This Book
The goal of this book is to offer you a clear, concise, practical, and — above all — comprehensible overview of the world of the Enneagram. It should also encourage you to try the Enneagram for yourself. This is a book for you if you see your life as a journey on which you still have a lot to discover, experience, and learn. If that statement describes you, you might be interested in the answers to the following questions:
What is the Enneagram?
What can you do with the Enneagram?
What is the “language” of the Enneagram?
How do personality structures develop?
What are the Enneagram personality types?
How can I apply the Enneagram to my everyday life?
Is there just one way to do the Enneagram?
Does the Enneagram have a spiritual component?
I wrote this book for two reasons. First, the Enneagram has personally given me a lot — in fact, I have no trouble saying it has changed my life. I have fewer difficulties with my own, personal “stumbling blocks” and am finding increasing amounts of freedom in the decisions I make. One outcome for me was that I sold my share in my organizational consulting firm to dedicate myself fully to the Enneagram. I want everyone to have this decision-making freedom and inner peace.
The second reason is connected to the first. At the seminars, training sessions, and workshops that I hold on the topic of the Enneagram, participants often ask which book I can recommend as an introduction to the topic — a book that offers an easy way to start, a convenient overview of the possibilities out there, and exercises for further development. You’re holding this book in your hands.
Foolish Assumptions
This book was written for people who want to use it for their own, personal development as well as for professional users who are interested in this tool for their work. What consultants who delve deeper into the Enneagram often have in common is that they come in professional contact with people trying to function — sometimes unsuccessfully — in their environment. They can use a tool that gives them quicker insight into the characteristics of people with whom they work. This affects managers, mediators, coaches, personnel managers, relationship therapists, pastors, organizational consultants, management trainers, team builders, lecturers, physicians, entrepreneurs, and many others.
About the Examples
Instead of the selected examples, I could have mentioned many others. The examples are meant for illustrative purposes only and don’t fully represent the types in their infinite variety. I selected the examples from the ones I collected in 12 years of intensive work I've done with people as part of my Enneagram practice, especially from the comments many people made during Enneagram workshops.
The Various Enneagram Movements
The Enneagram is distinguished by different movements. The existing books were usually written from the perspective of one or another of these orientations. In this book, I identify each of the major movements and give proponents and course participants from various schools of thought a chance to speak. This should give you an impression of the world of the Enneagram. As a trainer, I am often asked in what way the various movements differ. I always start by saying that I, of course, come to the Enneagram from a certain perspective: I first encountered the Enneagram via Helen Palmer and David Daniels, who introduced me to the principles of the Enneagram many years ago in San Francisco. As I've already mentioned, I got a lot out of this meeting. It had a profound effect on how I see things, and as such, I regard that educational experience as a great success. It formed the foundation of the approach to the Enneagram and the development method described in this book. However, I still think it’s important to mention the other movements. (Many roads lead to Rome, you know.) I hope this book will help people who have recently started being guided by the Enneagram to find suitable seminars and lecturers.
How to Read This Book
Like all For Dummies titles, the structure of this book lets you skip the chapters that don’t apply to your situation. In the chapters you read, you can also limit yourself to the parts you find interesting. Check out the table of contents or the index for subjects of special interest to you. Also notice the icons placed strategically throughout the text; they’re designed to help you choose what you want to focus on. (You can find out more about the icons later in this introduction, in the section “Icons Used in This Book.”) You'll notice sidebars in some chapters — I use those to add extra information for interested readers.
How This Book Is Organized
Enneagram For Dummies is organized in six parts so that you can start by looking at the big picture of Enneagram and then walk through its method, its application, and its history.
Part 1: Getting Started with the Enneagram
In Part 1, you discover what the Enneagram is. I also address the fact that, generalities aside, all people are fundamentally different. In this part you see how the Enneagram model differentiates between nine patterns for thinking, feeling, and acting. Discovering your preferred patterns is already a first step on the path toward self-awareness — and to personal development. Because that’s what the Enneagram is about: giving each person the opportunity to develop their personality. You just have to know how!
Part 2: Examining the Enneagram Types
The elements that make up each Enneagram type are the starting points for the Enneagram method. In this part you discover that all nine types consist of the same elements but that the content of these elements differs from type to type. The basic pattern of thinking, feeling, and acting emerges as a mechanism with not just one but nine different contents. After your first brief encounter with the Enneagram types in Part 1, you now get more detailed information on how various thought patterns work, how people’s thoughts and feelings influence each other, and what predictable patterns will arise from these interactions. Here we explore how people function on a psychological level.
