What is the Enneagram?
Episode #27 - “Enneagram 101: What is the Enneagram?”
This blog post is the written version of my Podcast #27 - “Enneagram 101: What is the Enneagram?'“
It’s the first installment of a podcast series explaining the Enneagram for beginners.
Head over to the podcast if you prefer consuming audio content.
The Enneagram Personality System
Today I want to tell you about the Enneagram. What the heck is it?! Why do some people love it so much? Why do some people hate it? Is it demonic?! Is it scientific? Pseudo-science? Should I try to learn about it just so I can fit in with my church friends or my work friends or my college friends?
The Enneagram can seem complicated, and honestly that is because humans are complicated. And the Enneagram is a system that looks at human personality and motivations. But I prefer to see the Enneagram as a useful and helpful tool that helps us understand our world in terms of the people in it.
The Enneagram Helped Me Understand Myself
Let’s rewind to college. I remember mock interviews where we had to answer questions like:
What are your strengths?
What are your weaknesses?
Where do you want to be in five years?
What sets you apart from the other candidates?
This exercise was always so hard for me. Because I just really didn’t know. I would say, “I’m good at math I guess? I work really hard?”
But I had trouble naming what actually made me me. I could list some surface-level traits—like how I loved walking down the sidewalk and saying hi to everyone on my way to dinner—but I didn’t really know myself.
Fast forward ten years, and now I could give you a full breakdown: my strengths, my weaknesses, how I think, how I emotionally respond, what triggers me under stress, and how I loosen up when I feel really secure. Basically, a night and day difference of how well I know myself. That’s all thanks to the Enneagram.
The Enneagram is the tool that helped me get to know myself really well at a deep level, not just on the surface.
So…. What Is The Enneagram?
So what is the enneagram?
It’s a tool for understanding ourselves and the other people in our worlds.
It’s a blueprint that shows us 9 distinct ways of seeing things.
It’s easy to call the Enneagram a personality system, which I do think is a good descriptor, but it goes much deeper than personality.
Have you heard of the Myers Briggs? The DISC assessment? Or perhaps the four animals - you’re either a lion, beaver, otter, or golden retriever? These tools are all personality tools that are almost exclusively based on behavior. So, you could probably guess what somebody’s animal is after watching them at work for a few days. Because it’s about what’s on the outside. What other people can see. And even the presentation of ourselves that we curate for other people to see.
The 4 Animals Personality Assessment
But the Enneagram is different. It focuses on motivation, not behavior. It’s not what you do—it’s why you do it.
For example, let’s say you have a manager who’s assertive, confident, and vocal. With behavior-based systems, she might fit as a “Lion.” But with the Enneagram, her motivation matters: Is she assertive because she fears being controlled? Because she craves success? Because she wants to be morally good? Or because she seeks safety?
The answer to that motivation question will tell you her Enneagram type. And that’s what makes the tool so transformative. It helps us understand why people react so differently to the same situation.
Why We Think Everyone Sees the World Like We Do
Here’s something we all do subconsciously: we assume that other people are looking at the world exactly how we are.
We assume that others are motivated how we are motivated.
This is why I, as a child determined to be good, do the right thing, and avoid getting in trouble, could not understand why everyone else didn’t just try to be good, too. Why were my siblings talking back to my parents when they could just shut up and avoid getting in trouble? Why were kids at school being mean at recess or not taking school seriously? Didn’t everyone want to be a good little girl?
Well, no. Certainly not. There’s eight other motivations going on in these people, not just my Type 1 motives.
We All Relate to Multiple Enneagram Types
As I explain the 9 types, you will relate to more than one. That is normal. We are all motivated by many things. We are complicated and have many layers. But Enneagram theory teaches that, at the core, one motivation wins out over the rest.
For example, I’m motivated by the desire to be good and right (type 1), and I’m also motivated by a desire to avoid conflict (type 9), and I’m also motivated by a desire to be special and unique (type 4). But if those desires come into conflict with each other and only one can prevail, it is the deep core desire to be Good and be Right that wins for me.
Quick Background: What Does “Enneagram” Even Mean?
It’s a weird word. Enneagram. There’s a Greek word “ennea” that means Nine. and then “gram” just means Drawing.
The word itself just means “drawing of nine.” Pretty straightforward.
There’s a symbol representing the Enneagram that has nine connecting points. Yes it’s kind of weird. No it’s not a pentagram.
The 9 Enneagram Types (Quick Overview)
Each Enneagram type is defined by its core desire, core fear, and focus of attention (what your mind naturally zeros in on when entering a space).
Below is a summary of the types. For full descriptions, head to the individual blog posts or listen to the podcast series where I interview real people who identify with each type.
Type 1: The Improver
Core Desire: To be good, right, correct; to have integrity and stay aligned with their own values
Core Fear: Being bad, wrong, corrupt, or inappropriate; making mistakes
Focus of Attention: What’s wrong or out of place; what can I fix or improve?
Type 2: The Supportive Friend
Core Desire: To be loved, appreciated, and wanted
Core Fear: Rejection; being unworthy of love or unwanted
Focus of Attention: Other people’s needs and feelings
Type 3: The Achiever
Core Desire: To feel valuable and worthy; to be and appear successful and admired
Core Fear: Failure; being worthless
Focus of Attention: Goals, tasks, and to-do lists
Type 4: The Individualist
Core Desire: To be unique, special, and authentic; to have a significant identity
Core Fear: Being insignificant, inadequate, or misunderstood
Focus of Attention: What’s missing or flawed; their own feelings
Type 5: The Researcher
Core Desire: To be competent and knowledgeable
Core Fear: Being helpless, depleted
Focus of Attention: Conserving energy and detached observation
Type 6: The Questioner
Core Desire: To be safe, secure, certain; to have guidance and support
Core Fear: Being without guidance or support; being blamed, alone, or abandoned
Focus of Attention: Preparing for potential danger
Type 7: The Optimist
Core Desire: To be fully satisfied and content; to avoid pain and discomfort
Core Fear: Being trapped or in emotional or physical pain; being limited or bored; missing out
Focus of Attention: What feels good; reframing negatives into positives
Type 8: The Challenger
Core Desire: To be in control of their own life; to protect themselves and their inner circle
Core Fear: Being weak, powerless, controlled, or betrayed
Focus of Attention: Who’s got the power and control?
Type 9: The Peacekeeper
Core Desire: Inner and outer peace and stability; harmony with others
Core Fear: Being in conflict or tension; losing connection with others
Focus of Attention: Harmony in the external environment or amongst people
Why You Can’t Type Other People
Because Enneagram types are based on internal motivations, you can’t guess someone’s type just by observing them. Somebody else cannot type you - you’re the only one who truly knows what’s motivating you.
Enthusiastic people aren’t automatically Sevens. Helpful people aren’t automatically Twos. Remember, these types aren’t based on behaviors!
The Enneagram works best when people name their own type through self-discovery.
Episode 5: Typing FAQs
If you want help figuring out your type, check out Episode 5 of the podcast, which walks you through how to begin that journey. It’s a quick one, less than 20 minutes.
Why I Love This Tool
So here’s why I love this tool. It helps me understand where other people are coming from. It is super fun to be in a group of people - like your family or friends or your team at work - and everybody has figured out their enneagram types. You have these moments of Ohhh so that’s why you reacted that way. That’s why you do things that way. And it’s so enlightening to understand the specific ways that other people are different.
Within the 9 Enneagram types are so many shades and tints and hues. To continue the paint metaphor, each Enneagram type is a different color, but when you walk into the Home Depot paint section, there’s hundreds of blues and hundreds of reds. You get the picture. So this episode is just a starting point to begin learning about the types.
Episode 3: 9 Types? More like 5,382 Types!
For more about all the different versions of the 9 types, go back and listen to Episode 3, where I use maths to explain how there are waaay more than 9 types of people.
Final Thoughts
Today, I can confidently answer questions like:
What are your strengths? What sets you apart?
I know I’m a hard worker, I value high quality, I procrastinate if I think it’s not good enough, and I’m critical—especially of myself. I have high standards, and I hate getting things wrong.
But I also know now that not everyone thinks this way. Other people aren’t holding me to my own high expectations. Thank God.
The Enneagram helped me understand all this about myself.
