One: the Worker
— an intense, hard working,
focused perfectionist. Ones experience life as a struggle in which they
are expected to make a contribution and improve the world. Mostly active
and on the go, they are energetically dedicated to their work and
responsibilities, however they define them. Their need to feel
"right" is the motivation behind several common
characteristics like researching how to accomplish a project before
doing it and working overtime to meet their responsibilities. More
about Ones.
Two: the Helper
— an empathetic,
service-oriented, flattering rescuer. Often warm and relational in type, Twos experience life as a succession of situations that need
their energy and input. They pride themselves on responding to people
and situations to meet needs and often keep busy — even hectic —
schedules as a result. However, most people wouldn’t know how
pressured Twos feel. Able to make others comfortable almost instantly,
they draw others out while keeping their own thoughts and feelings to
themselves. More about Twos.
Three: the Motivator
— an image-oriented,
accomplished, efficient performer. Threes experience life as a series of
tasks to be accomplished and use their drive, focus and energy to
complete them. Coming across as competent, confident and capable is
important to these high energy workers. Often outwardly personable, they
can remain internally detached from people as they focus on completing
tasks. They often find other people’s feelings and questions slowing
them down in their quest for achievement. More
about Threes.
Follow this link to take you back to the text you just
left about the Enneagram system:
Explanation of the Enneagram
Four: the Individualist
— a self-absorbed,
sensitive, creative overanalyzer. Fours experience life as a series of
interpersonal encounters, even as they feel overwhelmed by life’s
practical necessities. For them, life is a highly personal experience
that demands an authentic response. They feel intensely about anything
or anyone important to them and feel compelled to express their
feelings. Analyzing situations and their own experience occupies much of
their time as they search for creative and artistic means of expressing
themselves. More about Fours.
Five: the Observer
— a noncommittal,
deliberate, reflective loner. Fives experience life as a series of ideas
and experiences to be absorbed and analyzed. Reluctant to commit
themselves to other people and their projects, they often spend their
free time by themselves pursuing things that interest them. Easily
bored, they enjoy the adventure of learning and will extend themselves
to gain new knowledge. They can hold fast to their idea in the face of
opposition or criticism because they consider themselves the expert on
the topics they have studied. More about Fives.
Six: the
Networker — a responsible,
opinionated, community-oriented moralist. Sixes experience life as a
series of responsibilities which they are never quite sure they are
fulfilling. Often energetic and lively, they enjoy having full schedules
and keeping busy. Loyalty and commitment are virtues they value and they
find it difficult to deal with people who do not share their values.
Highly dedicated, they devote their energy to the group or groups that
mean the most to them and need back from those people their affirmation
and respect. More about Sixes.
Follow this link to take you back to the text you just
left about the Enneagram system:
Explanation of the Enneagram
Seven: the Visionary
— an analytical,
entertaining, self-indulgent visionary. Often enthusiastic and funny,
Sevens experience life as a banquet whose every delicacy must be
savored. Their attitude is, if you don’t enjoy something why bother
doing it? There are too many valuable experiences that can be enjoyed.
Easily engaged in new interests, Sevens have active minds that rarely
slow down. They may need support in following through on difficult tasks
because their multiple interests easily distract them. More
about Sevens.
Eight: the Activator
— a competitive,
practical, passionate maneuverer. Eights experience life as a series of
obstacles to be overcome. They disdain weakness and rely on their
strength, although they rarely feel as strong as they appear to others.
Often known as vital and engaging, they prefer to deal directly with
most situations. Taking a stand is easy for them while backing down,
even when they are wrong, is difficult. They intend to get the most from
life and to let little if anything or anyone stand in their way. More
about Eights.
Nine: the Universalist
— a secretive,
unemotional, affable problem solver for others. Nines experience life as
a series of pressures to be held at bay. They accomplish this goal by
being pleasant, indirect and friendly. Their harder edges are seen only
by people who know them well. Often proficient at technical projects
that challenge their perceptive minds, their personal lives can suffer
from lack of focus or attention to detail. They tend to put in a fair
day’s work for a fair day's pay and then keep their private time for
their own interests and enjoyment. More about
Nines.
Follow this link to take you back to the text you just
left about the Enneagram system:
Explanation of the Enneagram
One: the Worker.
Ones are highly focused and intense people who measure everything —
especially themselves and their own performance — by perfectionistic
standards. Often presenting the smiling, sociable side of their
personalities to the world, they experience great interior pressure to
work hard and to be fair, moderate, just, kind, and amiable in the
process. They keep a tight reign on all their emotions, especially
anger, in order to attain the perfectly acceptable response. An
insistent mental voice criticizes them if they do not live up to all
these standards; often it causes them to criticize others as well. Ones
feel caught in imperfection and so strive to avoid it; they want to feel
perfect.
Ones lead with the Doing Center and are focused on responding, achieving. Their support Feeling Center causes them to take their doing personally and want to do things right. Their Thinking Center is underactualized, which means they can’t get the big picture, focus on details, and are opinionated — the underactualized Thinking Center is the critical voice in their minds.
Back to first description.
Two: the Helper. Twos have an
extraordinary sensitivity to human feeling and need. They focus their
attention on responding to the needs of others and are blind to any
needs or shortcomings in themselves. Being both perceptive and
responsive, they disarm others by creating a safe atmosphere that
invites people to be open, honest, and vulnerable. Twos both easily
create dependent relationships and come to depend on others' gratitude
for their sense of well-being and worth. This emphasis on the
interpersonal can easily lead to unfinished projects and/or broken
deadlines. Twos feel caught in their own personal needs and so strive to
avoid them; they want to feel needed.
Twos lead with the Feeling Center and are focused on the world of feelings and needs, especially in others. Their Support Doing Center orients them to responding to those emotions and needs. Their underactualized Thinking Center causes them to have difficulty planning their day and their lives and instead focus on the human problem right in front of them.
Back to first
description.
Three: the Motivator.
Threes are active, goal-oriented, future-oriented, and work-oriented.
Whether or not they themselves are aware of their inner world of
feelings and ideas, they usually reveal only the most pleasant and
ingratiating aspects of their inner life; thus, they are personable
without being personal. Possessing an uncanny ability to read other
people's motives even from afar, they use this political ability to find
their way around or through other people's needs and agendas in order to
secure their own success. Being naturally optimistic, they walk away
from negative people and situations. Threes feel caught in failure and
so strive to avoid it; they want to feel competent, capable, and
successful.
Threes lead with the Feeling Center but it is also underactualized in them. Leading with Feeling gives them their focus on image and their personable approach to people. Underactualized Feeling makes them aloof and difficult to know personally or intimately. Most of their personality comes from the other two centers. They are known for all they can accomplish — evidence of the Doing Center. They have goals and plans, can organize and be efficient — evidence of the Thinking Center.
Back to first description.
Follow this link to take you back to the text you just
left about the Enneagram system:
Explanation of the Enneagram
Four: the Individualist.
Fours are emotionally sensitive people — first toward themselves, and
then toward others. Emotions, both positive and negative, are the lens
through which they view the world. This focus on emotions is both a
strength and a weakness. The strength lies in their creative
sensitivities which lead them to initiate new and original programs
and/or innovative ideas that will enhance existing programs. The
weakness lies in their tendency to take everything personally and to
identify everything that could go wrong with a project before they are
able to give their wholehearted support. When their emotions are
balanced with objectivity, Fours excel in communication and relational
skills. Fours feel caught in their own ordinariness and so strive to
avoid it; they want to feel unique.
Fours lead with the Feeling Center and so are hyper-aware of the world of emotions and human needs, especially their own. Their Support Thinking Center encourages them to analyze and ponder feelings and needs. Their Doing Center is underactualized, and so they do only what feels good, lack self-confidence, and withdraw from the world.
Back to first
description.
Five: the Observer.
Fives are emotionally distant and reserved people who strive for a
dispassionate perspective. While they can feel deeply about life, they
detach themselves from their feelings to attain the higher goal of
objectivity; thus, their first love is knowledge and information, and
their great desire is to distill knowledge into wisdom. By separating
feeling from fact they pierce to the core of an issue; consequently,
their mental acuity is often matched only by their tactlessness. They
approach life as experts whose dry sense of humor supports them as they
connect with a social world in which they feel uncomfortable. Fives feel
caught in their own emptiness and so strive to avoid it; they want to
feel full of knowledge.
Fives lead with the Thinking Center and so see the world as an endless source of information. Their Support Feeling Center causes them to discover how that information relates to them personally. Their underactualized Doing Center causes them to
over plan, lack self-confidence, and observe the world.
Back to first description.
Six: the Networker.
Sixes are responsible people who are driven in their activity by an
underlying sense of anxiety as well as a desire to be included. Often in
a sociable and gracious way, they express these needs as desires for
personal contact and reassurance. Sixes have deep needs for group
relationships; thus, family and/or a professional, community, or social
group become the recipients of their dedication and loyalty. They are
information-oriented people who seem always to need one more fact, one
more view point to feel confident. They are team players who find
independent decision making difficult. Sixes feel caught in personal
anxiety and so strive to avoid it; they want to feel secure.
Sixes lead with the Thinking Center but it is also underactualized in them. Leading with Thinking makes them want information. Underactualized Thinking makes them gather too much information, sort it through endlessly, and come to many conclusions. Most of their personality comes from the other two centers. They are responsible, active, energetic — evidence of the Doing Center. They are sociable,
networkers, and want to be liked — evidence of the Feeling Center.
Back
to first description.
Follow this link to take you back to the text you just
left about the Enneagram system:
Explanation of the Enneagram
Seven: the Visionary.
Sevens are optimistic, happy, and fun-loving idealists who can't admit
of problems that can't be solved or situations that can't be fixed.
These are often mentally creative people with overactive minds who have
difficulty following through on their plans and ideas without the
support of others who are more practical. Sevens, who are enthusiastic
communicators and socially charming, need to balance their idealism with
a heavy dose of realism, focused effort, and fortitude. Their love for
others is most evident in their loyalty and thoughtfulness as they
generally avoid any direct communication of intimate emotion. Sevens
feel caught in the pain of life and so strive to avoid it; they want to
feel happy.
Sevens lead with the Thinking Center, and so their minds are overactive with ideas, plans, and humor. Their Support Doing Center propels them to do something about what their ideas and become involved in the world. Their Feeling Center is underactualized, and so they have difficulty expressing emotion directly and in relationships are protective of their freedom.
Back to first description.
Eight: the Activator.
Eights concentrate on their own abilities to make things happen; thus
they come across as forthright, blunt, firm, and full of life and
strength. Some are loud and raucous, others are reserved and proper, but
all are direct in communication. They have clearly defined ideas on what
is just and use their considerable strength to make the world conform to
their ideas, first for themselves and then for others. Eights are
organized people who are determined to be in control whenever possible.
A tender side lies within them which their own family can tap into,
along with anyone they consider to be oppressed. Eights feel caught in
their personal weakness and so strive to avoid it; they want to feel
strong.
Eights lead with the Doing Center, which makes them dynamic, power-oriented people who have great presence. Their Support Thinking Center allows them to plan their actions, making them maneuvers; or to justify their actions. Their underactualized Feeling Center makes them oblivious to the world of emotions, insensitive to other’s feelings, and unaware of their own feelings and emotional needs. Back to first description.
Nine: the Universalist.
Nines are easygoing, affable people who are professionally and socially
respected. They recoil from conflict of any kind and withdraw into the
passive power of silence to ward off what they experience as emotional
upheaval. Professionally, these unflappable people prove to be
practical, deliberate, and resourceful. They have the resilience to deal
with situations that others find too stressful. Because Nines expend
nearly all of their energy in the public forum, their private world
tends to be neglected both emotionally and physically. In both worlds,
they use silence and affability to get along with others. Nines feel
caught in turmoil and so strive to avoid it; they want to feel peaceful.
Nines lead with the Doing Center but also repress it. Leading with Doing makes them both fun loving and hyper-aware of energy output. Underactualized Doing makes them inactive and/or unfocused in their activity. Most of their personality comes from the other two centers. They are known for their intricate minds that thrive on details — evidence of the Thinking Center. They are affable, friendly, and want to be liked — evidence of the Feeling Center.
Back to first description.
Follow this link to take you back to the text you just
left about the Enneagram system:
Explanation of the Enneagram
Top of this
page
For More Information Contact
E-mail: ERI@hurleydonson.com
Top of this page
HOME
| The
Enneagram | Breakthrough Enneagram (r)
|
Award Winning Book: Discover Your Soul Potential |
Latest
Book: Essential Self, Essential Style |
The
Three Temperaments of the Enneagram
The Nine Types of the
Enneagram | Enneagram Training and
Certification |
Coaching with the
Enneagram | News
| Books
| Audio Cassettes
and Pin |
Seminar Schedule
| Endorsements
| Biographies of Kathy
and Theodorre |
Articles
| Links
| Join our Mailing List
| PRESS ROOM
|
