Enneagram of Personality

I am reading about enneagrams which seem to be a Myers Briggs-type personality type system. I was pointed to the book: The Nine Ways of Working by Michael J. Goldberg which looks at how people can work better if they understand the stories that we tell ourselves about who we are and how we function.

This made me wonder what an enneagram was and came across the following descriptions as well as a brief test to see what type I might be. So, if nothing else, you feel like entertaining yourself, check out these sites:

Enneagram Institute

Take a test: The New Enneagram Test

What Breed of Dog Are You?
Time
Anita Hamilton
This article reviews various sources of personality quizzes to help you get to know youself better.

Comments

Anonymous said…
Josee – have to comment on this.

I’ve been an amateur student of personality theories for several years — mainly for insight into my own inner-self.

Some theories and methods are better than others.

The Enneagram leading scholars I’ve found are Riso & Hudson of the Enneagram Institute. http://www.enneagraminstitute.com/

The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator is vastly popular (http://www.myersbriggs.org/my-mbti-personality-type/mbti-basics/) and is based largely on Carl Jung’s theories. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carl_Jung

But Myers-Briggs uses what I think is a limiting introvert-extrovert dichotomy. Most people I know aren’t either/or, and it depends on what day of the week or hour of the day you catch them.

I also found that Myers-Briggs doesn’t accommodate as well as the Enneagram the reality that people are at different and dynamic levels of emotional, mental and spiritual health.

There’s some numerology to the Enneagram (“ennea” is Greek for nine and there are three triads of personalities – thinkers, feelers and instinctives), but I don't understand much of it.

The enneagram is good for self-discovery and understanding others. It’s also good for organizations in assessing people’s abilities, and maximizing resources by deploying them in the right place and right position.

It’s also handy for understanding and dealing with difficult people. Some even use it for choosing a spouse, or at least identifying some potential minefields or conflicts in a relationship.

As for the breed of dog theory…. woof, woof.

David

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