Changing on the Job, Second Edition

An advanced guide to leadership development and intentional evolution—your own or others—using Adult Education Theory.


The first edition of Changing on the Job became a popular guide for executive coaches and leadership trainers, because it simplified a set of complex tools and ideas to help executive coaches develop leaders, based on "Adult Development Theory." Leaders (like all adults) grow through four predictable stages of maturity and wisdom. Crucially, Jennifer Garvey Berger argues that if we do not deliberately help leaders advance to the two higher stages, we will be unable to solve the global problems which are plaguing us, like climate change, war, or the next global crisis. The leaders we need to solve our complex, unprecedented problems can only be developed in the workplace, and they need the advanced perspective, maturity, and personal evolution described this book.


The second edition includes new chapters written for leaders as well as executive coaches, and many updates. It is the only book in the influential field of Adult Development Theory that's easy to read and offers clear descriptions of what adult/leader growth looks like. It also includes tools and ideas to help leaders grow.