Lisa Lahey

Lisa Lahey is Founder of Minds At Work, a coaching and consulting firm serving businesses and institutions around the world, and is on the faculty of the Harvard University Graduate School of Education.

An expert in adult development and an experienced educator and executive coach, Lahey works with leaders and leadership teams in both for-profit and not-for-profit organizations. She currently leads and teaches the Personal Mastery program in Harvard’s Education Leadership, Organizations and Entrepreneurship program, a degree designed to advance equity, access, agency, and excellence in education. Her passion for adult education, women’s development, diversity and inclusion, and care for the aged have earned her special attention from the healthcare, nonprofit and education sectors.

Lahey and long-time collaborator Robert Kegan are credited with a breakthrough discovery of the “immunity to change,” a dynamic which impedes personal and organizational transformation. Her work helps people to close the gap between their good intentions and behaviors. This work is used worldwide by executives, senior teams and individuals in business, governmental, and educational organizations. For her seminal research, creation of developmental diagnostics and models, and prolific writing on the topic of adult development, Lahey has earned numerous awards, particularly Boston University’s Gislason Prize for contributions to organizational leadership and the Vision of Excellence Award from the Harvard Institute of Coaching.

Her books, "How The Way We Talk Can Change The Way We Work" (Wiley, 2001), and "Immunity to Change" (Harvard Business Press, 2009) have been published in over a dozen languages. Her latest book, "An Everyone Culture" (Harvard Business Press, 2016) was named “Best Management and Workplace Culture Book of 2016” by 800-CEO-READ. "Immunity to Change" and "An Everyone Culture" recently earned a place on Harvard Business Press Ideas with Impact List, joining just 19 other titles. Lahey has been on the faculty of the World Economic Forum’s Davos Conference, and had her work featured in The Atlantic, MSNBC News, Harvard Business Review, The New York Times Sunday Business Section, Oprah Magazine and Fast Company.

A passionate pianist and nature lover, Lahey has two married sons and lives in Cambridge, Massachusetts, with her husband.