Structural Enneagram 140914

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Copyright Jean Adeler 2009-2014

Structural Enneagram

Personality Explained

By Jean Adeler


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Structural Enneagram 2

Contents

Structural Enneagram and Conventional Enneagram....... 3

Personality as Perspective............................................................ 4

Developmental Path .......................................................................... 4The Six Perspectives ......................................................................... 4

Perspective Seven .................................................................. 4Perspective Five ..................................................................... 5Perspective Eight ................................................................... 6

Perspective Two .................................................................... 6Perspective Four .................................................................... 7

Perspective One ..................................................................... 8Binaries ............................................................................................. 8

The Seven-Five Binary .......................................................... 9The Two-Four Binary .......................................................... 10The Eight-One Binary ......................................................... 11

Combination Perspectives on the Triangle ..................................... 12

Personality as Structure............................................................... 13Personality Dynamics ..................................................................... 13

The Nine Personality Structures ..................................................... 14The One-Two Structure ....................................................... 14

The Two-Three Structure .................................................... 14The Three-Four Structure .................................................... 15The Four-Five Structure ...................................................... 15The Five-Six Structure ......................................................... 16The Six-Seven Structure ...................................................... 16

The Seven-Eight Structure ................................................... 17

The Eight-Nine Structure ..................................................... 17The Nine-One Structure ....................................................... 18

Personality Types with Wings................................................... 19One-wing-Two, The Servant-Leader .............................................. 19

Two-wing-One, The Altruist ........................................................... 20Two-wing-Three, The Giver ........................................................... 21Three-wing-Two, The Motivator .................................................... 22Three-wing-Four, The Achiever ..................................................... 23Four-wing-Three, The Individualist ................................................ 24

Four-wing-Five, The Artist ............................................................. 24Five-wing-Four, The Visionary ...................................................... 25

Five-wing-Six, The Observer .......................................................... 27Six-wing-Five, The Guardian ......................................................... 28Six-wing-Seven, The Loyalist......................................................... 28

Seven-wing-Six, The Enthusiast ..................................................... 29Seven-wing-Eight, The Excitement Seeker .................................... 30

Eight-wing-Seven, The Rebel ......................................................... 30Eight-wing-Nine, The Boss............................................................. 31

Nine-wing-Eight, The Mediator ...................................................... 32

Nine-wing-One, The Peacemaker ................................................... 33One-wing-Nine, The Idealist ........................................................... 34


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Structural Enneagram and Conventional Enneagram

The Structural Enneagram is a fundamentalrethinking of the Enneagram model of personality. The

conventional Enneagram is a system of nine personalitytypes organized on a graph called an enneagram, or

nine-part figure.As an adaptation of that well-known personality-

typing system, the Structural Enneagram introduces

several new features, among them:

Specification of the underlying structures ofpersonality.

More-accurate, two-number structures as opposedto the old single-number types.These and other modifications of the Enneagram modeladd exponentially to its explanatory value and useful-ness.

The basic Structural Enneagram still looks like the

illustration above, although its parts may have differentmeanings. For example, in the conventional Enneagram,the lines connecting numbers map a direction of

integration, while in the Structural Enneagram some ofthe lines are repurposed to map a developmental path,

the order in which certain perceptual and cognitive

abilities arise in childhood.For those wishing to break out of personality traps,

the conventional Enneagram's vague recommendationsto behave more like the type in one's direction of

integration are replaced by a better understanding ofhow and why such traps exist. This information can helpin devising a plan of action for personal growth.

Even at the surface level of delineation anddescription of types, the Structural Enneagram's

innovations are quite extensive. For example, while theconventional Enneagram describes nine personality

types with the option of assigning a wingthe type oneither side of the dominant typethe StructuralEnneagram makes wings an essential factor in

personality typing.The principal new elements of the Structural

Enneagram are as follows:

6 Perspectives that form the building blocks ofpersonality

9 personality structures corresponding to pairs ofadjacent numbered points

18 type-plus-wing personalitiesMoreover, the Structural Enneagram model exposes thedynamics of personality, consisting of three separatemoments that drive the personality. In short, the

Structural Enneagram understands the Enneagram to benot merely an organized collection of personality types

but also a dynamic model of the underlying structure ofpersonality.

A Note on Language Choices

People are more than their personality types. Yet it

gets tiresome repeatedly reading phrases like a personhaving Structural Enneagram type Eight-wing-Seven.So instead of spelling the idea out in eight words, I might

shorten it to three: Eight-wing-Seven.In a sense, the Eight-wing-Sevenness of a person

can be said to have its own, autonomous agency, actingwithin, and at times almost independently of, the whole

person. In that sense, it can be true to say that Eight-

wing-Seven does something or thinks something. We allhave occasions (probably many more than we would

care to know) when some unconscious or automatic partof us takes over. So, although I never mean to imply that

personality is the whole of a person, I will use thisshorthand throughout.


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Personality as Perspective

At the root of personality is Perspective. The wordperspective has multiple meanings: it is worldview;

point of view; perceptual position; and mental posture

relative to yourself, others, and the environment. In theStructural Enneagram, Perspective is contingent upon

many factors, among them, physiological capabilitiesand constraints, psychological drives, accidents of

personal history, cultural contributions, and (largelyunconscious) linguistic structures.

The six points on the enneagram hexadthe six-pointed star shapemark the Perspectives modeled by

the Structural Enneagram. (The points on the triangle

will be covered later in this section.) The typical patternsof underuse and overuse of these six Perspectives add

up to nine personality structures and eighteenpersonality types.

Developmental Path

I believe that five of the six lines connecting thepoints on the hexad trace a developmental path,beginning with Perspective Seven and ending at One.The origins of Seven are in infancy, and One is the most

sophisticated Perspective and probably the last to beadded.

This model assumes a norm in which, in the course

of growing up, almost everybody acquires and is able toperform all six Perspectives, but everybody also favorssome Perspectives over others. A stable pattern of lesser

use of some Perspectives and greater use of others iswhat determines a personality type. But the common

principle uniting all six Perspectives into a wholeandthe justification for systematizing themis that your

use of each of these Perspectives contributes somethingto your sense of identity, to your selfhood.

The Six Perspectives

The six Perspectives that undergird the personalitiesof the Structural Enneagram are listed here in the positeddevelopmental order, which can be traced on the aboveenneagram figure by starting at Seven and following in

the direction of the arrows, stopping at One.

Perspective Seven

Perspective Seven is the state of being as onewith

people and thingsthe state of being immersed in theenvironment. I also use the NLP term associated to

name this state. From an associated position, youexperience yourself as if inside the scene, using yoursenses to see, hear, feel, smell, and taste what is going

on around you. This applies whether the experience ishappening now, is being recalled, or is only imagined.

When you are in an immersed state, your emotionsare activated. While riding a roller coaster, you areexcited and scared. While giving a speech, you are

nervous. While serving on a jury, you becomepassionately vengeful in sympathy with a murder

victim's family. You eagerly await the final game of atournament.

An amusing illustration of Perspective Seven isfound in the opening paragraph of Edmund Morris's


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Colonel Roosevelt, a biography of Theodore Roosevelt.1The former president is on an African expedition:

Sitting above the cowcatcher, on anobservation bench rigged for him by BritishEast Africa Railway officials, he feels the thrust

of the locomotive pushing him upland fromMombasa, over the edge of the parched Taru

plateau. He has the delightful illusion of being

transported into the Pleistocene Age.Here TR, as if a part of the train, coursing through the

African landscape, eager for excitement, inhabits theSeven state to the utmost.

I believe that a sort of proto-Perspective Sevenarises in infancy, at the personality's first emergencefrom the nurturing maternal matrix, probably at around

six months of age. Before that, although infants may

have a definite temperament, there is little to suggestthat they have a sense of themselves as individuals. Selfand environment are a unity.

Once they do begin to develop a sense of being

different from the environment, they still experiencethemselves as a reflection of it. To a large extent, the

state of the environment is the state of the self. Theirbudding sense of identity is wrapped up in what theysee, hear, and feel. If the world is orderly and pleasantand they are well-fed, then they are composed. If theworld is chaotic and noisy and the diaper is clammy and

the child hungry, then everything falls apart. Babies

selfhood, like their emotional state, reflects theirimmediate circumstances.And their experience is holistic. They dont draw

fine distinctions. The world is either good or its bad at

this moment, although whats bad now may change to

1Edmund Morris, Colonel Roosevelt(Random House, 2010),

3.2In previous accounts, I used the NLP term dissociatedfor

Perspective Five rather than detached. However, since in

good in a flash. Either way, they are completelyabsorbed in the experience.

Although we all retain some access to PerspectiveSevens immersion in experience, only an infant could

possibly sustain this proto-Perspective Seven for any

length of time. Once we acquire language and theability to partialize, we will always, to some extent,stand out from the world in our own minds.

Uncontaminated Perspective Seven will never again bepossible. But as the personality matures and adds other

Perspectives, the associated, Sevenish point of view willcontinue to provide a space for being as onewith people,things, and experience.

Perspective Five

At around 18 months of age, children noticeably

begin to acquire Perspective Five. Using thisPerspective to conceptually distinguish themselves fromthe maternal environment, they pull themselves up from

passivity, helplessness, and dependency.Whether or not you adopted Perspective Five as a

prime component of your personality structure, youhave it available to you. It is a skill set that allows youto get some distance on your environment and to avoidfeeling that situations and people are swallowing upyour individuality.

When using Perspective Five, you are detached2, orobjective, as opposed to losing yourself in your

experience. As you are somewhat removed from the

scene, you occupy an observer space, so to speak, fromwhich you see and hear what is going on over there. This Perspective allows you to be less

personally involved and more analytical. If, for

example, you were objectively evaluating an orange

psychiatry dissociation has all negative connotations,in

order to avoid confusion, I've dropped the term.


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maybe you're going to serve fruit salad to guestsyoumight rate its acidity or notice that the juice tasted

sweeter than usual. Enjoyment of the orange has beensubordinated to observation.

When you are detached, your feelings are more

under your own control and less contingent uponcircumstances. While riding a roller coaster, you may

become curious about the physics of the cars staying on

the pitched track. While giving a speech, you mayevaluate the audience reaction. On the jury in a murder

trial, you can dispassionately weigh the evidence for andagainst the charges.

The developmental aspect of shifting from the

associated to the detached perspective is well illustratedin an account written by psychoanalyst Jeanne Lafont.3A four-year-old girl is being treated. On a rainy day,Lafont asks the girl to look out the window and then

draw what she sees. The girl grasps the pencil in her fistand performs rain by dotting the paper. According toLafont, most children at that age take a step back from

the scene of rain and draw vertical lines depicting thedrops falling.

In dotting the paper as if the pencil were the rain,the girl is taking the perspective of the rain itself; this isPerspective Seven, associated. Drawing rain as verticallines requires detached Perspective Five.

By training her patient on how to enter the detached

state, Lafont reverses the condition that had brought thegirl into therapy. Cognitive therapy does somethingsimilar, teaching the person stuck in all-good or all-badthinking to step back and observe a more nuancedreality.

Perspective Eight

The child once having attained some degree ofdistance from the maternal environment, with

Perspective Five, the pendulum again swings in mom'sdirection. With the arrival of Perspective Eight, the child

locks into a mother-child dyad, a bonded state steepedin the fantasy that identity is a function of holdinganother's attention. If you believe you are necessary tomother, then you can be sure she will not lose you.

This is also a time of ego expansion. Children of

three and four can be at their most aggressive anddemanding. And, of course, they are becoming evermore self-aware.

Under Perspective Eight, self-identity is founded ona subject-object relationship. This is a common

distinction in psychology, but you can also think of

3Jeanne Lafont, ed. by Ellie Ragland, The Inherent Twisting

of the Gaze, (Re)-Turn: A Journal of Lacanian StudiesVol.

4, Spring 2008: 127-134.

subjectand objectin grammatical terms borrowed fromthe parts of the common English sentence structure:

subject-verb-object. The subject does something thatinvolves an object. I love youI am the subject. Youlove meI am the object.

While under the influence of Perspective Eight,people of any age try to earn and maintain the positiveregard of the other. For those who are Eight-dominant,a recognition-seeking strategy also plays a pivotal role

in self-identity and motivation, as will be discussed inthe descriptions of individual personality structures and

types.As with the other five Perspectives, you never

outgrow Perspective Eights mode of being, even if you

don't express it as a major life theme. While holdingsubject position, you love, lead, follow, assert, motivate,

convince, desire, see. In object position, you are desired,punished, rewarded, valued, taught, led, loved, seen.Whether the other is giving you attention or wanting

attention from you, Perspective Eight secures a sense ofidentity via the recognition and desire of the other.

Perspective Two

Perspective Two connects you to other people'sdesires. It often involves the use of what NLP calls other

positionaprojecting of consciousness into the spaceof the other in order to imagine, from their point of view,

what they think. I tend to discuss this perspective interms of the others desire because I think the main thingyou want to know about others' thoughts is what they

want, and most particularly what they want from you.When straightforwardly expressed, Two-con-

sciousness is centered squarely in the other. Some would


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call it thinking with the heart. It's an empathy that makesyou feel connected to and responsible for each other.

This direct sort of Two-consciousness dominates in thealtruistic and caring types.

Thinking psychoanalytically, we see that Per-

spective Two develops when children recognize that themother desires something other than them. As the

psychoanalyst Jacques Lacan said, her gaze is turned

elsewhere. As every mother knows, younger childrenoften find it totally unacceptable if her entire attention isnot trained on them. But it does happen. By school age,children solve this problem by putting themselves in her

place in order to find out what she wantshow she

wants them to be. Maybe, by giving her what she wants,they can draw her gaze back in their direction.

But at some point, in the logic of the buddingpsyche, even this much attention can begin to pose a

problem. There might be danger in attracting andholding the gaze of the mother. Practically speaking,there is the danger of being overwhelmed by the duty of

fulfilling her desire. Not to mention the dawningrealization that if you are able to project yourconsciousness into her mind, then she can do the

reverse. She can possess you with her thoughts!Granted, you probably don't remember thinking this.

Nevertheless, that this fear of possession is both real andintense is evidenced by its frequently showing up as thetheme of horror movies, such as Invasion of the BodySnatchers. Lacan depicted the fantasy of the possessive

mother by the sinister image of the praying mantis.Given the danger of psychological engulfment and

possession, you would think that we would all bespurred to abandon Perspective Two at the firstopportunity. But there is a paradoxical reason to cling toa strategy of monitoring the mother's thoughtslet us

say, her mental condition. A mothers excessiveneediness or negativity may activate childrens sense of

responsibility for her happiness for the simple fact thathaving an unhappy mother threatens their well-being.

Complicating matters, children may feel they have tocompensate for a father who is missing or otherwise not

doing his job of keeping the mother off their back. Butwhatever the reason behind a stuck Two pattern, it keepsthe mother (and, later, any other) nearby, while at a

reasonably safe distance.For you, this childhood drama may have been less

intense and is long since forgotten, but it nevertheless

left you with a highly useful ability to project yourconsciousness into other position and emerge with

invaluable information. How else could you know howyour audience is responding to you? Or what yourmarket will buy? Or even how to love?

Perspective Four

Mental separation from the mother is at long last

possible with the acquisition of Perspective Four. Ratherthan remaining in thrall to the task of giving the motherwhat she wants (in order to remain in some measure the

object of her desire), children at some point identifymore with their own drive for autonomy and self-

creation.

Perspective Four is a turning inward to ask, Who amI separate from other people, and what do I want for

myself? Such questioning promotes creative thinkingsince, without the (m)other to show you who you are and

what to want, you have to discover new reference points

for yourself.But the crucial first task of Perspective Four is to

cover over, to repress, the Perspective Twosenmeshment with the mother. From Perspective Four

you insist on your difference from others. You begin tocreate your personal version of reality, a version that willeventually hook into some set of truths in the larger

world, beyond the family.


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Perspective One

In ways large and small, personality types that relyon Perspective One are principled reformers. Theynotice where people and institutions are not living up to

standard and try to rectify the situation. Moreover, theynotice where family or societal norms lack justificationand try to change them.

It appears that the acquisition of Perspective Onemight begin with the young person's decision to

somehow embrace a principle, quality, or worldviewthat is not well-represented in their family. They

experience firsthand the family's deficiency, forexample, a lack of education. Then, probably withoutgoing through any formal or even conscious

deliberation, they begin to identify with a principle, or

purpose, that, if realized, would fill the lack. So onechild determines to become the first person in the familyto finish college. Another leaves the city and buys afarm.

Since Perspective One is rooted in a sort ofjudgment on your family's shortcomings, it becomes a

way of distinguishing yourself, a way of individuatingthrough self-improvement.

At the same time, Perspective One involves heedinga call emanating from the world beyond the family.Maturing means being pulled away from parents by the

larger reality and interacting with it in a meaningful way.

Again, a major premise of Structural Enneagram isthat all normally functioning people use all six

perspectives. We all use Perspective One. We are allprincipled. Yet some personalities rely more heavily on

Perspective One than do others. This will be explainedmore fully in the next section, Binaries.

Binaries

The six Structural Enneagram Perspectives arefurther organized into three binary pairs. A binary is awhole with two parts that stand in polar opposition to

each other. Here, the opposition is between relationaland individuated Perspectives.

As illustrated in the above figure, the three binary

pairs are Perspectives Seven and Five, Perspectives Twoand Four, and Perspectives Eight and One.

As shown in the following table, at one end of each

pole are the relational Perspectives, and at the other endare the individuated Perspectives:

BinariesRelational Pole Individuated Pole

Immersed inexperience Seven-----Five

Detached fromexperience

Oriented toothers desire Two-------Four

Oriented toown desire

Identifies inrelation toothers

Eight------OneIdentifies withprinciple

These three binaries represent mutually exclusivetakes on three critical issues. The Seven-Five binarydeals at bottom with the state of being either inside oroutside your environment. The Two-Four binary locatesdesire either in the other or in the self. And the Eight-

One binary locates the source of identity and purposeeither in the other or in an ideal self. This source ofidentity, in turn, determines how we channel desire.Although it appears that almost everyone is capable of


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taking all six positions, at any given moment only oneposition in each pair can be occupied.

And yet, it turns out that a certain sort of access tothe relational Perspectives is absolutely necessary to theefficient functioning of the individuated Perspectives.

Unconscious access to Perspective Seven undergirds theability to perform normally from Perspective Five, andso on. But to prove this would require an extended

argument, one that I hope will unfold over time (perhapsin future revisions of this paper). Now to an explanation

of the Structural Enneagram binaries.

The Seven-Five Binary

Over time, your preferred stance with regard to thetwo Perspectives of the Seven-Five binary determinesyour baseline mental and emotional states for the reason

that it determines how you position yourself relative toyour cognitive and physical environments. You cancontinually immerse yourself in experience, which I

also call being associated (Perspective Seven), or youcan step outside of experience and detach (Perspective

Five),4 or you can switch between the two asappropriate.

Distinguishing Perspective Seven from Five is firstand foremost a matter of determining whether you areexperiencing a situation from the inside or the outside.

Relational Perspective Seven gives the sense of beinginside, or associated to, experience, while individuated

Perspective Five gives the sense of being outside it, ordetached.

Perspective Seven is the recommended state if you

want to really feel something, from having fun andbeing happy to enduring an authentic moment of grief

and sadness. It's also essential if you are to be able topop into someone else's emotional atmosphere for amoment, if you want to understand or get into rapport

with that person.Perspective Five could release you from having to

take on the mood of the moment. It would allow you tofeel objective, or curious, or peaceful, regardless of what

4The associated and detached states are closely related to

extraversion and introversion, respectively.

is going on outside you. But for those habitually stuckin Seven's worldview and unable to detach, having fun

and being happy are absolutely necessary states to bepreserved at all costs. Because of this they develop anastonishing talent for denial. Denial is a skill that is

usually understood in its pejorative sense, but it comesin handy whenever its not a good time to focus onhardships; in this sense, denial can also be called

optimism. Yet, to carry on frenetically, pretendingeverything is great, ignoring all evidence to the contrary,

is to risk an eventual, devastating incursion of the darkside of life.

A variant of the Sevenish penchant for refusing to

deal with the negative is talking about it too much. Tooff-load all your disturbing thoughts onto another

person tries the patience of the listener and spares youfrom facing them yourself.

Normally the Sevenish experience is modulatedthrough an entire personality structure encompassingseveral easily accessible Perspectives. But for the

person in the grip of Seven, not being able to make anobjective, nuanced assessment of reality means that the

world seems pretty much either all good or all bad. (Thisis sometimes called good-bad splitting or justsplitting.) If the world goes all bad for people stuck inSeven then they flip over from denial into wallowing in

pain. Everything is horribleto use a word I hear a

lot from a distressed Seven-wing-Eight.People stuck in Perspective Seven often seem to

have their heads in the clouds. They may find thatpeople actually tell them things like, You need to comedown to earth. Not that they dont try to get themselves

grounded, even if by proxy. For example, someSevenish men seem to collect women, who may

represent something of nature for them. Or Sevenishmen and women may use pets to help them getgrounded. Cluttering is often a problem since, from

Perspective Seven, relating to material things can givethe impression of being connected to physical reality.

One Seven-wing-Six told me she simply couldnt putclutter away or else her things might disappear, and thisthought was deeply unsettling to her. All of her thingshad to be out in the open where she could see them.Throwing out even useless junk provoked extreme

anxiety. Her professional work was carried out in thesublime realms of energy and spirits, but the ever-

present signs of her existence in the material worldapparently helped to ground her.

The alternative is to shift into the Five pole of the

Seven-Five binary. Standing apart from a person, place,or situation, you reach detachment. You can perceive


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patterns that could not be seen from the inside. You canremove your emotions from the scene and merely

witness. You can evaluate things objectively.Obviously, each position, Five and Seven, has its

merits. It has been recommended that we associate to

positive experiences and detach from negative ones.Common language testifies, for example, that grievingmust be gone through but we are not to wallow in

it. So individuated Perspective Five is often consideredto be the more mature and adaptive of the two

perspectives in painful emotional contexts: we do saywe achieve objectivity. Yet it is apparent uponreflection that both perspectives of this binary are

absolutely necessary in all matters of the heart. Youknow that you must be immersed in experience, in themoment, to enjoy being with another person, and yetyou periodically detach in order to view the situation

from the outside, if you want to avoid any number ofatrocious outcomes.

And it's the same with intellectual pursuits.

Perspective Five probably initiates the process ofreasoning, analyzing and synthesizing patterns. But

once you have taken in a certain amount of informationon a topic, you can move seamlessly and intuitively

back and forth from associated to detached states.You just can't do both at the same instant. And the

state you favor will constitute the foundational factor of

your self-concept and personality.

Perspectives on ExperienceSeven Five

Relational

AssociatedInside

SubjectiveParticipant

ExtraversionFluentUninhibitedEnthusiastic

Individuated

DetachedOutside

ObjectiveObserver

IntroversionHesitantInhibitedDiscerning

The T-chart is suggestive of some of the basicdifferences between Perspectives Five and Seven. This

chart is neither exhaustive nor exact. Each of thedescriptors refers to how the individual interacts withexperiences, including experiencing people and things.

In coming sections I will introduce and discusspersonality structures. All of the personality structuresare influenced by the Seven-Five binary in some way.The following information is provided as a reference

point.

Personality Structures and the Seven-Five BinarySeven Five In Flux

Two-ThreeSeven-EightThree-FourSix-Seven

Five-SixEight-NineFour-FiveNine-One

One-Two

Of the nine structures, four include the relational,

Seven Perspective, four include the individuated FivePerspective and one has a more complicated relationshipto Seven and Five.

The Two-Four Binary

The most telling distinction between the poles of theTwo-Four binary is the location of desire in either selfor other. Personalities incorporating Perspective Twoare prone to a bit of mindreading, paying attention to

what they imagine the other person wantsalthoughtheir reply to the other's desire may amount to either a

direct response to it, an interpretation of it, or a defenseor rebellion against it. Personalities relying instead onPerspective Four pay more attention to their own

desires, through introspection. Even so, they may not goafter what they want due to interference coming fromfactors related to other perspectives.

Most of us never lose the ability to empathize thatcomes with Perspective Two, and that is obviously agood thing. But, unfortunately for personalities that are

wedded too tightly to Perspective Two, total attention tothe others desire precludes healthy attention to theirown. No matter how rewarding or necessary theirPerspective-Two strategy may be, they eventually oroccasionally crave separation from the other

separation such as Perspective Four offers.Some Two-types say thats when the fear of

abandonment kicks in. This fear is often attributed to thefathers literal or emotional abandonment. And the

problem is exacerbated by a mother who either does not

know what she wants or who fails to obtain what shewants and for whose desires the child feels responsible.


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Later, this habitual willingness to consider theothers desire is extended beyond the mother. Although

Two-types may not always respond positively, they dotune into the others demands and preferences.

On the other hand, personalities that use

individuated Perspective Four are only too happy leavesuch responsibility for the other behind in order tofollow their own desires. They will be far more

autonomous, and even self-absorbed compared tosomeone who favors Perspective Two.

Of course, it is quite possible to be balancedbetween Perspectives Two and Four, to switchseamlessly back and forth between them. Only you cant

do both at the same time. Most people lean noticeablytoward one or the other.

The following T-chart is suggestive of some of thebasic differences between perspectives Two and Four. It

is neither exhaustive nor exact. Each of the descriptorsrefers to how the personality is oriented to other people,especially as concerns the location of desire.

Perspectives Relative to the OtherTwo Four

Relational

Others desireEmpathy

HeartConnectedGiving

ServingFear of aban-

donment

Individuated

Own desireIntrospection

LibidoSeparateCreative

Self-sufficientNeed for autonomy

In coming sections I will introduce and discusspersonality structures. All of the personality structuresare influenced by the Two-Four binary in some way. The

following information is provided as a reference point.

Personality Structures and the Two-Four Binary

Two Four In Flux

Two-ThreeSix-SevenFive-SixOne-Two

Three-FourEight-NineFour-FiveNine-One

Seven-Eight

All of the personality structures are influenced bythe Two-Four binary in some way. Of the nine

structures, four include relational Two Perspective, fourinclude individuated Four Perspective, and one has a

more complicated relationship to Two and Four.

The Eight-One Binary

Finally, personality hinges on a choice regarding theEight-One binary: whether to form an interpersonalidentification and motivational strategy or an

individuated one. The Perspective-Eight self-conceptand purpose come primarily from relationships andinteractions with other people, while the Perspective-

One self-concept and purpose emerges from arelationship to ideas and principles. This distinction is

important in that these two Perspectives control not onlyhow people conceptualize themselves but also how theyexpress themselves.

Keeping in mind that all normally developedpeople, in other words, almost all of us, use both of thesePerspectives. However, people do display a marked

preference for one or the other. Since Eight-types forman identity out of others' reactions to them, they respond

to interpersonal factors such as power, status, andhierarchy. For One-types, on the other hand, since anidea in mind is the guarantor of their existence, self-

activation occurs in response to thought-impressionssuch as standards, spiritual beliefs, principles, mission,

purpose, and ideals. They are motivated to thought andaction by something other than what will cause others toaffirm their existence.

Perspectives Relative toIdentity and Motivation

Eight One

Relational

Interpersonal

Recognition

RoleHierarchical

Worldly

Individuated

Principled

Being right

PurposeUnique

Idealistic

The T-chart is suggestive of some of the basicdifferences between perspectives Eight and One. It isneither exhaustive nor exact. Each of the descriptors

relates to the individuals source of identity andmotivation.


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In coming sections I will introduce and discusspersonality structures. All of the personality structures

are influenced by the Eight-One binary in some way.The following information is provided as a reference

point.

Personality Structures and the Eight-One Binary

Eight One In Flux

Seven-EightEight-NineTwo-ThreeThree-Four

One-TwoNine-OneFive-SixSix-Seven

Four-Five

All of the personality structures are influenced bythe Eight-One binary in some way. Of the ninestructures, four include the relational, Eight Perspective,four include the individuated, One Perspective, and onehas a more complicated relationship to the two.

Combination Perspectiveson the Triangle

A crucial difference between Structural Enneagramand the conventional Enneagram of personality is

Structural Enneagram's redefinition of the points on thetriangle as combinations of the six points on the hexad.

The triangle points, Nine, Three, and Six, arederived from the hexad in the following way:

Six Single and Three Combination PerspectivesSingle

PerspectivesCombinationPerspectives

One and Two combine at point Six.

Seven and Eight combine at point Three.

Four and Five combine at point Nine.

The depiction of the combination perspectives throughthe triangle is what makes it possible for the Structural

Enneagram to depict nine personality types out of sixPerspectives.

Recap

The Structural Enneagram dictates that each of its

nine personality structures be assembled out of two orthree of its six Perspectives. It is axiomatic that a givenpersonality will not include both Perspectives in the

same binary since both cannot be expressedsimultaneously. We have seen the logic in this: you cant

be both associated (Seven) and detached (Five) in thesame instant; similarly, you cant be impelled by theothers desire (Two) and at the same time divorced fromit (Four); nor can you be guided simultaneously byconsiderations of power relationships (Eight) and an

ideal principle (One).The very existence of personality is being redefined

here as the reality that, within each binary, you arebound to favor one side over the other. Although anevolved person might be flexible enough to switch

easily back and forth between both poles of all threebinaries, most people will have home positions that theyoperate out of most of the time, and by definition

personality stems from the relative balance ofPerspectives in habitual use.


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Personality as Structure

Each of the Structural Enneagrams nine personality

structures is a combination of two or three of the sixPerspectives. The following table lists these com-

binations:

SixPerspectives UnderlieNine Personality Structures

PerspectivesPersonalityStructure

One + Two One-Two

Two + ThreeSeven + Eight)

Two-Three

Three + Four(Seven + Eight + Four)

Three-Four

Four + Five Four-Five

Five + Six(Five + One + Two)

Five-Six

Six + Seven(One + Two + Seven)

Six-Seven

Seven + Eight Seven-Eight

Eight + Nine(Eight + Four + Five)

Eight-Nine

Nine + One(Four + Five + One)

Nine-One

One-Two means a personality structure thatcombines Perspectives One and Two. The fullydifferentiated personality type could be either One-

wing-Two or Two-wing-One. Since the points on theStructural Enneagram represent Perspectives rather than

types, personality structures are depicted as the arcs, orsections, between the points. Thus, personalitystructures are continua formed by varying weights of

two or three Perspectives.The personality structure is typically tilted to favor

one of the two or three Perspectives that comprise it.

Seven-wing-Eight means Seven is the prevailingPerspective. But the structure name Seven-Eight does

not specify the prevailing Perspective. Seven-Eight isthe combination of two Perspectives and encompasses

both personality structures Seven-wing-Eight andEight-wing-Seven.

Similarly, a Three-Four personality structureincludes both personality types Three-wing-Four andFour-wing-Three. The relative strengths of Perspectives

Seven and Eight, which make up Combination

Perspective Three, are not captured by the Three-Four

arc.

And, if it were possible to have a single-Perspectivepersonality structure, then the arc, or continuum, would

be reduced to a point coequal with the singlePerspective.

Personality Dynamics

In the descriptions of personality structure and typethat follow, one of the points of discussion will be

personality dynamics. Each personality structure has itsown dynamicits own movement through experience.These movements are triggered by psychological drives.

(Psychological drives are a source of the theoryunderlying this model but are not covered in this

document.)

Parts of the Personality Dynamic

Perspectives/Binary Function

Seven or Five Mode of being in the worldTwo or Four Source of desire

Eight or One Channel of expression

The aspects of personality dynamics that are

emphasized by the Structural Enneagram are 1) a modeof being in the world, 2) a source of desire, and 3) a

channel of expression. These aspects correspond to thebinary pairs of the six Perspectives.


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In the Structural Enneagram model, once drive istriggered, it sets out from a state, or mode of being in theworld (Perspective Seven or Five). Drive then takesshape as a desire, seeming to emanate from either theother (Perspective Two) or the self (Perspective Four).

It is then processed through a motivational channel thatinvolves your self-identity and sense of purpose

(Perspective Eight or One). Unfortunately, there can behiccups in the flow of drive. And some of those hiccups,along with other personality dynamics, will come up in

the individual structure descriptions that follow, as wellas in the type descriptions in the section after that.

The Nine Personality Structures

Following are descriptions of the nine StructuralEnneagram personality structures. Recalling that these

structures are represented by the arcs between pointsaround the enneagram circle, note that the list begins

with the One-Two structure and continues around thecircle to Nine-One.

The One-Two Structure

The One-Two structure includes individuatedPerspective One and relational Perspective Two.

Perspective Twos empathy for others is either

turned to direct service to individuals or sublimated intosocial forms of service such as running charities,

performing business support functions, teaching, and

promoting political causes.Since Perspective Ones idealism tends to turn

thoughts and actions toward more abstract and universalrather than personal themes, thinking turns to howthings ought to be.

What is not immediately apparent in this structure iswhere One-Twos stand with respect to their physical and

interpersonal environment. Is their personality usuallyabsorbed into the world through Perspective Seven orlooking on objectively from Perspective Five? I believe

that One-Twos would prefer to maintain detachedPerspective Five, but that certain situations toss theminto a negative-Seven state of anger or despair.

One-Twos' personal evolutionary path requiresthem to overcome their particular difficulty with holding

Perspective Five. This will be apparent in their choice ofgoals that calls for sustaining objectivity, even in the

face of externally or internally generated conflict orcriticism.

The Two-Three Structure

Since Perspective Three is a combination ofPerspectives Seven and Eight, the Two-Three structurecomprises Perspectives Seven, Two, and Eight. Becauseall three Perspectives lie at the relational ends of theirrespective binaries, Two-Three is the most relational,

least individuated of the nine structures. The result is anoutgoing and charming personality that is rather too

dependent on the reactions of others.

Two-Threes rely on Perspective Seven, whichmeans that they turn their attention outward rather than

inward, so in order to feel good they are dependent onthe environment and the people in it to support andnurture them. Given a supportive environment, Two-Threes are free to be their engaged and enthusiasticselves.

Their direct expression of Perspective Two makesthem interested in other people and eager to give themwhat they need and want: attention, love, entertainment,gifts, or assistance. In return they might draw to

themselves the loving gaze of the other.The presence of Perspective Eight means that Two-

Threes need the positive regard of important others inorder to be fulfilled. Status is important to them, and

they are likely to achieve it by hitching their wagon to astar.


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The Three-Four Structure

The Three-Four structure combines individuatedPerspective Four with relational Perspectives Seven andEight to make a highly achieving, adaptable, creative,

and individualistic person. (As explained in the previoussection, point Three unites Perspectives Seven and

Eight.)

Having Perspective Seven in their makeup makesThree-Fours passionate and engaged. Perspective Fourmakes them look to their own desire rather than allowthemselves to be controlled by what others want from

them. On the other hand, having Perspective Eightmakes Three-Fours crave the positive regard of others,so they will strive to excel and to control their image.

Dynamically, the Three-Four process looks some-thing like this. Three-Fours have in mind someobjective, the achieving of which might reward themwith recognition or improved status. But this objective

needs to align as much as possible with their own desirefor self-expression rather than coming from somebodyelse or from society.

Thoughts of achieving a particular objective ignitetheir drive. They then set out from the associated Sevenstate, which means that Three-Fours will throw

themselves into the project and get swept up in it. AsFour-types, they will prefer to act creatively, not always

following procedure. Unless some external factor stopsthem, they will probably achieve their goals because

they are not internally inhibited or conflicted about self-imposed goals, as long as those goals are consistent with

their own values.

The Four-Five Structure

Four-Fives are creative, introspective, and cerebralindividualists. They can at times be alienated, isolated,

and avoidant.Perspective Five, the quality of being detached and

observant, contributes intuition, introspection, andinsight to this personality structure. But too much of this

cool Perspective may also make it difficult to fullyengage with people and experience. Having PerspectiveFour in the personality makes Four-Fives artistic, anti-conventional, and original. Too much Four and they

become merely eccentric.

Both Four and Five are individuated rather thanrelational Perspectives. Behind a habit of detachment(Five) lies an original drive to break away from whatfeels like the engulfing influence of the familyatmosphere and to stand out from the environment. And

behind a move toward self-expression (Four) lies a

drive to cut the apron strings and release the need toplease the mother. With two individuated Perspectivesand no relational Perspectives, Four-Five is one of themost autonomous personality structures in the StructuralEnneagram. (Nine-One is the most autonomous.)

Four-Five is one of the three personality structures

that at first glance appear to involve only twoPerspectives rather than three. (The others are Seven-Eight and One-Two.) As stated earlier, the dynamics ofthe Structural Enneagram model require three

Perspectives to complete a personality structure. Four-Five has Perspective Five as its mode of being in the

world and Perspective Four as its source of desire butlacks a secure Perspective on identity, which eitherEight or One would provide.

But Four-Fives do not effectively use either Eight orOne to self-activate and complete projects and bring

them to market. If Four-Fives had settled at Perspective

Eight, then they would have been Eight-Nines andwould have been motivated by the drive to be a leaderand, moreover, to be recognized as a leader. InsteadFour-Fives have shifted away from Eight and are

attempting to use Perspective One.When they do succeed in holding Perspective One,

then they are like Nine-Ones, motivated by a sense ofpurpose to act and achieve completion. Furthermore,any time Four-Fives attempt and fail to self-activate

through Perspective One, they tend to fall back onto a


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disempowered position, becoming someone who caneasily be thwarted by criticism and aggression (real orimagined). This appears to be the pattern of those Four-Fives who are conflicted about bringing their creationsto the world.

Consequently, Four-Fives lives too often appear tobe a roiling mass of unfulfilled desire. Lacking the

effective motivational strategy that either Eight or Onewould provide, their output may consist of partiallyfinished projects and products that never hit the market,

especially if they are acting independently, without anemployer or agent of some kind to motivate them. To

self-actualize, Four-Fives need to either consolidatePerspective One in their skill set or recruit or berecruited by another person or agency to manage andrepresent them.

Lacking these resources, they revert to their

characteristic ego defense: avoidance. This could meanthey withdraw from the world or simply that they

withdraw drive. The ultimate withdrawal of drive, shortof suicide, is depression.

The Five-Six Structure

The Five-Six structure includes CombinationPerspective Six, which unites Perspectives Two andOne, so this structure comprises individuated

Perspectives Five and One plus relational PerspectiveTwo. The result is a personality that may be described

as contrarian.

Perspective Five makes Five-Sixes detached fromthe environment. This does not mean they are either

uninterested or disinterested. Perspective Five stillleaves people free to be involved and concerned. They

simply remove themselves from the immediacy ofexperience and observe it, more or less objectively. Thismakes these personalities good investigators.

Having Perspective One means that Five-Sixes areidentified with and motivated to action by a guiding

principle. They are not particularly concerned withstatus, if that means compromising their principles. Tosome degree they are always going to be reformers.

Their Five and One components are usually prettyobvious. Its Perspective Two that you may have trouble

seeing in some Five-Sixes. Thats because, althoughthey are focused on the others desire rather than their

own, they may be quite suspicious of the others valuesand motives. Or they may simply believe that they know

better what the othershouldwant.

The dynamics of this structure are as follows: Five-Sixes observe what already exists (Five) and what

people seem to need (Two). They then compare thesefindings to their own guiding principles to see whatought to be said or done, and that is what they do (One).

The ranks of Five-Sixes include many lawyers,investigative journalists, investors, philanthropists,

inventors, scientists, and philosophers.

The Six-Seven Structure

In the Six-Seven structure, the combination of

relational Perspectives Seven and Two and individuatedPerspective One produces an engaged, reasonably

stable, and genuinely nicepersonality, albeit one that isprone to anxiety.

Their accustomed use of Perspective Seven makes

Six-Sevens throw themselves into life, but they do notnecessarily come across as extraverted. The more Seven

in the personality, the more they turn their attentionoutward.

Perspective One makes them identify with a guidingprinciple, and they will often build a career around it.

Although their Seven and One components areusually straightforward and obvious, their expression of

perspective Two may be indirect and not immediatelyapparent. Unlike Two-Threes, Six-Sevens are notnecessarily helper types in that they don't typicallyrespond directly to others' needs. Rather, they apply


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their own principles to deciding what the other shouldwant and then try to provide that.

The dynamics of this structure are that Six-Sevensstart out from an associated position (Seven), engagesome objective having to do with the other's needs

(Two), and then do something that is consonant withboth the other's desire and their own principles (One).

This often means bringing some value such as laughter,order, or harmony to a situation that lacks it.

The Six-Seven structure is home to people in a

number of occupations. Many business people, lawyers,comedians, actors, physical therapists, and medical

doctors share this structure.

The Seven-Eight Structure

The Seven-Eight structure includes two relational

Perspectives, Seven and Eight, and has not comfortablysettled on either Perspective from the Two-Four binary.

This structure produces aggressive, determined, oftenrebellious individuals who run the gamut from John F.Kennedy to Idi Amin.

Perspective Seven makes Seven-Eights cravematerial things and experiences that they can either find

themselves or lose themselves in, depending on theirstate of mind.

Perspective Eight adds an element of confidence,

tenacity, and intensity. Underlying these characteristicsis a need to be admired and elevated in status.

As rebellious types, Seven-Eights would at firstappear to have entirely rejected Perspective Two as a

home position, but, in fact, they have not. Rather, Seven-Eights are heavily embroiled in Perspective Two, beinglargely incapable of unplugging from the other and

consistently using individualistic Perspective Four, nomatter how much they would like to do so.

5Don Richard Riso and Russ Hudson, Personality Types:

Using the Enneagram for Self-Discovery, Rev. ed.

(Houghton Mifflin, Boston), 1996, p. 295.

Instead, Seven-Eights use Perspective Two todiscern what the other wants, and then, by applying

powerful strategies of influence, manipulate thesituation to either win people over or bring them to their

knees.Riso and Hudson write about [personality type]

Eight's destructive antisocial tendencies,5 but thischaracterization really only applies to Seven-Eights, notto Eight-Nines. These tendencies often trace back to

Seven-Eights' antipathy toward a mother whom theyexperienced as neglectful or withholding or whose love

was given conditionally.The dynamics of the Seven-Eight structure are as

follows. Starting from an associated position (Seven),they find out what the other wants and generally do theopposite (inverse of Two). What happens after that will

depend on whether their actions win the esteem of othersor land Seven-Eights in trouble.

As adults, Seven-Eights form very close bonds withanother person, only to sometimes become vindictiveafter the honeymoon period, if the other fails them in

some way. All their rebellion is a misguided effort toclaim independence. If Seven-Eights were able to

follow the example of Three-Fours in letting go of theiremotional enmeshment with the (m)other, then theywould succeed in creating a separate identity.

But then who would lead the revolutions?

The Eight-Nine Structure

The Eight-Nine structure is individuated on twofronts, Perspectives Five and Four, and relational on thethird, Perspective Eight. Eight-Nines are leaders.

Being skilled in the use of Perspective Five, Eight-Nines are ordinarily objective rather than being caughtup in the moment.

Using Perspective Four, they look to themselvesrather than to the other for inspiration. (This most

certainly does not mean, however, that they areincapable of taking Perspective Two. Most Eight-Ninesare warm and engaging. True leadership requires greatfacility in taking the other's point of view.)

However, with Perspective Eight in their makeup,their self-esteem is a function of how others recognizethem, so they are motivated to win the respect of

competitors and the admiration of others in their tribe.Eight-Nines recognize a hierarchy of authority, and theywant to earn a place high up in it.


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The dynamics of the Eight-Nine structure are as

follows. Starting from a detached position (Five), theyturn inward for a plan (Four), then get others to followthem in carrying it out (Eight).

Because they do enjoy being the linchpin betweenthe little guy and the higher authority, Eight-wing-Nines

become good at managing, and particularly good atdelegating. Ronald Reagan, a Nine-wing-Eight, had areputation for appointing capable people who agreed

with him in principle and leaving them alone to do theirjobs. The movie director Robert Altman, probably anEight-wing-Nine, prided himself on casting good actorsand trusting them to interpret their roles without his

interference.

The Nine-One Structure

The Nine-One personality structure is the mostindividuated, least relational in the Structural

Enneagram model. All three component perspectives,Five, Four, and One, lie at the individuated poles of their

respective binaries. This means that Nine-Ones form themost self-possessed personalities. Consequently, theymay be perceived by people with more interpersonal

structures as being overly detached or cool.

Perspective Five gives Nine-Ones their raw powersof observation as well as the impetus to bring somethingof value to the world.

Perspective Four gives them a mental posture ofseparation and difference from others. They look tothemselves rather than to others to determine what

should be done.

Added to the other two individuated Perspectives,

Perspective One increases Nine-Ones' air of inde-pendence and intellectual self-reliance. They consult

their own principles and goals rather than relying onexternal demands to direct their actions. Nor are theyparticularly motivated by the prospect of recognitionfrom others. Rather, they take it as an obligation torespond to the call to bring their ideals into

manifestation.From being so individuated, Nine-Ones develop a

talent for looking beyond individual interest to the largerpicture. From this comes a unifying point of view thatmakes them think more sociologically than other types.


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Personality Types with Wings

The conventional Enneagram assigns one personality type to each numbered point around the circle and allowsfor an optional adjacent wing, with the wing referring to collateral parts of the personality. Although the Structural

Enneagram adopts the conventional Enneagram practice of calling the secondary number a wing, this model does notactually recognize a single-number type. Wings are considered to be integral to the personality type. Consequently,

personality types are always identified by two numbers rather than one.

The 18 Structural Enneagram personalities are listedin this section, in the order that they appear around the

enneagram circle, starting with One-wing-Two andending with Nine-wing-One.

One-wing-TwoThe Servant-Leader

Perspective Two's empathy with individuals joinswith One's idealism to form Servant-Leaders, peoplewho are concerned with improving the human

condition. They are compassionate, caring nurturers andmanagers, as well as advocates for the underdog.

Since the dominant Perspective of this type is One,

One-wing-Twos will seek to evince the principlesdictated by the higher self. That is why we see in well-

developed people of this type characteristics such as

nobility, a sense of mission, impassioned striving,orderliness, and intelligence.

Perspective Two, the heart position, is the secondaryposture for One-wing-Twos. Because of their relianceon Perspective Two, even though they typicallygravitate toward a leadership role, they will lead withcaring and generosity.


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Hillary Clinton, Eleanor Roosevelt, Jerry Brown,Mario Cuomo, Emma Thompson, and Martha Stewart

probably have personality type One-wing-Two.Where the others desire meets the judgment of the

ideal self, One-wing-Twos purpose appears. As Bill

Clinton said of his One-wing-Two wife, Shes got thebest combination of mind and heart Ive ever seen.

Yet heart does not always figure prominently in thistype's public image. Obviously, the heavier influence ofmind (One) has something to do with this.

As suggested above, when advocating or workingon behalf of reforms, it is sometimes preferable to avoid

getting too emotionally invested in the process. One-wing-Twos probably do better when practicingdetachment (perspective Five), and they may sabotagetheir causes by becoming overly attached to specificoutcomes or taking things too personally.

Moreover, when One-wing-Twos lose their normalreserve, they seem unnatural and incongruent to

onlookers. On occasion, Hillary Clinton has beenaccused of having a meltdown. She may tear up or getmelodramatic. She can become overly controlling and

what anti-feminists delight in calling shrill. These areclearly moments of reverting to associated Perspective

Seven when she should have stayed in Five, the observerstate.

I have a hypothesis that because One-wing-Twos

want to help people they may attach themselves tospouses and employers who actively solicit their

assistance. This dynamic would make both parties feelloved and appreciated. Potential partners would tend to

be people with an Eight component since they likemaking demands on others. Bill and Hillary Clinton fitthis picture since he is a Three-wing-Two (Seven plus

Eight plus Two).Among the liabilities for One-wing-Twos is that

they can be perfectionistic, impatient, emotionallyconstricted, judgmental, inflexible, and intolerant.Furthermore, they can fail to match up to their own high

standards in any number of ways. But the loss ofPerspective Five under stress and the simultaneous slideinto negative-Seven is the biggest risk for this type.

Two-wing-OneThe Altruist

Through helping others, Altruists combinePerspective Two's generosity with One's principles to

demonstrate unconditional love. Unfortunately, they canbe other-oriented to self-destructive extremes.

You can recognize people of this type by theirwarmth, encouragement, and overall air of acceptance.

They enjoy giving smiles, hugs, compliments, andgratitude.

Probable examples of personality type Two-wing-One are Florence Nightingale, Mother Teresa, andDesmond Tutu. Tutu's Made for Goodness: And Why

This Makes All the Difference (co-written with hisdaughter Mpho Tutu) reads like a manifesto for the Two-

wing-One way of being.Other reported examples are John Bradshaw and

Danny Glover.

Two-wing-Ones' commitment to service springsfrom both the heart and the head. Since Perspective Twois the main influence, they have a real talent for helping

others. Although they may act in a quiet, personal way,their secondary Perspective, which is One, gives them asense of duty and purpose that may nudge them toward

business or community work rather than strictly familyservice.

The childhood need to attend to the mothers desires(Perspective Two) carries over into adulthood, with the

mother's role being displaced onto others. Two-wing-Ones look after friendships and relationships of allkinds. Furthermore, like the other type in this pair, they

may attach themselves to Eight-types simply becauseEight-types are more than willing to play this game. Buthabitual overuse of Perspective Two can cause Two-

wing-Ones to lose themselves in the fantasy of beingable to satisfy others unrelenting requirements and

demands.Giving too much of themselves is always a risk with

this type. As illustrated in the biography of famous Two-wing-One, Florence Nightingale, somatizing is a

common defense against not being able to say no.Nightingale believed that God had called her to be a

nurse. In the nineteenth century, that vocation was not

acceptable in a young woman of her social class, yet shepersisted in spite of disapproval. Convinced thatmarriage would interfere with her ambitions, she

rejected at least one seemingly advantageous offer.Through of her experience of nursing soldiers in the

Crimean War, Nightingale revolutionized nursing carein both military and civilian hospitals of Victorian


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England, and her influence spread around the world. Butshe eventually fell ill and became an invalid. Someobservers have thought there was an element of hysteriato her illness, which did, in fact, have the effect ofgetting her out of a lot of things she didnt want to do,

while still allowing her to dictate social and healthcarereforms from her bed.

When Two-wing-Ones allow the hopelessness ofothers eternal, unremitting need to get under their skinthey may spiral downward into illness, depression, or

escapism. Even as these strategies help them disengagefrom the others lack, they can prevent them from

fulfilling their own larger missions.And when frustrated, they may revert to the pattern

of absorbing and getting stuck in others' negativefeelings. A Two-wing-One woman had been going backand forth between two possible responses to a sticky

family situation for several days. She felt an obligationto travel to a distant location to support her mother and

other family members through a crisis, but she didntwant to become embroiled in their habitual negativity.Her Seven-wing-Eight mother had even told her not to

come, but that refusal of help was obviously part of adysfunctional pattern of her own.

When the daughter tried to think about her dilemma,she regressed into an inverse-Seven state and just feltdespondent. Using NLP, I guided her into the detached

Five state and asked her to examine objectively not onlyevery relevant scenario she could think of but also her

present experience of being unable to choose and feelingbad about it. By the time she completed the exercise, she

had already made a decision to go. She easily followedthrough on her decision. Once there, she found that her

presence was helpful to the family, and she was even

able to stay detached from the family drama, all ofwhich gave her a great sense of satisfaction.

Differentiations

On average, the givingness of One-wing-Twos isprobably a little less personal and more universalizedthan that of Two-wing-Ones. The former may be less aptto get caught up in the net of the others perennial

neediness.You also may be able to differentiate these types by

attending to the degree of warmth they emit. One-wing-

Twos are relatively more distant and cool; Two-wing-Ones are typically more emotive.

Two-wing-ThreeThe Giver

Givers are friendly, charming, and adaptable. Whilethey give all sorts of gifts, perhaps the common thread

is that Two-wing-Threes give the gift of making peoplefeel better. They have the warmth and social graces to

make people comfortable. This makes them welcominghosts and effective motivators. Many entertainers are ofthis type, but many more are the pillars holding up

families and organizations.Possible examples of personality type Two-wing-

Three are Lewis Carroll, Barbara Bush, and Kathy LeeGifford. Other reported examples are Barry Manilow,Sammy Davis, Jr., Kathy Bates, John Denver, and PatBoone.

Point Three is a combination of Perspectives Seven

and Eight.Two-wing-Threes are notorious for expressing

almost exclusively positive affect, at least in public.

Like most Sevenish people, they would prefer that thedark side be kept out of sight. And if they can add to the

happiness of others through their joyous, affirmative,and often passionate attentions, then the environment

becomes that much brighter. People of this type, alongwith their cousins the Three-wing-Twos, probablyinvented business networking and relationship selling.

With Two as the dominant Perspective, this type isopenly loving, friendly, and supportive. In fact, people

of this type adapt easily to the desires of their chosenother. Of course, anyone with any sense of self-

preservation does the same or pays for it in lost rapport,

lost sales, or lost influence of some other kind. But thistype ratchets up adaptability, turning themselves (or

what they have to offer) into the object of desire. At theextreme, some especially Two-heavy Givers mayhesitate to even say what they think for fear that it willcontradict what you want them to think.

This type also incorporates Perspective Eight,

which involves an identification with role or status, andTwo-wing-Threes are known for being status conscious.

Although we usually think of Perspective Eight as being


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a power position, many Two-wing-Threes are willing tohold a subordinate role. If they think their own talentscant get them far enough, then they may hitch theirwagon to a rising star. This is the route of seductionrather than obvious power.

Beyond positive affect and gift-giving its hard tocharacterize this personality through typical behavior.

Two-wing-Threes may be active or inactive, attractiveor plain, depending upon whom they are wooing.

However, on occasion they will admit that their

particular adaptation to life has prevented them fromfully becoming themselves. They may feel thwarted in

their self-expression. They would like to be more selfishand creative. One Two-wing-Three told me she feels asif her creativity has been bottled up. Suppressed drivecan manifest itself as tension in the chest and abdomenor may be converted into illnesses that have a marked

stress componenthigh blood pressure, adrenal failure,spinal problems, and diabetes, for example.

Two-wing-Threes may on some level be aware ofwhen they are creating an image of themselves and notan authentic self. A Two-wing-Three of my

acquaintance acknowledges that many of her beliefsand attitudes really belong to her Eight-wing-Nine

husband and not to herself. To become more authentic,she would need to take on the perspective of the Three-wing-Four. However, if she made that shift, it would

cause friction with her husband, who does not want amore independent partner.

Three-wing-TwoThe Motivator

Motivators are exceedingly charming. They have aneed to be happy, and to accomplish that they also needthe people around them to be happy. Since they often

play the part that they believe will win the other over,they may be professional entertainers of one kind or

another. They are naturally enthusiastic people whoinfect others with their optimism and drive.

Combination Perspective Three incorporatesPerspectives Seven and Eight.

To the degree that Three-wing-Twos rely onPerspective Seven, they would like to expressexclusively positive affect: they know theres a dark

side, but ordinarily they dont see any point in givingvoice to it. I suspect that this is the most likely type to

believe that the most important thing in the world is to

be happy.Perspective Two influences them to think in terms

of giving and service to others. Three-wing-Twos likepeople and want to help and encourage them.

To the degree that they operate from PerspectiveEight they identify with role, image, status, and achieve-ments. This means they will probably be competitiveand compare themselves to others. Although peoplewith the Seven-Eight or Eight-Nine structure will often

be impelled to challenge others for leadership, Three-wing-Twos are more likely to challenge others for moral

authority: they want to influence how others think andbehave.

These three Perspectives come together to form thefollowing dynamic: The setting is a Sevenishatmosphere of being immersed and engaged in life.Three-wing-Twos want to be happy, so their

environment must be happy, so the people around themmust be happy, too. Then, from an Eightish need to winothers over to their point of view, they will givewhatever they think will make important others happy(Two). Often they will motivate people to achieve their

own happiness.This particular dynamic requires that Three-wing-

Twos craft a positive image of themselves. Negativitymust be brushed aside. Three-wing-Twos are always, ina sense, on stage, acting a role. This often means

attention to wardrobe, spending hours in the gym, andspeaking well, among many other possible factors.Maintaining an image can become a compulsion.

Probable examples of personality type Three-wing-Two are Bill Clinton, Oprah Winfrey, Mary Kay Ash,Mike Huckabee, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Bill Cosby,Anthony Robbins, John Edwards, and Lance

Armstrong. Other reported examples are Elvis Presley,Burt Reynolds, Christopher Reeve, and Sylvester

Stallone.In everyday life you will recognize Two-wing-Threes as hosts, entertainers, and motivators. As

motivators, they typically try to inspire people to changeat a personal level rather than trying to make societal orinstitutional reforms. You can follow this pattern clearly

in Bill Cosbys career. He started out as an entertainerand has hosted a television game show. The Cosby Show

had an inspirational element and is credited with helpingto change white America's view of African Americans.


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Currently, he is a motivational speaker and writer whoemphasizes personal boot-strapping rather thaninstitutional change.

Cosby also demonstrates that you cannot alwaysrecognize Three-wing-Twos by their dapper appear-

ance. He doesnt have to worry about his physicalimage. It is enough that he is a highly educated African

American role model who has become extremelywealthy and successful through his own efforts, and thatis the impression that matters to his current audience.

Three-wing-Twos may strive to demonstrate somevirtue, like Arnold Schwarzenegger, who achieved fame

as a model of fitness. Like motivational guru AnthonyRobbins, this personality works hard to acquire the skillsand success necessary to make a mark.

Although the emphasis on image might imply thatThree-wing-Twos will always be superficial, that is not

the case. This strategy of projecting a positive image isnot only adaptive, it can also propel them toward true

personal growth. At the end of his acting career,Schwarzenegger expanded his talents toward childhoodfitness and nutrition programs and then into politics.

Before he could attract followers, Robbins had toimprove his own life in a substantial way through

practicing what he preached. I know a Three-wing-Twominister who has developed a deep spiritual practice.Three-wing-Twos' craving for admiration very often

propels them toward becoming authentically admirablepeople.

Differentiations

Two-wing-Three leans more toward being a hostand Three-wing-Two is more of a motivator: Two-wing-

Three Kathy Lee Gifford and Three-wing-Two OprahWinfrey are both televisions hosts, but Oprah almostalways has a self-improvement angle.

Three-wing-FourThe Achiever

Achievers are driven and resourceful people who

strive to create and control their own images and theirown lives in order to be recognized as exceptional. Theyare skilled at gaining rapport by fitting into their chosen

milieuexcept that theyre often the best at what theydo and the smartest guys in the room. Whether becauseof or in spite of all this striving, they are typically both

successful and likable.Since Combination Perspective Three unites

Perspectives Seven and Eight, this type incudes Seven,Two and Eight.

Perspective Seven makes Three-wing Foursenthusiastic and committed, and sometimes overlyemotional. When in balance, they can use PerspectiveFive (the other Perspective in the Seven-Five binary)quite effectively. But when something happens to make

them feel insecure, they double down on PerspectiveSeven

Perspective Four makes Three-wing-Fours indi-vidualistic and original. They want to distinguishthemselves in some way in order to give evidence of

their difference.

Perspective Eight influences them to want to havean audience and to be motivated by achievement. They

may be interested in teaching others how to do what theydo.

Three-wing-Fours earn success and recognition

through accomplishing self-determined goals, by beingthe best at something or projecting the best image.

Probable examples of personality type Three-wing-Four are Paul McCartney, Sting, and Taylor Swift. Otherreported examples are Johnnie Cochran, Michael

Jordan, Bryant Gumbel, Salman Rushdie, Andy Warhol,Richard Gere, Tom Cruise, Angelina Jolie, Werner

Erhard, Andrew Cohen, David Copperfield, and BenKingsley.

Since Three-wing-Fours feel they have to work sohard for recognition, they often feel inauthentic. If theyshownot their real selvesbut their whole self, they

fear they may lose the love and respect of others. If evenin their own minds they identify too closely with their

image, this is, of course, the definition of narcissism.But healthy narcissism is an absolute requirement ofworldly success.Imageis properly thought of as merely

the atmosphere one creates around one's true self. Atbest, it's a projection of the true self into the

environment.Werner Erhard, who is reported to be a Three-wing-

Four, may embody the term checkered past, and somepeople who took his est training decry its indoctrinating,even brainwashing tone. But that doesnt detract from

the fact that he offered a toolkit of useful self-improvement tactics. And, if he is indeed a Three-wing-


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Four, then perhaps his teachings would be especiallygood for that personality.

Some of his teachings involve loosening up thedependence on Perspective Seven and being morecomfortable with Five. This means cultivating a

willingness to look at the whole of reality and even tobe comfortably aware of the dark side. For example, in

an interview with John Denver, who was guest-hostingThe Tonight Show with Johnny Carson, Erhardadvised that people get in touch with the person theyre

afraid they are. He then demonstrated a technique forgiving a space to evil. With Tom Snyder he talked

about looking at the big picture: Take the blinders offand look at it. Both interviews are available onYouTube.

If Three-wing-Fours make better use of PerspectiveFive to accept themselves warts and all, they may be

able to incorporate some of the better leadershipcharacteristics of Eight-wing-Nines and be less subject

to unwanted bouts of negative emotion.

Four-wing-ThreeThe Individualist

Since they view life as art, whether creating music,running a business, or putting together a wardrobe,

Individualists perform with flair. They win acclaim bybeing both original and outstanding.

As explained previously, point Three unitesPerspectives Seven and Eight.

Having associated Perspective Seven, Four-wing-Threes are engaged and engaging. They throwthemselves into life and try to set a positive tone. There

can be some emotional volatility if the environment isdifficult, but they will bounce back. Sometimes, whentalking to others, it seems as if they dont have a filter.

Although they have this penchant for getting caughtup in experiences, they are very independent when it

comes to deciding what to do with their own lives.Perspective Four makes them outsiders with the desireto create something unique. Ultimately, the thing theyare trying to create is a better version of themselves, and

they will go to great lengths of self-improvement andtraining to do so.

With their Eightish requirements for a good self-

image and self-esteem, Four-wing-Threes are sure to beboth affable and ambitious. If criticized, they developthick skin and try again.

One probable example of personality type Four-wing-Three is Cyndi Lauper. Other reported examples

are Tennessee Williams, Marcel Proust, E. M. Forster,Michael Jackson, Jessica Lange, Jeremy Irons, Paul

Simon, Naomi Judd, Steve Martin, Laurence Olivier,John Malkovich, and Judy Garland.

Differentiations

Sometimes you can tell the difference between the

two types in the Three-Four structure just by looking attheir clothes. Three-wing-Fours want to dress forsuccess, so they will usually prefer to look stylish butalso appropriate. Four-wing-Threes want to emphasize

their uniqueness, so their dress may appear costumey oreven eccentric.

Although they may be found in many lines of work,it is good if they can somehow utilize their knack for

being dreamers, poets, and artists. I know a Three-wing-

Four who is a minister, but not the kind that heads onechurch; rather, she travels, giving clever and profoundsermons at many churches. I know another who worksat a veterinary office and communicates with pets.

Four-wing-FiveThe Artist

The Artist is all about creating something new and

different. Four-wing-Fives dont fit in with the crowd.Quite the opposite. They are seldom moved by

convention, tradition, or the will of another, althoughthey may go along to avoid confrontation. Thisindependence shows up in Four-wing-Fives artisticcreativity, original thinking, or bohemian style. Notevery Four-wing-Five is literally an artist, but all bring

individuality and artistic sensibility to whatever they do.Self-expression above all!

People of this type are introverted, brainy,insightful, and enigmatic. Their individuality can stretchall the way to idiosyncratic self-absorption. They

alternate between cool and emotional. They areromantic dreamers as well as romantic philosophers.


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Probable examples of the Four-wing-Fivepersonality type are Sren Kierkegaard, William Blake,Virginia Woolf, and D. H. Lawrence. Other reportedexamples are Hermann Hesse, Vincent van Gogh,Marlon Brando, Harvey Keitel, Johnny Depp, Joni

Mitchell, and Ingmar Bergman.

Four-wing-Fives are drawn to writing, painting,music, film, crafts, speculative philosophy, and thesocial sciences. They bring their imaginative talents towhatever role they find themselves in.

The thinking style of Four-wing-Fives is moresynthetic than analytic. I know a Four-wing-Five painter

who also has a Ph.D. in English, and she calls upon herknowledge of each to inform the other.

A clue that you may be dealing with a Four-wing-Five can sometimes be found in the colors of theirclothes. Since the dark side is never far from their

awareness, they may wear all black. Then again, many

wear violet, both because more conventional peoplehave in the past considered it unseemly to wear violetand because it is a color associated with transformationand growthself-creation being the psychological

object of all Four-wing-Fives' creative efforts.Four-wing-Fives dominant drive concerns the need

to sever a certain kind of connection with others.Imagining (and this would typically be unconsciouslyimagining) that you can offer others what they need to

be satisfied is just a way of allowing them to keep youon a string. Its called co-dependence. Fours of all types

insist, rather, on their separation from the other, and so

their whole lives emphasize being different.

Five-wing-FourThe Visionary

Five-wing-Fours, whom I call Visionaries, are

introverted, cerebral personalities who enjoy learning,theorizing, and innovating. They are often artistic,

intellectual, or scientifically oriented. No matter what

their field of endeavor, they are iconoclasts who bristleat authority. Under difficult conditions, they may

become reclusive.With Five as their dominant Perspective, Five-wing-

Fours are detached from their environment, which

means they are looking on as if from the outside ratherthan immersing themselves in the scene. Although they

may seem emotionally distant, they dont want to berejected by other people, so they strive to prove theirown worth and the worth of their ideas.

On the other hand, this striving is influenced byPerspective Four, which brings a need to assert their

individuality. So they try to be different, perhapsthrough cutting edge or eccentric social movements,

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