This month, Leadercast is focused on the theme of exploration, and we couldn’t help but think of it in the context of the self. (Think of it like the directions you receive on a plane for when the oxygen masks deploy: “Put on your own mask first before assisting others.”) You may recall in 2018, Leadercast took a deep dive into self-awareness for its Leading Yourself theme, which covered the idea that before a leader has the ability to lead others, they must first learn how to lead themselves. (I know, I know: if I end the story here I could add Harrison Ford and a monkey and have the backstory for an Indiana Jones movie.Billie Jean King once shared, “I think self-awareness is probably the most important thing towards being a champion.” Self-awareness is key in anything you do, whether you’re a champion tennis player like Billie or a leader of an organization. In the early 1900s an undeniably strange teacher named George Gurdjieff used the ancient nine-pointed geometric figure, or enneagram, to teach esoteric subjects unrelated to personality types. Some say that elements of the Enneagram also appear in other world religions, including Sufism (the mystical tradition within Islam) and Judaism. Some trace its origins back to a Christian monk named Evagrius, whose teachings formed the basis for what later became the Seven Deadly Sins, and to the desert mothers and fathers of the fourth century, who used it for spiritual counseling. What is clear is that it’s been a work in progress for a long time.
No one knows for certain when, where or who first came up with the idea for this map of the human personality. When my grandmother didn’t know what to make of something she would say it was “novel.” I suspect that’s how she’d describe the Enneagram.
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