Page 254 - Using the Enneagram System to Identify and Grow Your Leadership Strengths and Achieve Maximum Success

Make Optimal Decisions 229

with the need to decide whether to expand her company’s
business by establishing another office in a location two
hours away by car, Marie analyzed the situation. She deter-
mined that establishing a new office would require a large
capital investment and would involve far more risk than
would be incurred if the firm simply provided services in the
new city by flying employees back and forth. Although Marie
herself wanted the firm to expand into this new location
because she believed it had great potential, her decision was
clear: the company would advertise and build up its client
base in the new location before making the commitment and
incurring the risk of opening an office.

Although Threes usually like to make decisions, as doing so
makes them feel that they are in charge of important outcomes that
will directly affect them, they can also experience anguish if the
outcome is uncertain or if people’s deeper feelings are involved.
In the former case, Three leaders analyze these situations as
though they were looking for more detail to remove the uncer-
tainty, even in cases where it is clear that there will always be ambi-
guity. When the decisions involve strong feelings, including their
own, Threes—normally quick decision makers—can become
frozen, as their head, gut, and heart all tell them to take different
paths. However, there is a good lesson in this situation: quick deci-
sions are not always the best ones. When quick action is not essen-
tial, taking time to gain more input and reflect can help Threes
make not just good decisions, but wise ones.
This issue was apparent when Marie was trying to make an
important personal decision:

Marie had run her own business successfully for 10 years,
but she had always wanted to go back to graduate school for
an advanced business degree. However, she was about to be
married, and she planned to have a family. Marie was used
to setting goals and being successful in everything she did,