Page 151 - Using the Enneagram System to Identify and Grow Your Leadership Strengths and Achieve Maximum Success

126 What Type of Leader Are You?

get the job done, although they prefer to leave the implementa-
tion to others, as this frees them up to create even more possible
ventures.
Maggie is described by one of her employees this way:

“Nothing eludes Maggie, whether it’s an innovation in the
industry, new competitors entering the field, or a shift in
what our customers want. She always seems to be ahead of
the rest of us, always thinking of new ways to improve what
we offer. I would call her a tireless visionary.”

There is also a downside to the Seven leader’s boundless energy
and enthusiasm for ideas and innovation. While almost all Seven
leaders grasp complex information quickly, they do so by selecting
what they perceive to be the highest level of information needed
in order to understand a situation. This is certainly an asset when
the data are vast, but it can also lead them to miss important facts
and issues.
Most Seven leaders are visionary, but less experienced Seven
leaders may have trouble focusing on only one vision. A vision that
continually changes is extremely difficult for people to follow, and
it does not provide a firm foundation from which to develop the
mission, strategies, goals, and tactics. It is not the overall vision,
but rather the tactics, goals, and strategies—and in that sequence—
that need to change as the business and/or organization’s envi-
ronment changes.
In addition, the Seven’s tendency to engage in internal brain-
storming may cause less experienced Seven leaders to come up
with a very large set of ideas for strategies, goals, and tactics. While
some of these may be brilliant, others may be merely thoughts that
are not clearly linked to current plans and activities. As a result, the
staff may not know which ideas have simply been part of the brain-
storming process and which ones they are expected to act upon.
When Maggie was near the end of her first year of senior-level lead-
ership, she was described in this way by one of her subordinates: