Cultivating the Art of Leadership

If you' already an Enneagram enthusiast, I am an "8" (Challenger) with a strong "7" wing (Adventurer), which means:

• My primary center is the body (or instinctual) center (my 8 home base)
• A close second is the head (or intellectual) center (my strong 7 wing)
• My developental work is in the heart (or emotional) center (my integration point at 2)

The emotional center. Cultivating ever greater sensitivity to what's arising emotionally in others and also sensing emotional currents and their meanings in myself. It's life work. For some 8's, there's a real "eew" factor in moving into the heart center, where softness and subtlety are more pronounced than sheer will and boldness of action.

All of us have our integration point, which evokes the recognition that, yes, that's where we don't pay attention, or at least not enough attention. We recognize that place as one that we may not even value so fully.

For Enneagram 6's (the Loyalist), smack dab in the middle of the head center (and common in academia, including academic medicine), the challenge is to become more grounded and peaceful, like a healthy 9.

I'll never forget one 6 client, with a zillion credentials, wondering why all the "new age" talk about grounding and centering in our work. Over time, the value became apparent, as this client shared, "I'm not saying such different things, but people pay more attention to me now."

I'm not surprised. I can feel the difference in her presence, and she acknowledges the value of her daily morning practices that help her focus on trusting herself and moving more instinctively toward what she wants versus spending so much time feeling anxious and "in her head."

An ambitious 3 (Achiever) that I'm working with admitted to being a "driver" on a lot of things, but also feeling "disconnected" to the rest of the team. In fact, the 3's integration point is at 6 (Loyalist), where individual contribution is complemented by fostering greater connections with others who are working on "something bigger" than mere personal advancement.

When I first studied the Enneagram, I was initially confused by the heady 7's (Adventurer's) integration to point 5 (Observer), another head center type. It seemed like the last thing a 7 needed was more thinking.

I grew to understand this path the more I studied my fun-loving 7 friends (I have many 7 friends). The dramatic breadth of ideas can explode like popcorn from 7's, and this excessive breadth becomes shored up with a more disciplined, more structured, and deeper understanding of cause and effect or mastery at point 5.

I've been dealing with my mom's recovery from a bad fall, a fractured ankle, and a bad wound. She's still in a nursing home, and she worried today about short-term memory loss from the bump to her head. I assured her I wasn't so worried about the fall as her daily practices, which have always been a bit flakey.

As an Enneagram 4, my mom is often lost in her own world of imagination and feelings and easily loses touch with things like schedules, commitments, etc. Her integration point is to 1 (Perfectionist) where reliability and results count, and where self-discipline stands out as a core quality.

If you have Enneagram questions with respect to leadership, drop a line. I love chatting about this profound personality system, with its powerful and explicity pathways to personal development.

Labels: Enneagram, leadership

# posted by Cindy Marteney @ 11:13 AM 0 Comments