Enneagram Type 3 in Leadership

Your Path to Leadership Maturity

Type Talks with Leadership Coach Heidi Kraft

In this 10 part series, I’ll be exploring the path to Leadership Maturity for each Enneagram type. Read on to learn more about the Enneagram Three’s type tendencies including: Enneagram strengths, Enneagram likely blindspots, Enneagram Three’s likely impact on others. And most importantly, understand the Leadership Coaching that can help this type on their Path to Leadership Maturity.

The Enneagram 3: Competitive Achiever

Threes love success. They are very capable, strong goal setters and strive to be the best at everything they do. They focus on results and the most efficient way to achieve them. They are typically comfortable being “on stage” and they like to be there looking good.

Impact on Others

• “I feel confident being led by you.”
• “I know you’re focused on how to help our team be successful.”
• “I feel comfortable that we’re focused and heading in the right direction.”

  Because Threes can so easily see and want to successfully reach the end game, they can be impatient if others can’t keep up or if progress isn’t happening fast enough. Their executive presence can be experienced as them tuning out, or cutting others off with their assertiveness. Threes despise failure of any kind and, as a result, try to spin their messaging to make everything seem like a “win”. This can make others question who they really are and what’s really true.

Path to Leadership Maturity

Now, imagine you are a Three who takes the time to really be present – to focus on “being” as much as “doing”. Slow down, take a step back, and read the room to sense how you’re bringing people along. Be the Three who is present and takes time to connect to people before moving onto the task at hand. Because you likely enjoy being the center of attention, let others see all parts of you vs just the “successful parts”. The Three who taps into her/his own authenticity and shares what’s true from their heart is the Three that others will likely see as an extraordinary leader. (And we know this is a great spot Threes like to be in.)