Coaching Leaders: Guiding People Who Guide Others

Chapter 11

Forces That Interfere with Growth

We do not “kick out of the house” any subself or part of the personality but rather understand and integrate its energy and its functions back into the self organization. … There are no outcasts and no prisons to lock up the deviants.

—STEWART SHAPIRO, The Selves Inside You

There are many reasons why people don't change. Outwardly, many people resist change with tough demonstrations of disinterest or annoyance. However, underlying these hard emotions are often more vulnerable ones.

Anxiety is one of these emotions. People's existing mental models and behavior patterns are familiar and comforting to them. The models are supported by neural pathways that have become ingrained, even addictive. People ...