Explore characterized Enneagram leadership styles of 9 types with unique strengths and weaknesses, along with insightful tips to enhance your leadership potential.
Believe it or not, all nine Enneagram personality types have the great potential to become excellent leaders, effectively leading their teams toward success and achievements. Each type is associated with a distinct leadership style with a set of strengths and potential weaknesses.
That means whether you are an Enthusiast Type 7, Investigator Type 9, or any other type, you can be a great boss or manager if you know how to exploit your strengths and overcome weaknesses or challenges within your personality as a leader. Here’s how you can use the knowledge of your Enneagram type to figure out your leadership traits and become a better boss.
As leaders, Enneagram Ones, the Perfectionists, excel at creating discipline and structure for teams and ensuring tasks are completed to the highest standard. They are principled, detail-oriented, and organized, often striving for perfection and excellence in their actions and decisions.
Type 1s’ attention to detail and dedication to improvement can considerably enhance the work quality within their teams. However, their tendencies to strive for unattainable perfection and fear of making faults or being judged by others may hinder creativity and impede progress.
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Enneagram Twos, the Helpers, are characterized by their warm-hearted, caring, and empathetic nature. As leaders, Type 2s tend to be associated with an empathetic and people-oriented leadership style, able to support their team through successes and challenges.
Type 2 leaders often excel at creating a warm, inclusive environment and encouraging team members to share openly and collaborate. They are also good at motivating individuals by recognizing their strengths and potential. However, Twos may struggle to ask others for help, set healthy boundaries, and prioritize self-care and their needs.
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Enneagram Type 3 leaders are ambitious, adaptive, success-oriented, and excel at setting and accomplishing goals. They are often charismatic and can motivate their teams to attain high performance. People of this type, in the role of leader or manager, tend to do whatever they find necessary to achieve goals and accomplishments.
They are adept at setting clear objectives and presenting a polished and professional image and can thrive in competitive environments.
However, their relentless pursuit of success can sometimes overshadow collaboration and lead to a focus on individual achievement. Those working for Type 3 leaders may often feel that their main purpose is to assist the leaders in achieving success.
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Enneagram Type 4, the Individualist, brings a unique leadership style characterized by creativity, authenticity, and emotional depth.
Type 4 leaders possess the natural talent to intrinsically motivate others. They excel at fostering innovation and creativity, as well as bringing a sense of meaning and purpose to their teams.
However, Fours may often be seen as self-absorbed, moody, or temperamental. They may also face challenges in staying objective and maintaining consistency and focus amidst their quest for authenticity or uniqueness.
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Enneagram Type 5 leaders are analytical, insightful, and independent, excelling at planning and allocating resources rationally and efficiently.
They bring a strategic approach to leadership, able to take control of situations that require deep thinking and problem-solving. In addition, their calm nature and focus on knowledge can lead to innovative solutions and informed decisions.
However, leaders of Type 5 could be somewhat detached or isolated in their lifestyle as they attempt to conserve energy and prefer to observe and gather information on their own. People around them may perceive their behaviors as cold or impersonal.
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The Enneagram Type 6 leadership style can be defined by an acute sense of responsibility, faithfulness, and preparedness. As leaders, Type 6s, the Loyalists, are excellent troubleshooters and meticulous planners, anticipating what could go wrong and crafting solutions.
As predictability and loyalty are incredibly important for Type 6 leaders, their leadership tends to be measured, cautious, and reliable, prioritizing safety and trust and creating a stable environment where team members feel supported.
However, when stressed, people of this type can be suspicious and mistrustful of the motivations of others. Another shadow side of Type 6 leaders may be indecision due to their natural skepticism.
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Enneagram Sevens, the Enthusiasts, are known for their versatile, spontaneous, and optimistic nature and a deep thirst for new experiences.
As leaders, Type 7s are gifted with the ability to motivate, energize, and inspire people to do their best with an exuberant and optimistic approach, along with a sense of adventure and possibility.
Type 7 leaders can be optimistic visionaries, adept at thinking outside the box, and able to see innovations and connections that others aren’t. However, they may become impatient and even critical when their team can’t meet their standards at work.
In addition, Sevens can struggle with follow-through. They tend to be so excited at the beginning but find it hard to maintain their focus and enthusiasm throughout the project, especially when things become challenging or something more exciting comes along.
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As leaders, Enneagram Type 8s embody a bold and assertive leadership style characterized by confidence, decisiveness, and a focus on strategic vision and taking action. People of this type value fairness, honesty, and directness, preferring straightforward communication.
These leaders excel at not only inspiring their team to take action but also challenging themselves and others to achieve extraordinary results. They are also protectors at heart. They do not hesitate to advocate fiercely for their team and justice.
However, Type 8 leaders can sometimes be perceived as intimidating, domineering, controlling, and overshadowing quieter voices. Another shadow side is their tendency towards impatience and their unwillingness to consider differing viewpoints, especially when under stress.
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Enneagram Type 9 leaders are the harmonizers of the group, leading with their calm and empathetic nature. Their leadership style is often marked by patience, empathy, and a talent for mediation. They excel at mediating conflict, finding common ground, and building consensus, creating a peaceful work environment where everyone feels valued.
Type 9s are empathetic listeners, which enables them to understand and integrate different opinions and perspectives. However, they tend to avoid all confrontations, including necessary or healthy conflicts, and be passive-aggressive. This can lead to indecisiveness and a reluctance to address issues directly.
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To sum up, exploring the diverse Enneagram leadership styles of the nine types provides valuable insights into the complex and diverse nature of effective leadership. Each type brings a distinct set of qualities that help enhance a team's performance and well-being. By recognizing the strengths and potential pitfalls associated with each type, leaders can cultivate a more nuanced understanding of their leadership approach and that of their team members.
On our website, you can read more useful articles, one of which is Enneagram Compatibility: What Types Are Most Compatible?.
