Instinctual Leadership

Book excerpt: Mario Sikora and Maria Jose Munita are executive coaches and leadership-development consultants who have used the Enneagram to help their clients master the human side of business. Here for the first time, they share descriptions of all of the 27 subtypes according to the Awareness to Action Approach to the Enneagram. This approach to the subtypes and the three instinctual biases--Preserving, Navigating, and Transmitting--is based on experience with clients at all levels, from front-line workers to CEOs, in companies of all kinds on five continents. This experience includes conducting 360 assessments on hundreds of leaders and observing the consistent pattern of expression of the instinctual biases that they discuss in this book.This unique and timely book provides not only descriptions of the subtypes, but a framework that can be used to help leaders (and those who advise them):*Identify potential structural or organizational vulnerabilities of their company or teams and devise solutions to overcome those vulnerabilities; *Improve communication and collaboration, and implement cultural changes; and*Remove barriers to improving individual performance. While the 27 subtypes of the Enneagram have been of quickly growing interest in the field, this approach to them takes a unique perspective. It is a perspective grounded in over two decades of practical application in the business world and consistent with what we know through cognitive science and evolutionary psychology. This short book provides a foundation of fundamental concepts without delving too much into the theory underlying those concepts, and provides a framework with which readers can explore and implement those concepts. Contact us at [email protected] for information on how to become certified in the applications of the Awareness to Action Enneagram or to become an Awareness to Action International licensee.