Page 68 - Using the Enneagram System to Identify and Grow Your Leadership Strengths and Achieve Maximum Success

Drive for Results 47

The positive feedback for Robert, an engineering manager, given
here paints a portrait of a Four leader.

• Tells personal stories
• Really knows the industry
• Is popular
• Sees the big picture
• Is bright
• Works very hard
• Is aware of other people’s feelings
• Is creative
• Is an excellent engineer
• Has good organizational skills
• Is the best technical boss ever
• Instills loyalty in employees
• Asks the right questions

The Four leader’s intense attraction to vision and meaning can
also have a downside. For example, if the Four finds the work to
be pedestrian and routine, he or she may lose interest. In addition,
many employees are not as compelled by vision as the Four and
prefer more concrete goals and tasks.
The Four leader’s sensitivity, while a strength, can also be an
Achilles’ heel (and thus become a derailer) if the Four focuses
more on personal experiences and feelings—both his or her
own and those of others—than on work. This can also create a
dilemma for Fours when they need to deliver negative per-
formance feedback: on the one hand, they want to give truthful
feedback in an authentic and empathic way; on the other, they
may put themselves in the other person’s shoes (actually, the
Four’s own shoes, projecting his or her own feelings and expe-
riences onto the other person) and become reluctant to deliver
bad news lest they demoralize the other person. In addition,
Fours can have a tendency to overpersonalize work and work-
ing relationships.