The Enneagram and Leadership Competency
Models:
A Natural Complement
By Mario Sikora
(Copyright 2005. Mario Sikora. All rights reserved.)
One of the great things about the Enneagram is that it can be adapted to so many uses and
overlaid on a variety of models. This article will demonstrate how the Enneagram can be used
in conjunction with leadership competency models, and one such model specifically, to
increase leadership performance.
Many organizations are creating leadership competency models in an effort to gain a
competitive advantage in the marketplace.
It works like this: Leadership is both critical and complicated. In order to help their people
become better leaders companies must create some sort of metrics—measurable
competencies that it can communicate to its staff. The competencies are grouped into a
model or logical construct so they can be remembered easily. Some organizations create
their own leadership competency model, others use a generic competency model developed
by someone else.
Often, the model has some relevance to the company’s industry and is based on “best
practices.” For example, a company will dispatch either internal or external consultants to
identify what factors lead to success in a particular environment—say, high-tech or financial
services, for example—and then create a model based on those factors. A company in an
industry where empathy is a useful quality—such as health care or education—will usually
include empathy in its leadership competency model; a high-tech company, however, will
focus on competencies such as intellect or speed of execution.
Other times, the competency model will be based on the personal philosophy of the powers
that be in a company. One such model is the well-known “4-E (and 1-P) framework developed
by Jack Welch, retired CEO of General Electric. Many other companies have adopted this
model or a slightly revised version of it, including Motorola, where the author has coached
nearly 150 managers and executives and taught the Enneagram to hundreds more.
According to Welch’s book, “Winning,” the 4-E’s and 1-P are:
Positive Energy—the ability to thrive on action and relish change.
Energize—the ability to get others revved up.
Edge—the courage to make tough yes-or-no decisions.
Execute—the ability to get the job done.
Passion—heartfelt, deep excitement about work.
Welch used this framework when making hiring and organizational design decisions, feeling
that if his executives didn’t have these qualities they would struggle to be successful at GE.
While the author has never met Jack Welch or consulted with GE, it is not a stretch to believe
that Welch is an Ennea-type Eight and probably liked to surround himself with other Eights. In
fact, the 4-E and 1-P framework seems like a recipe for manufacturing Eights, were such a
thing possible.
That said, it would be a mistake to focus on how any one Ennea-type would be more
successful than any others at meeting the requirements of a given leadership-competency
model. There may well be a predictable relationship between Ennea-type and leadership
competencies, but stressing this connection would lead to misuse of the Enneagram. (You
can bet that if you said that Fives were the “best” at the 4-E and 1-P framework, every
employee of GE would be wearing badges that say, “Hi, I’m a Five.”) In addition, emphasizing
the predictive correlation between type and leadership success also could potentially damage
the careers of those people whose Ennea-types are not in favor.
The Enneagram is better suited to helping people see why they may fall short in a given
leadership competency and what steps they can take to improve. Also, an Enneagram model
for use in business must follow the maxim, “KISS”: “Keep it Simple, Stupid.” We will come back
to this topic shortly.
Motorola altered Welch’s framework slightly to reflect the needs of its organizational culture.
The model became:
Envision—identify meaningful and innovative change that produces profitable growth.
Energize—which combines Welch’s “positive energy” and “energize.”
Edge—cuts to the essence of what is important.
Execute—achieves results better and faster than the competition.
Values—is ethical always and everywhere.
(Note—these are abbreviated definitions of the terms and Motorola has delineated
subcategories under each competency.)
These changes demonstrate an interesting difference in the cultures of the two companies;
GE has traditionally seemed Eight-ish in its culture while Motorola has traditionally seemed
One-ish, though that is changing under its current leadership.
The rest of this article will discuss how the Enneagram can be used to help two coaching
clients become more effective in terms of Motorola’s leadership competency model. These
examples are based on composites rather than on any specific client.
Case 1: Alice M., vice-president of marketing, Ennea-type Eight.
At Alice’s annual review she was given feedback from Paul, her boss and the General
Manager of the sector, that rather than being deficient in any of the competencies, she has
too much “Edge.” Specifically, she tends to exhibit classic Eight-ish behaviors at work—she is
blunt and, at times, insensitive when she communicates to others. She can be impatient with
her subordinates, becoming easily frustrated when they do not understand things as quickly
as she does or when their reports are not exactly how she expects them to be. In meetings
she tends to dominate the conversations, cutting people off, subtly denigrating other points of
view, and becoming dismissive of those who she believes are not intelligent or experienced
enough.
Paul also told Alice that she sometimes has shows a tendency to “over-Execute;” that is, she
may act before thinking through all of the consequences of her actions.
“Sometimes you need to let things sit for another day or so before you act,” said Paul.
Alice had a difficult time believing that one could have “too much Edge” or “over-Execute,” but
since she wanted to continue to advance in her career she was willing to work with an
executive coach.
When I work with clients, I focus on two levels of the psyche: the deeper level of the Basic
Qualities (see Table 1) and the more accessible level of the Strategies (see Table 2).
Table One: The Basic Qualities
Table Two: The Strategies.
The Basic Qualities represent the fundamental aspects of human nature that become stunted
during the socialization process in our childhood, leaving deep-seated insecurities or feelings
of lack or disconnection later in life. While we ultimately experience these feelings in all nine of
the Basic Qualities, the Basic Quality at our Enneagram point is the one we feel most acutely.
Those at our connecting points also greatly affect us.
The Strategies are the unconscious approach we take to life and are at the root of most of
our personality-related behaviors, attitudes, and thoughts. The strategy at our Enneagram
point is our “preferred strategy” and has the greatest affect on our personality; the strategy at
one connecting point is “neglected”—that is, we tend to under-utilize it and not fully trust its
value; and the strategy at the other connecting point is our “support” strategy—we use (or
misuse) it to reinforce our preferred strategy.
As an Eight, Alice is deeply affected by her loss of contact with the Basic Qualities of vitality,
compassion, and intuition. At some level, she is hamstrung by three beliefs that she may or
may not be aware of:
1. “I do not feel alive; in fact, I often feel dead inside.”
2. “I can’t trust my ability to connect with my deepest feelings or the feelings of others.”
3. “I can’t trust my intuitive guidance so I must force and rush decisions so I don’t become
paralyzed.”
Alice also misuses the strategies in the way that most Eights do:
1. She tends to overdo striving to be powerful and becomes bossy, impatient, overwhelming,
etc.
2. She underutilizes striving to be connected, fearing that reaching out to others or being “too
nice” will make her seem weak or dependent.
3. She sometimes misuses detachment in service of power, causing her to seem aloof and
insensitive.
Given these dynamics, it is easy to see why Alice can fall into the trap of having too much
edge and over-executing.
When she saw the patterns herself, Alice decided to start making some changes. Working
with her coach, she started to explore her preferred strategy, focusing on the ways that her
desire to be powerful allowed her to justify her tendencies to be overly blunt, impatient,
insensitive, etc.
“For me, ‘power’ is about getting things done, whatever the cost,” Alice said. “These
behaviors I was being criticized for seemed appropriate in the context of ‘getting things done.’
What I didn’t realize before was that my ‘Edge’ was not merely focused on business
challenges, it was cutting down the very people I needed to help me meet those challenges.”
Alice began to see true “power” as the ability to work effectively with and through other
people, and that this required cooperation rather than commanding, communicating rather
than directing, and building people up rather than knocking them down.
As Alice worked with her preferred strategy—striving to be powerful, her application of her
neglected and support strategies improved as well. She didn’t automatically see emotionally
connecting with people as weakness and dependence and she learned to balance her
detachment—using it when she was required to make tough decisions but not being
insensitive to the needs and feelings of the people around her.
Alice made quick progress, but old habits don’t simply disappear and she would sometimes
find herself slipping into old behaviors—especially under stress. She kept focusing on these
simple issues, however, and she is back on the fast-track for advancement.
The next step in a coaching intervention is to start working with the Basic Qualities if the client
is able or willing to do so. This is a much more subtle area, often bringing up existential
issues, and it is not for everyone. The Basic Qualities cannot be manufactured, they must be
nurtured over time and the corporate arena is not always the best for this work. There are
specific practices I call “The Accelerators” that help with this nurturing, but the accelerators
are beyond the scope of this article.
Case 2: Paul S., general manager, Ennea-type Nine.
Paul, Alice’s boss, received feedback from the CEO that he also had a problem with “Edge.”
“I’m not quite sure what it is, Paul,” said Tom. “Sometimes you don’t show enough Edge; other
times you slice people apart with it. You can be vague, indirect, and aloof in some
circumstances; then you lash out and cut people down at the knees.
“You need to get a handle on this if you want to continue to advance.”
Paul knew he had these contradictory tendencies but didn’t know quite how to solve the
problem so he, too, engaged with an executive coach.
Like other Nines, Paul is deeply affected by loss of contact with the Basic Qualities of
benevolence, value, and will. At some level, he is hamstrung by three beliefs that he may or
may not be aware of:
1. “I am not ‘good’ enough.”
2. “I lack value.”
3. “I don’t know if I have what it take to survive and thrive.”
Paul also misuses the strategies in the same way that most Nines do:
1. He tends to overdo striving to be peaceful and sometimes becomes conflict-averse, vague,
and aloof.
2. He underutilizes striving to be outstanding, become overly self-deprecating so he is not
seen as arrogant or self-important.
3. He sometimes uses striving to be secure in service of peacefulness, avoiding situations and
people who make him uncomfortable or bring him bad news.
Paul’s challenges concerning Edge are more subtle than Alice’s, but still understandable in
light of dynamics related to his Ennea-type. His overuse of his preferred strategy caused him
to exhibit both extremes of behavior related to Edge. In an effort to maintain an inner
peacefulness he sometimes resisted conflict by soft-pedaling on issues that needed
decisiveness. This behavior caused frustration among the people around him. Their
frustration led them to push Paul harder for clarity. Unable to ignore the pushing anymore,
Paul would lash out in order to end the discussion and move to a different topic.
Paul’s challenge was to learn that his “peacefulness” was increased when he was decisive
and “edgier” earlier in an engagement. He found that a small confrontation now would help
avoid bigger conflicts down the road.
Paul also worked on his tendency to self-deprecate. This behavior—unnecessarily diverting
credit or praise away from himself and minimizing his abilities and contributions (even to
himself)—subtly undermined his authority and caused him to delay making decisions. His self-
deprecation stemmed from his discomfort with “striving to be outstanding;” he believed that
appearing to feel confident in himself or promote himself would cause him to seem arrogant or
obnoxious. He worked with his coach to identify behaviors that were balanced between
arrogance and false-humility, and his confidence (and appearance of confidence) began to
grow. Also, others felt a renewed sense of confidence in Paul.
In many ways, the growth path is more challenging when one is underperforming in a
competency than when one over-performing in the same competency. Correcting over-
performance often requires developing the habit of scaling back on a behavior, while
correcting underperformance often requires learning and becoming proficient at new skills.
Thus, Nines may have a tougher time around a competency like “Edge” than an Eight might,
but they can make great progress in a relatively short time if they stay focused on the
fundamentals of the Strategies and the Basic Qualities and modify a few behaviors.
The Enneagram is a great complement to any leadership competency model if it is used
correctly, rigorously, and ethically in the context of this purpose. It should be used as a tool
for identifying and removing obstacles rather than as a tool for description and prediction.
(This is not to minimize the descriptive and predictive aspects of the Enneagram in other
contexts, such as team building.) Focusing on the internal dynamics of the Ennea-types as
represented by the Strategies and Basic Qualities rather than focusing on “fixing” typical traits
also allows the model to be adapted to broader range of uses.
In order to be useful in business, a consultant’s model of the Enneagram must be simple—
focused on fundamental themes rather than detailed and laborious lists of traits or maze of
psychodynamics. This is not to suggest that the leadership-development work that executives
such as Alice and Paul are undertaking is easy—it is not. Change and growth are hard work.
A simple and focused model of the Enneagram combined with a model of leadership
competencies, however, makes that work easier.
Models:
A Natural Complement
By Mario Sikora
(Copyright 2005. Mario Sikora. All rights reserved.)
One of the great things about the Enneagram is that it can be adapted to so many uses and
overlaid on a variety of models. This article will demonstrate how the Enneagram can be used
in conjunction with leadership competency models, and one such model specifically, to
increase leadership performance.
Many organizations are creating leadership competency models in an effort to gain a
competitive advantage in the marketplace.
It works like this: Leadership is both critical and complicated. In order to help their people
become better leaders companies must create some sort of metrics—measurable
competencies that it can communicate to its staff. The competencies are grouped into a
model or logical construct so they can be remembered easily. Some organizations create
their own leadership competency model, others use a generic competency model developed
by someone else.
Often, the model has some relevance to the company’s industry and is based on “best
practices.” For example, a company will dispatch either internal or external consultants to
identify what factors lead to success in a particular environment—say, high-tech or financial
services, for example—and then create a model based on those factors. A company in an
industry where empathy is a useful quality—such as health care or education—will usually
include empathy in its leadership competency model; a high-tech company, however, will
focus on competencies such as intellect or speed of execution.
Other times, the competency model will be based on the personal philosophy of the powers
that be in a company. One such model is the well-known “4-E (and 1-P) framework developed
by Jack Welch, retired CEO of General Electric. Many other companies have adopted this
model or a slightly revised version of it, including Motorola, where the author has coached
nearly 150 managers and executives and taught the Enneagram to hundreds more.
According to Welch’s book, “Winning,” the 4-E’s and 1-P are:
Positive Energy—the ability to thrive on action and relish change.
Energize—the ability to get others revved up.
Edge—the courage to make tough yes-or-no decisions.
Execute—the ability to get the job done.
Passion—heartfelt, deep excitement about work.
Welch used this framework when making hiring and organizational design decisions, feeling
that if his executives didn’t have these qualities they would struggle to be successful at GE.
While the author has never met Jack Welch or consulted with GE, it is not a stretch to believe
that Welch is an Ennea-type Eight and probably liked to surround himself with other Eights. In
fact, the 4-E and 1-P framework seems like a recipe for manufacturing Eights, were such a
thing possible.
That said, it would be a mistake to focus on how any one Ennea-type would be more
successful than any others at meeting the requirements of a given leadership-competency
model. There may well be a predictable relationship between Ennea-type and leadership
competencies, but stressing this connection would lead to misuse of the Enneagram. (You
can bet that if you said that Fives were the “best” at the 4-E and 1-P framework, every
employee of GE would be wearing badges that say, “Hi, I’m a Five.”) In addition, emphasizing
the predictive correlation between type and leadership success also could potentially damage
the careers of those people whose Ennea-types are not in favor.
The Enneagram is better suited to helping people see why they may fall short in a given
leadership competency and what steps they can take to improve. Also, an Enneagram model
for use in business must follow the maxim, “KISS”: “Keep it Simple, Stupid.” We will come back
to this topic shortly.
Motorola altered Welch’s framework slightly to reflect the needs of its organizational culture.
The model became:
Envision—identify meaningful and innovative change that produces profitable growth.
Energize—which combines Welch’s “positive energy” and “energize.”
Edge—cuts to the essence of what is important.
Execute—achieves results better and faster than the competition.
Values—is ethical always and everywhere.
(Note—these are abbreviated definitions of the terms and Motorola has delineated
subcategories under each competency.)
These changes demonstrate an interesting difference in the cultures of the two companies;
GE has traditionally seemed Eight-ish in its culture while Motorola has traditionally seemed
One-ish, though that is changing under its current leadership.
The rest of this article will discuss how the Enneagram can be used to help two coaching
clients become more effective in terms of Motorola’s leadership competency model. These
examples are based on composites rather than on any specific client.
Case 1: Alice M., vice-president of marketing, Ennea-type Eight.
At Alice’s annual review she was given feedback from Paul, her boss and the General
Manager of the sector, that rather than being deficient in any of the competencies, she has
too much “Edge.” Specifically, she tends to exhibit classic Eight-ish behaviors at work—she is
blunt and, at times, insensitive when she communicates to others. She can be impatient with
her subordinates, becoming easily frustrated when they do not understand things as quickly
as she does or when their reports are not exactly how she expects them to be. In meetings
she tends to dominate the conversations, cutting people off, subtly denigrating other points of
view, and becoming dismissive of those who she believes are not intelligent or experienced
enough.
Paul also told Alice that she sometimes has shows a tendency to “over-Execute;” that is, she
may act before thinking through all of the consequences of her actions.
“Sometimes you need to let things sit for another day or so before you act,” said Paul.
Alice had a difficult time believing that one could have “too much Edge” or “over-Execute,” but
since she wanted to continue to advance in her career she was willing to work with an
executive coach.
When I work with clients, I focus on two levels of the psyche: the deeper level of the Basic
Qualities (see Table 1) and the more accessible level of the Strategies (see Table 2).
Table One: The Basic Qualities
Table Two: The Strategies.
The Basic Qualities represent the fundamental aspects of human nature that become stunted
during the socialization process in our childhood, leaving deep-seated insecurities or feelings
of lack or disconnection later in life. While we ultimately experience these feelings in all nine of
the Basic Qualities, the Basic Quality at our Enneagram point is the one we feel most acutely.
Those at our connecting points also greatly affect us.
The Strategies are the unconscious approach we take to life and are at the root of most of
our personality-related behaviors, attitudes, and thoughts. The strategy at our Enneagram
point is our “preferred strategy” and has the greatest affect on our personality; the strategy at
one connecting point is “neglected”—that is, we tend to under-utilize it and not fully trust its
value; and the strategy at the other connecting point is our “support” strategy—we use (or
misuse) it to reinforce our preferred strategy.
As an Eight, Alice is deeply affected by her loss of contact with the Basic Qualities of vitality,
compassion, and intuition. At some level, she is hamstrung by three beliefs that she may or
may not be aware of:
1. “I do not feel alive; in fact, I often feel dead inside.”
2. “I can’t trust my ability to connect with my deepest feelings or the feelings of others.”
3. “I can’t trust my intuitive guidance so I must force and rush decisions so I don’t become
paralyzed.”
Alice also misuses the strategies in the way that most Eights do:
1. She tends to overdo striving to be powerful and becomes bossy, impatient, overwhelming,
etc.
2. She underutilizes striving to be connected, fearing that reaching out to others or being “too
nice” will make her seem weak or dependent.
3. She sometimes misuses detachment in service of power, causing her to seem aloof and
insensitive.
Given these dynamics, it is easy to see why Alice can fall into the trap of having too much
edge and over-executing.
When she saw the patterns herself, Alice decided to start making some changes. Working
with her coach, she started to explore her preferred strategy, focusing on the ways that her
desire to be powerful allowed her to justify her tendencies to be overly blunt, impatient,
insensitive, etc.
“For me, ‘power’ is about getting things done, whatever the cost,” Alice said. “These
behaviors I was being criticized for seemed appropriate in the context of ‘getting things done.’
What I didn’t realize before was that my ‘Edge’ was not merely focused on business
challenges, it was cutting down the very people I needed to help me meet those challenges.”
Alice began to see true “power” as the ability to work effectively with and through other
people, and that this required cooperation rather than commanding, communicating rather
than directing, and building people up rather than knocking them down.
As Alice worked with her preferred strategy—striving to be powerful, her application of her
neglected and support strategies improved as well. She didn’t automatically see emotionally
connecting with people as weakness and dependence and she learned to balance her
detachment—using it when she was required to make tough decisions but not being
insensitive to the needs and feelings of the people around her.
Alice made quick progress, but old habits don’t simply disappear and she would sometimes
find herself slipping into old behaviors—especially under stress. She kept focusing on these
simple issues, however, and she is back on the fast-track for advancement.
The next step in a coaching intervention is to start working with the Basic Qualities if the client
is able or willing to do so. This is a much more subtle area, often bringing up existential
issues, and it is not for everyone. The Basic Qualities cannot be manufactured, they must be
nurtured over time and the corporate arena is not always the best for this work. There are
specific practices I call “The Accelerators” that help with this nurturing, but the accelerators
are beyond the scope of this article.
Case 2: Paul S., general manager, Ennea-type Nine.
Paul, Alice’s boss, received feedback from the CEO that he also had a problem with “Edge.”
“I’m not quite sure what it is, Paul,” said Tom. “Sometimes you don’t show enough Edge; other
times you slice people apart with it. You can be vague, indirect, and aloof in some
circumstances; then you lash out and cut people down at the knees.
“You need to get a handle on this if you want to continue to advance.”
Paul knew he had these contradictory tendencies but didn’t know quite how to solve the
problem so he, too, engaged with an executive coach.
Like other Nines, Paul is deeply affected by loss of contact with the Basic Qualities of
benevolence, value, and will. At some level, he is hamstrung by three beliefs that he may or
may not be aware of:
1. “I am not ‘good’ enough.”
2. “I lack value.”
3. “I don’t know if I have what it take to survive and thrive.”
Paul also misuses the strategies in the same way that most Nines do:
1. He tends to overdo striving to be peaceful and sometimes becomes conflict-averse, vague,
and aloof.
2. He underutilizes striving to be outstanding, become overly self-deprecating so he is not
seen as arrogant or self-important.
3. He sometimes uses striving to be secure in service of peacefulness, avoiding situations and
people who make him uncomfortable or bring him bad news.
Paul’s challenges concerning Edge are more subtle than Alice’s, but still understandable in
light of dynamics related to his Ennea-type. His overuse of his preferred strategy caused him
to exhibit both extremes of behavior related to Edge. In an effort to maintain an inner
peacefulness he sometimes resisted conflict by soft-pedaling on issues that needed
decisiveness. This behavior caused frustration among the people around him. Their
frustration led them to push Paul harder for clarity. Unable to ignore the pushing anymore,
Paul would lash out in order to end the discussion and move to a different topic.
Paul’s challenge was to learn that his “peacefulness” was increased when he was decisive
and “edgier” earlier in an engagement. He found that a small confrontation now would help
avoid bigger conflicts down the road.
Paul also worked on his tendency to self-deprecate. This behavior—unnecessarily diverting
credit or praise away from himself and minimizing his abilities and contributions (even to
himself)—subtly undermined his authority and caused him to delay making decisions. His self-
deprecation stemmed from his discomfort with “striving to be outstanding;” he believed that
appearing to feel confident in himself or promote himself would cause him to seem arrogant or
obnoxious. He worked with his coach to identify behaviors that were balanced between
arrogance and false-humility, and his confidence (and appearance of confidence) began to
grow. Also, others felt a renewed sense of confidence in Paul.
In many ways, the growth path is more challenging when one is underperforming in a
competency than when one over-performing in the same competency. Correcting over-
performance often requires developing the habit of scaling back on a behavior, while
correcting underperformance often requires learning and becoming proficient at new skills.
Thus, Nines may have a tougher time around a competency like “Edge” than an Eight might,
but they can make great progress in a relatively short time if they stay focused on the
fundamentals of the Strategies and the Basic Qualities and modify a few behaviors.
The Enneagram is a great complement to any leadership competency model if it is used
correctly, rigorously, and ethically in the context of this purpose. It should be used as a tool
for identifying and removing obstacles rather than as a tool for description and prediction.
(This is not to minimize the descriptive and predictive aspects of the Enneagram in other
contexts, such as team building.) Focusing on the internal dynamics of the Ennea-types as
represented by the Strategies and Basic Qualities rather than focusing on “fixing” typical traits
also allows the model to be adapted to broader range of uses.
In order to be useful in business, a consultant’s model of the Enneagram must be simple—
focused on fundamental themes rather than detailed and laborious lists of traits or maze of
psychodynamics. This is not to suggest that the leadership-development work that executives
such as Alice and Paul are undertaking is easy—it is not. Change and growth are hard work.
A simple and focused model of the Enneagram combined with a model of leadership
competencies, however, makes that work easier.
Table Two: The Strategies.
The Basic Qualities represent the fundamental aspects of human nature that become stunted during
the socialization process in our childhood, leaving deep-seated insecurities or feelings of lack or
disconnection later in life. While we ultimately experience these feelings in all nine of the Basic
Qualities, the Basic Quality at our Enneagram point is the one we feel most acutely. Those at our
connecting points also greatly affect us.
The Strategies are the unconscious approach we take to life and are at the root of most of our
personality-related behaviors, attitudes, and thoughts. The strategy at our Enneagram point is our
“preferred strategy” and has the greatest affect on our personality; the strategy at one connecting
point is “neglected”—that is, we tend to under-utilize it and not fully trust its value; and the strategy at
the other connecting point is our “support” strategy—we use (or misuse) it to reinforce our preferred
strategy.
As an Eight, Alice is deeply affected by her loss of contact with the Basic Qualities of vitality,
compassion, and intuition. At some level, she is hamstrung by three beliefs that she may or may not
be aware of:
1. “I do not feel alive; in fact, I often feel dead inside.”
2. “I can’t trust my ability to connect with my deepest feelings or the feelings of others.”
3. “I can’t trust my intuitive guidance so I must force and rush decisions so I don’t become
paralyzed.”
Alice also misuses the strategies in the way that most Eights do:
1. She tends to overdo striving to be powerful and becomes bossy, impatient, overwhelming, etc.
2. She underutilizes striving to be connected, fearing that reaching out to others or being “too
nice” will make her seem weak or dependent.
3. She sometimes misuses detachment in service of power, causing her to seem aloof and
insensitive.
Given these dynamics, it is easy to see why Alice can fall into the trap of having too much edge and
over-executing.
When she saw the patterns herself, Alice decided to start making some changes. Working with her
coach, she started to explore her preferred strategy, focusing on the ways that her desire to be
powerful allowed her to justify her tendencies to be overly blunt, impatient, insensitive, etc.
“For me, ‘power’ is about getting things done, whatever the cost,” Alice said. “These behaviors I was
being criticized for seemed appropriate in the context of ‘getting things done.’ What I didn’t realize
before was that my ‘Edge’ was not merely focused on business challenges, it was cutting down the
very people I needed to help me meet those challenges.”
Alice began to see true “power” as the ability to work effectively with and through other people, and
that this required cooperation rather than commanding, communicating rather than directing, and
building people up rather than knocking them down.
As Alice worked with her preferred strategy—striving to be powerful, her application of her neglected
and support strategies improved as well. She didn’t automatically see emotionally connecting with
people as weakness and dependence and she learned to balance her detachment—using it when
she was required to make tough decisions but not being insensitive to the needs and feelings of the
people around her.
Alice made quick progress, but old habits don’t simply disappear and she would sometimes find
herself slipping into old behaviors—especially under stress. She kept focusing on these simple
issues, however, and she is back on the fast-track for advancement.
The next step in a coaching intervention is to start working with the Basic Qualities if the client is able
or willing to do so. This is a much more subtle area, often bringing up existential issues, and it is not
for everyone. The Basic Qualities cannot be manufactured, they must be nurtured over time and the
corporate arena is not always the best for this work. There are specific practices I call “the
Accelerators” that help with this nurturing, but the accelerators are beyond the scope of this article.
(Go to www.mariosikora.com for more on the accelerators.)
Case 2: Paul S., general manager, Ennea-type Nine.
Paul, Alice’s boss, received feedback from the CEO that he also had a problem with “Edge.”
“I’m not quite sure what it is, Paul,” said Tom. “Sometimes you don’t show enough Edge; other times
you slice people apart with it. You can be vague, indirect, and aloof in some circumstances; then you
lash out and cut people down at the knees.
“You need to get a handle on this if you want to continue to advance.”
Paul knew he had these contradictory tendencies but didn’t know quite how to solve the problem so
he, too, engaged with an executive coach.
Like other Nines, Paul is deeply affected by loss of contact with the Basic Qualities of benevolence,
value, and will. At some level, he is hamstrung by three beliefs that he may or may not be aware of:
1. “I am not ‘good’ enough.”
2. “I lack value.”
3. “I don’t know if I have what it take to survive and thrive.”
Paul also misuses the strategies in the same way that most Nines do:
1. He tends to overdo striving to be peaceful and sometimes becomes conflict-averse, vague,
and aloof.
2. He underutilizes striving to be outstanding, become overly self-deprecating so he is not seen
as arrogant or self-important.
3. He sometimes uses striving to be secure in service of peacefulness, avoiding situations and
people who make him uncomfortable or bring him bad news.
Paul’s challenges concerning Edge are more subtle than Alice’s, but still understandable in light of
dynamics related to his Ennea-type. His overuse of his preferred strategy caused him to exhibit both
extremes of behavior related to Edge. In an effort to maintain an inner peacefulness he sometimes
resisted conflict by soft-pedaling on issues that needed decisiveness. This behavior caused
frustration among the people around him. Their frustration led them to push Paul harder for clarity.
Unable to ignore the pushing anymore, Paul would lash out in order to end the discussion and move
to a different topic.
Paul’s challenge was to learn that his “peacefulness” was increased when he was decisive and
“edgier” earlier in an engagement. He found that a small confrontation now would help avoid bigger
conflicts down the road.
Paul also worked on his tendency to self-deprecate. This behavior—unnecessarily diverting credit or
praise away from himself and minimizing his abilities and contributions (even to himself)—subtly
undermined his authority and caused him to delay making decisions. His self-deprecation stemmed
from his discomfort with “striving to be outstanding;” he believed that appearing to feel confident in
himself or promote himself would cause him to seem arrogant or obnoxious. He worked with his
coach to identify behaviors that were balanced between arrogance and false-humility, and his
confidence (and appearance of confidence) began to grow. Also, others felt a renewed sense of
confidence in Paul.
In many ways, the growth path is more challenging when one is under-performing in a competency
than when one over-performing in the same competency. Correcting over-performance often
requires developing the habit of scaling back on a behavior, while correcting under-performance
often requires learning and becoming proficient at new skills. Thus, Nines may have a tougher time
around a competency like “Edge” than an Eight might, but they can make great progress in a
relatively short time if they stay focused on the fundamentals of the Strategies and the Basic
Qualities and modify a few behaviors.
The Enneagram is a great complement to any leadership competency model if it is used correctly,
rigorously, and ethically in the context of this purpose. It should be used as a tool for identifying and
removing obstacles rather than as a tool for description and prediction. (This is not to minimize the
descriptive and predictive aspects of the Enneagram in other contexts, such as team building.)
Focusing on the internal dynamics of the Ennea-types as represented by the Strategies and Basic
Qualities rather than focusing on “fixing” typical traits also allows the model to be adapted to broader
range of uses.
In order to be useful in business, a consultant’s model of the Enneagram must be simple—focused
on fundamental themes rather than detailed and laborious lists of traits or maze of psychodynamics.
This is not to suggest that the leadership-development work that executives such as Alice and Paul
are undertaking is easy—it is not. Change and growth are hard work. A simple and focused model of
the Enneagram combined with a model of leadership competencies, however, makes that work easier.
The Basic Qualities represent the fundamental aspects of human nature that become stunted during
the socialization process in our childhood, leaving deep-seated insecurities or feelings of lack or
disconnection later in life. While we ultimately experience these feelings in all nine of the Basic
Qualities, the Basic Quality at our Enneagram point is the one we feel most acutely. Those at our
connecting points also greatly affect us.
The Strategies are the unconscious approach we take to life and are at the root of most of our
personality-related behaviors, attitudes, and thoughts. The strategy at our Enneagram point is our
“preferred strategy” and has the greatest affect on our personality; the strategy at one connecting
point is “neglected”—that is, we tend to under-utilize it and not fully trust its value; and the strategy at
the other connecting point is our “support” strategy—we use (or misuse) it to reinforce our preferred
strategy.
As an Eight, Alice is deeply affected by her loss of contact with the Basic Qualities of vitality,
compassion, and intuition. At some level, she is hamstrung by three beliefs that she may or may not
be aware of:
1. “I do not feel alive; in fact, I often feel dead inside.”
2. “I can’t trust my ability to connect with my deepest feelings or the feelings of others.”
3. “I can’t trust my intuitive guidance so I must force and rush decisions so I don’t become
paralyzed.”
Alice also misuses the strategies in the way that most Eights do:
1. She tends to overdo striving to be powerful and becomes bossy, impatient, overwhelming, etc.
2. She underutilizes striving to be connected, fearing that reaching out to others or being “too
nice” will make her seem weak or dependent.
3. She sometimes misuses detachment in service of power, causing her to seem aloof and
insensitive.
Given these dynamics, it is easy to see why Alice can fall into the trap of having too much edge and
over-executing.
When she saw the patterns herself, Alice decided to start making some changes. Working with her
coach, she started to explore her preferred strategy, focusing on the ways that her desire to be
powerful allowed her to justify her tendencies to be overly blunt, impatient, insensitive, etc.
“For me, ‘power’ is about getting things done, whatever the cost,” Alice said. “These behaviors I was
being criticized for seemed appropriate in the context of ‘getting things done.’ What I didn’t realize
before was that my ‘Edge’ was not merely focused on business challenges, it was cutting down the
very people I needed to help me meet those challenges.”
Alice began to see true “power” as the ability to work effectively with and through other people, and
that this required cooperation rather than commanding, communicating rather than directing, and
building people up rather than knocking them down.
As Alice worked with her preferred strategy—striving to be powerful, her application of her neglected
and support strategies improved as well. She didn’t automatically see emotionally connecting with
people as weakness and dependence and she learned to balance her detachment—using it when
she was required to make tough decisions but not being insensitive to the needs and feelings of the
people around her.
Alice made quick progress, but old habits don’t simply disappear and she would sometimes find
herself slipping into old behaviors—especially under stress. She kept focusing on these simple
issues, however, and she is back on the fast-track for advancement.
The next step in a coaching intervention is to start working with the Basic Qualities if the client is able
or willing to do so. This is a much more subtle area, often bringing up existential issues, and it is not
for everyone. The Basic Qualities cannot be manufactured, they must be nurtured over time and the
corporate arena is not always the best for this work. There are specific practices I call “the
Accelerators” that help with this nurturing, but the accelerators are beyond the scope of this article.
(Go to www.mariosikora.com for more on the accelerators.)
Case 2: Paul S., general manager, Ennea-type Nine.
Paul, Alice’s boss, received feedback from the CEO that he also had a problem with “Edge.”
“I’m not quite sure what it is, Paul,” said Tom. “Sometimes you don’t show enough Edge; other times
you slice people apart with it. You can be vague, indirect, and aloof in some circumstances; then you
lash out and cut people down at the knees.
“You need to get a handle on this if you want to continue to advance.”
Paul knew he had these contradictory tendencies but didn’t know quite how to solve the problem so
he, too, engaged with an executive coach.
Like other Nines, Paul is deeply affected by loss of contact with the Basic Qualities of benevolence,
value, and will. At some level, he is hamstrung by three beliefs that he may or may not be aware of:
1. “I am not ‘good’ enough.”
2. “I lack value.”
3. “I don’t know if I have what it take to survive and thrive.”
Paul also misuses the strategies in the same way that most Nines do:
1. He tends to overdo striving to be peaceful and sometimes becomes conflict-averse, vague,
and aloof.
2. He underutilizes striving to be outstanding, become overly self-deprecating so he is not seen
as arrogant or self-important.
3. He sometimes uses striving to be secure in service of peacefulness, avoiding situations and
people who make him uncomfortable or bring him bad news.
Paul’s challenges concerning Edge are more subtle than Alice’s, but still understandable in light of
dynamics related to his Ennea-type. His overuse of his preferred strategy caused him to exhibit both
extremes of behavior related to Edge. In an effort to maintain an inner peacefulness he sometimes
resisted conflict by soft-pedaling on issues that needed decisiveness. This behavior caused
frustration among the people around him. Their frustration led them to push Paul harder for clarity.
Unable to ignore the pushing anymore, Paul would lash out in order to end the discussion and move
to a different topic.
Paul’s challenge was to learn that his “peacefulness” was increased when he was decisive and
“edgier” earlier in an engagement. He found that a small confrontation now would help avoid bigger
conflicts down the road.
Paul also worked on his tendency to self-deprecate. This behavior—unnecessarily diverting credit or
praise away from himself and minimizing his abilities and contributions (even to himself)—subtly
undermined his authority and caused him to delay making decisions. His self-deprecation stemmed
from his discomfort with “striving to be outstanding;” he believed that appearing to feel confident in
himself or promote himself would cause him to seem arrogant or obnoxious. He worked with his
coach to identify behaviors that were balanced between arrogance and false-humility, and his
confidence (and appearance of confidence) began to grow. Also, others felt a renewed sense of
confidence in Paul.
In many ways, the growth path is more challenging when one is under-performing in a competency
than when one over-performing in the same competency. Correcting over-performance often
requires developing the habit of scaling back on a behavior, while correcting under-performance
often requires learning and becoming proficient at new skills. Thus, Nines may have a tougher time
around a competency like “Edge” than an Eight might, but they can make great progress in a
relatively short time if they stay focused on the fundamentals of the Strategies and the Basic
Qualities and modify a few behaviors.
The Enneagram is a great complement to any leadership competency model if it is used correctly,
rigorously, and ethically in the context of this purpose. It should be used as a tool for identifying and
removing obstacles rather than as a tool for description and prediction. (This is not to minimize the
descriptive and predictive aspects of the Enneagram in other contexts, such as team building.)
Focusing on the internal dynamics of the Ennea-types as represented by the Strategies and Basic
Qualities rather than focusing on “fixing” typical traits also allows the model to be adapted to broader
range of uses.
In order to be useful in business, a consultant’s model of the Enneagram must be simple—focused
on fundamental themes rather than detailed and laborious lists of traits or maze of psychodynamics.
This is not to suggest that the leadership-development work that executives such as Alice and Paul
are undertaking is easy—it is not. Change and growth are hard work. A simple and focused model of
the Enneagram combined with a model of leadership competencies, however, makes that work easier.
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