adult development theories-debunking the belief that the human brain slows in its ability to adapt and learn... More

Thought-provoking essay.... More

Kagan, the neoconservative co-founder of the Project for a New American Century and vocal advocate for "regime change" in Iraq, argues that the United States, from its beginnings, has been an expansionist and aggressive power, contrary to the national self-image of Americans as inward-looking and is... More

'Robert Kagan is the reigning pundit of great power politics. ' Alex Danchev, TLSHopes for a new peaceful international order after the end of the Cold War have been dashed by sobering realities. Great powers are once again competing for geopolitical influence. International competition between th... More

What would the world look like if America were to reduce its role as a global leader in order to focus all its energies on solving its problems at home? And is America really in decline? Robert Kagan, New York Times best-selling author and one of the country's most influential strategic thinkers, pa... More

A brilliant and visionary argument for America's role as an enforcer of peace and order throughout the world--and what is likely to happen if we withdraw and focus our attention inward.Recent years have brought deeply disturbing developments around the globe. American sentiment seems to be leaning i... More

At a time when relations between the United States and Europe are at their lowest ebb since World War II, this brief but cogent book is essential reading. Robert Kagan, a leading scholar of American foreign policy, forces both sides to see themselves through the eyes of the other. Europe, he argues... More

A recent study showed that when doctors tell heart patients they will die if they don't change their habits, only one in seven will be able to follow through successfully. Desire and motivation aren't enough: even when it's literally a matter of life or death, the ability to change remains maddening... More

How do you become a learning organization? As a leader, you cannot grow the organization's ability to achieve its goals alone. Identifying goals as a team and bringing professional development issues to the forefront supports learning on a personal and organizational level simultaneously. This chapt... More

Individuals and collectivities like work teams, leadership groups, departmental units, and whole organizations often unknowingly protect themselves from making the very changes they most want to make. They fall victim to a phenomenon the authors call "immunity to change." This chapter follows a numb... More

As any experienced manager will tell you, being an effective delegator is crucial to using everyone's time, skills, and knowledge appropriately. Without it, today's talents go underdeployed, tomorrow's talents go undeveloped, and some people--especially ineffective delegators themselves--get overuse... More

Issues with self-management and emotional self-regulation at work are widespread and can prevent even the brightest people, like Cathy, from realizing their full potential. This chapter examines how Cathy came to understand that she both created and was captive to high levels of stress in her work l... More

There are several ways to combat individual and organizational immunity to change. This chapter examines the case of one woman, Cathy, whose biggest change challenge emerged out of a groupwide initiative with her whole marketing team. According to the authors, this collective approach may be the mos... More

It turns out that some people are better suited to overcoming their immunities to change than others. Research suggests that the more people are connected to three key ingredients the more significant their changes will be. The gut provides the necessary, visceral desire to change that takes you bey... More

Are you ready to start unlocking your potential? Are you interested in seeing what happens when once-countervailing energies are made available for productive purposes? The answer to these questions is most likely "yes," but what is the next step? In this chapter, the authors help you map out your o... More

Seeing how your self-protective motivations systematically prevent you from achieving exactly what you most desire is necessary. Insights can be powerful, even exciting, but they do not necessarily lead to transformation. You need a structure to help channel your aspirations, test and gain distance ... More

Just as individuals do, work groups, leadership groups, organizations, and other collectivities can unknowingly prevent themselves from achieving what they most desire due to a collective immunity to change. This chapter is designed to assist you in diagnosing your group's particular immunity and to... More

Change dominates our work lives, our home lives, our politics, economics, and culture. Global thought leaders and practitioners alike constantly talk of change, but it's no surprise that less attention is paid to the feelings, anxieties, and motivations that spur passionate commitment NOT to change.... More

In the complex and ever-changing world we live in, human capability will be the critical variable in the new century. But leaders who seek to win a war for talent by conceiving of capability as a fixed resource to be found "out there" put themselves and their organizations at a serious disadvantage.... More

It is not change itself that causes anxiety. It is the feeling that we are in over our heads, that our capabilities are insufficient to meet the challenge of change that engenders what the authors call an "immunity to change." In order to combat this immunity to change in yourself and your organizat... More

Why is the gap so great between our hopes, our intentions, even our decisions-and what we are actually able to bring about? Even when we are able to make important changes-in our own lives or the groups we lead at work-why are the changes are so frequently short-lived and we are soon back to busines... More