Why Good Ideas Get Rejected
Your organization has an immune system. It protects against foreign capabilities, even beneficial ones. Understanding the antibody response predicts which changes will succeed.
You've seen it happen. Someone proposes a better process, a smarter tool, a more efficient structure. The idea is clearly good. The evidence is strong.
And the organization kills it.
Not through malice. Not through stupidity. Through something that functions exactly like an immune response.
"Antibodies don't reject change. They reject foreign metabolisms."
When you receive an organ transplant, your immune system doesn't evaluate whether the new kidney is "better."
It detects that the tissue is foreign and mobilizes to destroy it.
Organizations work the same way.
PROCESS ANTIBODIES
"We've always done it this way"
Protecting known workflows. Change introduces chaos of relearning.
POWER ANTIBODIES
"Who approved this change?"
Protecting hierarchical authority. Power structures are survival structures.
IDENTITY ANTIBODIES
"That's not who we are"
Protecting self-concept. Identity is the deepest defense layer.
CAPABILITY ANTIBODIES
"We don't have the skills"
Protecting against competency threats. Existing expertise feels existential threat.
DETECTION
"Something foreign has entered." Days to weeks.
THREAT ASSESSMENT
"Does this threaten our operation?" Weeks to months.
MOBILIZATION
"Rally defenses." Meetings multiply. Objections surface. Months.
REJECTION OR INTEGRATION
"Expel or adapt." Usually expelled. Months to years.
"You can't transplant field state capabilities into particle state organizations without metabolic preparation."
The rejection is automatic.
The standard change management playbook: communicate better, get executive sponsorship, demonstrate ROI, build coalitions.
This is like telling someone with an organ transplant to "just convince their immune system" that the kidney is good.
Antibodies don't respond to arguments. They respond to metabolic compatibility.
METABOLIC MATCHING
Introduce changes close to current GPI. Build incrementally.
CAPABILITY BUILDING
Build infrastructure first. Small wins before marathons.
ANTIBODY IDENTIFICATION
Map which types will activate. Sequence to build tolerance.
METABOLIC QUARANTINE
Keep new capabilities isolated until absorption is possible.
• The organization reinforces its particle state identity
• Future change becomes harder (antibodies "remember" threats)
• Change agents leave or are expelled
• The organization celebrates "protecting culture"
Every rejected improvement makes the next improvement less likely.
Antibodies don't just kill individual changes. They strengthen resistance to all future change.
The immune system can't be argued with. It must be prepared.
From the upcoming book
The Growing Pains Index
Chapter 8: Antibodies
Measure your organization's metabolic state. Understand which changes will be rejected and which can be absorbed.
TAKE THE GPI DIAGNOSTIC