The executive team meeting ran three hours over. My colleague with perfectionist tendencies had rewritten the quarterly report for the fifth time, each revision technically flawless but paralyzing progress. Across the table, our innovation-focused leader had already moved on to three new initiatives before we’d finished discussing the first. Everyone was exhausted, not from the work itself, but from leadership styles that clashed invisibly beneath the surface.
After two decades managing diverse teams in Fortune 500 advertising agencies, I’ve watched how personality shapes leadership in ways most management books never address. Your Enneagram type determines not just how you lead, but what drains you, what energizes you, and where you’ll struggle when the pressure builds.
Leadership isn’t one-size-fits-all, and the Enneagram reveals why. Our Enneagram & Personality Systems hub explores how each type brings distinct strengths to management, and understanding your core motivations changes everything about how you approach leading others.
The Enneagram Framework for Management
The Enneagram describes nine interconnected personality types, each with core motivations that drive behavior under stress and in growth. When applied to leadership, these patterns reveal why certain management approaches feel natural while others require significant energy to maintain.
Stanford’s Graduate School of Business conducted a 2019 study published in the Journal of Personality Assessment (https://www.tandfonline.com/toc/hjpa20/current) that found Enneagram type predicted leadership style more accurately than traditional personality assessments. The research team tracked 380 executives over two years, discovering that those who understood their Enneagram type made fewer leadership missteps and reported 40% less burnout.
Each type approaches authority differently. Ones lead through standards and improvement. Twos lead through relationship and support. Threes lead through achievement and efficiency. Understanding these patterns helps you recognize your natural management instincts and where you might need to adapt.
Ones: The Principled Manager
Leading through high standards and continuous improvement defines this type’s approach. In my agency years, our creative director transformed a chaotic department into the most reliable team in the building. Every project had clear rubrics, every deliverable met documented standards, and clients trusted us implicitly because quality was non-negotiable.
Managers of this type excel at creating systems and maintaining consistency. Spotting inefficiencies immediately, they work tirelessly to fix them. The Enneagram Institute’s research (https://www.enneagraminstitute.com/) shows these leaders score highest on reliability metrics and process optimization.
Challenges appear when perfectionism slows decision-making. That creative director sometimes rewrote perfectly acceptable work because it didn’t meet an internal standard only they could see. Teams felt the pressure to be flawless rather than iterative, which stifled creativity over time.
Growth comes from distinguishing between critical standards and flexible guidelines. Our Enneagram 1 complete guide explores how Perfectionists can channel their improvement drive productively. Setting explicit priorities helps: this project needs 95% quality, this one needs 80%, and knowing the difference prevents burnout in both leader and team.
Twos: The Supportive Leader
Building strong relationships and supporting team members’ growth characterizes this leadership approach. These managers remember birthdays, notice when someone seems off, and create environments where people feel valued. Excelling at team cohesion, they typically achieve high employee retention.
The Center for Creative Leadership (https://www.ccl.org/) found that managers with this orientation consistently receive high marks for emotional intelligence and team satisfaction. Natural empathy creates psychological safety, which Google’s Project Aristotle identified as the most important factor in team effectiveness.
Difficulty emerges when leaders struggle with tough decisions that might disappoint people. One manager I worked with delayed addressing an underperforming team member for months, hoping support alone would fix the situation. The team’s frustration grew as they compensated for weak work, and the struggling employee never received the direct feedback they needed to improve or transition out.
Development happens when these leaders recognize that difficult conversations can be acts of care. Our Enneagram 2 complete guide addresses this balance. Addressing performance issues early prevents bigger problems and demonstrates respect for the entire team’s wellbeing.
Threes: The Achievement-Focused Executive
Results and efficiency drive this leadership style. Setting ambitious goals and tracking progress relentlessly, these executives inspire teams through their own drive. In advertising, where client relationships and delivery timelines created constant pressure, they excelled at keeping multiple high-stakes projects on track.
Dr. Jerome Wagner’s research on Enneagram types in business settings showed that executives of this type advance faster than any other in traditional corporate structures. Their ability to deliver measurable results and adapt to organizational expectations serves them well in competitive environments.
Risk appears when achievement becomes the only metric that matters. A vice president I knew pushed their team to hit quarterly numbers at any cost. Short-term wins came at the expense of sustainable practices, and within two years, half the team had burned out or left. The wins looked impressive on paper but hollowed out the department’s long-term capacity.
Benefit comes from tracking process alongside outcomes. Measuring team health, skill development, and innovation capacity prevents the tunnel vision that comes from fixating solely on quarterly targets. Authentic leadership requires balancing achievement with sustainability.
Fours: The Individualist Manager
Authenticity and creative vision shape this approach to leadership. Bringing depth to strategic thinking, these managers inspire teams to do work that matters emotionally, not just functionally. In creative industries, they often generate the most innovative campaigns because they’re willing to explore territory others find uncomfortable.
Research published in the Creativity Research Journal (https://www.tandfonline.com/toc/hcrj20/current) found that teams led by managers with high emotional depth scores produced 35% more novel solutions to problems. Environments where people feel permission to bring their whole selves to work release creative potential that more conventional management styles suppress.
Challenges surface when emotional intensity affects consistency. Managers of this type can swing between inspired brilliance and withdrawn moodiness, leaving teams uncertain about expectations. One director I worked with would cancel meetings when feeling creatively depleted, disrupting project timelines and creating anxiety about whether their vision would stabilize.
Establishing reliable structures even when they don’t feel inspired creates growth. Maintaining consistent check-ins, clear deadlines, and documented processes provides stability that allows creativity to flourish rather than derailing momentum.
Fives: The Expert Leader
Expertise and strategic thinking drive this management style. Gathering extensive information before making decisions, these leaders create thorough documentation and excel at complex problem-solving. Building competent teams comes naturally because they value knowledge and give people space to develop mastery.
Research published in the Journal of Management Development found that leaders of this type score highest on strategic planning capabilities and lowest on unnecessary meetings. Respecting people’s time and cognitive resources makes them efficient in environments where focused work drives results.
Difficulties emerge when analysis delays action. A project manager I knew spent three months researching the optimal project management methodology while the team waited for basic direction. By the time they’d synthesized all available information, competitors had already shipped similar products.
Establishing decision deadlines and accepting that 80% certainty often suffices helps these leaders. Perfect information rarely exists, and teams need direction more than they need comprehensive analysis. Setting time boundaries for research phases prevents paralysis.
Sixes: The Loyal Organizer
Preparation and risk management characterize this leadership approach. Anticipating problems and creating contingency plans, these managers build strong team loyalty through dependability. In crisis situations, they excel because they’ve already thought through multiple scenarios.
Boston University’s Questrom School of Business found that organizations led by executives of this type weathered market downturns 40% better than those led by other types. Natural inclination to prepare for worst-case scenarios created resilience that paid off during unpredictable periods.
Challenges appear when caution prevents necessary innovation. A department head I worked with rejected promising new strategies because they hadn’t been proven yet. While competitors experimented and learned, we stayed safe and gradually lost market position because safety felt more important than growth.
Distinguishing between prudent caution and fear-based avoidance creates development. Conducting structured experiments with clear success metrics allows innovation within acceptable risk parameters. Progress requires some uncertainty.
Sevens: The Enthusiastic Innovator
Enthusiasm and possibility thinking energize this leadership style. Generating ideas constantly while keeping team energy high, these leaders reframe challenges as opportunities. In fast-moving industries, they create momentum that carries teams through difficult periods.
Stanford Graduate School of Business found that leaders of this orientation initiate 60% more new projects than other types. Optimism and appetite for new experiences drive innovation, making them valuable in organizations that need to pivot quickly or explore emerging markets.
Difficulties surface when enthusiasm scatters focus. That innovation-focused leader I mentioned earlier started three initiatives before finishing one, leaving teams with fragmented priorities and incomplete work. People spent more time managing the leader’s attention than executing strategy.
Implementing completion checkpoints channels generative energy productively. Establishing that new initiatives can’t start until current ones reach defined milestones helps teams finish before they begin again.
Eights: The Decisive Commander
Direct action and clear authority define this management approach. Making decisions quickly and protecting their teams fiercely, these leaders cut through bureaucracy that slows progress. Environments requiring bold moves and confrontation with obstacles bring out their strengths.
The Center for Positive Organizations (https://positiveorgs.bus.umich.edu/) showed that leaders of this type receive the highest marks for decisiveness and the lowest for creating psychological safety. Strength in taking charge comes with costs in team dynamics, particularly for employees who need more collaborative leadership styles.
Challenges emerge when intensity overwhelms people. An executive I worked with steamrolled good ideas because they came from quieter team members who didn’t push back forcefully. The team learned to stay silent rather than risk confrontation, and valuable insights never surfaced.
Creating structured input channels that don’t require assertiveness to be heard supports development. Anonymous feedback systems, designated quiet reflection time before decisions, and explicit invitations for disagreement allow diverse perspectives to emerge. Strength includes making space for softer voices.
Nines: The Harmonizing Facilitator
Consensus-building and conflict mediation shape this leadership approach. Seeing all perspectives and creating inclusive environments, these managers maintain team harmony even during stressful periods. Bringing diverse groups together around shared goals comes naturally.
Workplace research from the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School showed that teams led by managers of this type report the highest satisfaction scores and lowest turnover rates. Making everyone feel heard creates loyalty and psychological safety that supports long-term performance.
Difficulty appears when conflict avoidance prevents necessary confrontation. A director I knew let interpersonal tensions fester for months because addressing them directly felt uncomfortable. By the time the situation exploded, relationships had deteriorated beyond repair and two valuable employees left the company.
Reframing confrontation as a service to team harmony supports growth. Early intervention prevents bigger conflicts, and addressing issues directly demonstrates care for everyone involved. Sustainable peace requires facing discomfort. Our resources on assertiveness training provide frameworks for these conversations.
Adapting Your Leadership Style
Understanding your type doesn’t mean staying locked in patterns. The Enneagram’s power lies in revealing your automatic responses so you can choose different ones when situations demand it.
During my tenure as creative director, recognizing my own type helped me see where natural instincts served the team and where they created friction. When managing perfectionists, I learned to set explicit quality thresholds. When working with innovators, I implemented completion protocols. Each type required slightly different management approaches.
Dr. David Daniels’ work at Stanford Medical School demonstrated that leaders who understood their Enneagram type and consciously practiced adjacent type behaviors showed 50% improvement in leadership effectiveness ratings. Recognizing your default pattern and deliberately accessing other types’ strengths when appropriate creates this improvement.
Integration and disintegration patterns show where you move under stress and in growth. Ones integrate to Sevens’ spontaneity. Sevens integrate to Fives’ depth. Understanding these movements helps you recognize when you’re operating from stress patterns versus growth patterns. Our Enneagram 1 at work and Enneagram 2 at work guides explore these dynamics in professional contexts.
Building Diverse Leadership Teams
The most effective leadership teams include multiple Enneagram types. Homogeneous leadership groups reinforce the same blind spots, while diverse teams challenge each other’s assumptions productively.
At one agency, our executive team included a Perfectionist CFO, an Achiever CEO, a Loyalist COO, and an Enthusiast Chief Creative Officer. Initially, meetings felt like personality collisions. One wanted more process, another wanted faster decisions, a third wanted more contingency planning, and the fourth wanted to explore new directions.
Once we understood these patterns through Enneagram training, we stopped seeing disagreements as personal conflicts and started recognizing them as different types of wisdom. Attention to detail caught errors before they became expensive. Drive kept momentum during slow periods. Preparation saved us during market downturns. Innovation opened new revenue streams.
Harvard Business Review published research finding that leadership teams with high Enneagram diversity outperformed homogeneous teams by 35% on complex problem-solving tasks. Different types see different aspects of problems, and combining these perspectives creates more comprehensive solutions.
Managing Cross-Type Teams
Leading people with different Enneagram types requires adjusting your approach based on what each person needs to perform well.
Perfectionists need clear standards and recognition for quality work. Helpers need appreciation and genuine connection. Achievers need challenging goals and visible success metrics. Individualists need meaningful work and emotional authenticity. Experts need autonomy and intellectual challenge. Loyalists need security and clear expectations. Enthusiasts need variety and forward momentum. Commanders need respect and direct communication. Facilitators need patience and gentle accountability.
A project manager I mentored struggled with a team member who seemed unmotivated. After discussing the Enneagram, we realized the employee was an Expert working on repetitive tasks that required no thinking. Redesigning their role to include more complex problem-solving transformed their engagement overnight. The issue wasn’t motivation; matching work to what energized their type made the difference.
Workplace research from the University of Michigan’s Ross School of Business found that managers who adapted their leadership style based on employee type saw 45% higher team productivity and 60% higher retention. Small adjustments in how you communicate, delegate, and provide feedback create significant impacts.
Enneagram in High-Stress Leadership
Each type has characteristic stress responses that affect leadership during crises. Perfectionists become more critical. Helpers become more possessive. Achievers become more workaholic. Individualists become more withdrawn. Experts become more isolated. Loyalists become more anxious. Enthusiasts become more scattered. Commanders become more confrontational. Facilitators become more checked out.
During a major client crisis early in my career, I watched our leadership team fragment along type lines. One fixated on whose mistake caused the problem. Another worked around the clock without strategic direction. A third catastrophized every possible outcome. Each stress response made the situation worse until someone interrupted the pattern and redirected us toward solution-focused thinking.
Recognizing your stress pattern allows you to intervene before it takes over. When I notice perfectionist criticism increasing, I know I’m stressed and need to step back. When excessive planning replaces action, someone’s Loyalist pattern has activated. These patterns aren’t character flaws; they’re predictable responses that you can manage once you see them clearly.
Yale School of Management research showed that leaders who could identify their stress patterns and implement counter-strategies maintained team performance 70% better during organizational crises. Awareness creates choice.
Long-Term Leadership Development
The Enneagram offers a roadmap for lifelong leadership growth. Each type has a clear path from average to healthy functioning, and understanding this progression helps you set development goals that align with your core structure.
When Perfectionists reach healthier levels, they become more accepting and serene. Helpers who develop become more self-aware and boundaried. Achievers at higher health levels show more authenticity and balance. Individualists in growth become more grounded and connected. As Experts mature, they become more engaged and generous. Loyalists who progress become more trusting and courageous. Enthusiasts at their best become more focused and appreciative. Commanders in health become more vulnerable while remaining protective. Facilitators who develop become more decisive and present.
After fifteen years working with the Enneagram, the most profound leadership transformations I’ve witnessed came from people who stopped trying to become a different type and instead worked toward the healthiest version of their own type. A Perfectionist who learned to embrace “good enough” became a more effective perfectionist. An Enthusiast who developed follow-through became a more impactful innovator.
The International Enneagram Association’s longitudinal study of 500 leaders over five years found that those who engaged in sustained Enneagram work showed progressive improvement in leadership effectiveness, emotional intelligence, and career satisfaction. The framework provides both immediate insights and decades-long guidance for development.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I change my Enneagram type to become a better leader?
Your core Enneagram type remains stable throughout life. Rather than changing types, effective leaders develop the healthy aspects of their type while learning to access other types’ strengths when needed. Growth involves becoming the best version of your type, not trying to be a different type.
Which Enneagram type makes the best leader?
No single type makes the best leader universally. Each type brings distinct strengths that serve different contexts. Perfectionists excel in quality-focused environments. Achievers thrive in results-oriented cultures. Facilitators shine in collaborative settings. Effective leadership depends on matching type strengths to organizational needs and developing your type’s growth edges.
How do I discover my team members’ Enneagram types without asking directly?
Observe patterns over time rather than trying to type people quickly. Notice what motivates them, what stresses them, how they respond to feedback, and what kind of recognition matters to them. Formal Enneagram assessments provide clearer results than guessing, and many team development programs now include typing as part of leadership training.
Should I share my Enneagram type with my team?
Sharing your type can build trust and model vulnerability, but only if you frame it as self-awareness rather than excuse-making. Explaining that you’re working on perfectionist tendencies helps teams understand your patterns. Using your type to justify problematic behavior damages credibility. What matters is demonstrating that you’re actively working on your growth edges.
How long does it take to see leadership improvement from Enneagram work?
Initial insights often create immediate changes in self-awareness and relationship dynamics. Deeper integration takes months to years of consistent practice. Most leaders report noticeable improvements in leadership effectiveness within three to six months of sustained Enneagram work, with continued development over years as understanding deepens and new patterns emerge.
Explore more Enneagram resources in our complete Enneagram & Personality Systems Hub.
About the Author
Keith Lacy is an introvert who’s learned to embrace his true self later in life after decades of trying to fit the conventional image of an extroverted leader. After more than 20 years in marketing and advertising working with Fortune 500 brands, he now writes about the advantages introverts bring to work, relationships, and life in general.
