The "Enneagram" is the most comprehensive theory of personality types I know of. I'm not a professional, but I've read a ton of psychology books over the last 40 years, and it seems deeper than Myers-Briggs and any other classification of personality types that I've ever read. It's too bad that the "Enneagram" has such a "New Age"name and the esoteric symbol shown above. Just because of its name and symbol, many people are likely to dismiss the Enneagram as unscientific.
There is at least some research supporting the idea that the Enneagram is a valid personality theory. If interested in seeing this research, go to this link: Enneagram research.
The way I "know" that the Enneagram is real, at least for me, is that as I've learned the 9 "personality types", I've come to find proof of the types in people who I know. Most important, I've learned that I am a "6"-- the "Loyalist". And I've found that, once I learned that this is the style that fits me best, the things that I've read about the "6" have taught me things about myself that I didn't know and that have been very helpful in relating to other personality types. I've found that my wife, Chris, is a "1" -- the "Perfectionist". And when I read something specific about "1's", I asked her, "Is this truly something that goes on in your head much of the time?' She replied, "24/7".
I think the best way to learn the Enneagram and to get the most out of it is from a combination of reading, discussion, and experience. You can't just read about the 9 types and believe that virtually everyone fits into one of these 9 types. You have to read it and then experience it in other people. Figure out which type fits you best and then ask yourself with an open mind whether the description of the type, both the type's strengths and the type's weaknesses, fits you. Because the Enneagram also describes unconscious patterns of motivation, emotion, and behavior in each type, does what you read about your type tell you some things about yourself that you weren't aware of? Finally, because a good Enneagram book such as the one by Beatrice Chesnut I referred to at the start of this post, will also tell you how other types might misunderstand your best intentions and motivations and how you might upset them with things that feel totally natural to you, does what you read help explain some of the conflicts you've had at work and in your personal life?
After you've done this, you can go on to try to identify the types of those closest to you. Eventually, I hope to identify people from all 9 types as a way to make what I read about those types come alive. Some people in any type will be chronically "unhealthy", demonstrating the worst motivations, thoughts, emotions, and actions of that type. Others are very "healthy" and recognizing this can teach you that any type can enhance any group, team, family, friendship, or business that they are a part of. I'm not done yet with the journey of finding people I know well in all 9 types, but I think it will be key to find at least one very "healthy" person in each type so that I recognize that all the types are equally valuable.
