Enneagram at Work

Enneagram MBA
  • 5.0 (20)
  • Management
  • Updated Weekly

Welcome to Enneagram at Work, your Saturday leadership download. We're bringing you insights for your weekend so you're ready for Monday. This is a podcast about understanding people at work and navigating professional relationships. We spend so much of our time at work, why not make it more enjoyable by working on creating more enjoyable relationships with our teammates?  Listen in each week to gain self-awareness, relationship management, leadership development, personal growth insights, and real-life application ideas through the lens of the Enneagram inside educational episodes and interview conversations. Learn about bringing the Enneagram to your organization or group and view the current workshop menu at: enneagrammba.com 

  1. 3d ago

    248. Enneagram Type 2 & Type 4 in Leadership: Underrated Strengths at Work

    What does leadership look like when you don’t fit the stereotypical image of the bold, outspoken, highly assertive leader? In this episode, we get to hear from Suha Patel, an Enneagram Type 2, and Gallia Levy, an Enneagram Type 4, about the leadership strengths that can be easy to overlook - from relationship building and coaching to authenticity, intuition, depth, and the courage to say what others may be feeling but aren’t willing to say.   Suha and Gallia also share what they’ve learned from working together, including how their different strengths created trust, helped each of them grow, and allowed them to lead without trying to become someone they weren’t.  When you tune in, you'll hear more about:  The underrated leadership strengths of Enneagram Types 2 and 4Why leadership doesn’t always have to look loud, fast, or highly assertiveHow Type 2s can use relationships, intuition, and individualized coaching as a source of influenceThe Type 4 ability to bring honesty, emotional depth, and courage into a teamHow their Type 2–Type 4 working relationship helped both of them growBoundaries, feedback, intensity, authenticity, and other growth areas for both typesWhy you don’t have to abandon your natural leadership style in order to advanceOne of my favorite ideas from the conversation is Gallia’s closing advice to fellow Type 4s: don’t abandon your depth in order to belong as a leader. And for Type 2s, Suha offers an equally important reminder: you matter too.   Please don't be shy and connect with Suha and Gallia below to let them know what you're taking away from this one! Meet Suha: Type 2  Suha Patel is a global business leader, mentor, and lifelong student of human behavior whose journey has spanned four continents, executive leadership, and deep personal transformation. As an executive in biotech, she spent decades leading in high-performance environments while quietly carrying the belief that staying small and silent was the safest way to move through the world. Her path into self-awareness, enneagrams, nervous system healing, and inner child work radically changed the way she understands leadership, relationships, identity, and emotional well-being. Today, Suha is passionate about exploring the invisible patterns that shape our lives – the survival strategies we mistake for personality, and the ways unresolved emotional experiences quietly influence how we love, lead, speak and connect. Through honest storytelling and deep reflections, she brings a grounded and compassionate perspective to conversations about healing, self-awareness, emotional regulation, and what it truly means to feel safe enough to become ourselves fully. Connect with Suha on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/suhapatel/ Meet Gallia: Type 4 Dr. Gallia Levy is currently the Global Head of Development at Kite Pharma, a Gilead Company. In this capacity she oversees the Development of the Kite portfolio of cell therapies from early phase trials to approved products, across therapeutic areas such as oncology and autoimmune disease.  Prior to Kite, Gallia was the Chief Medical and Product Strategy Officer at Spark Therapeutics, where she led strategic and operational teams throughout the product development lifecycle with responsibility for setting the global development and product strategy. Before joining Spark, Gallia was Vice President and Global Head of the Rare Blood Disorders Franchise in Product Development at Genentech and Roche, where she was responsible for the clinical development of treatments for hemophilia A and other rare blood disorders such as paroxysmal nocturnal hemoglobinuria (PNH), and atypical hemolytic uremic syndrome (aHUS). Gallia first joined Genentech in 2009, where she worked in both early- and late-stage clinical development. She later moved to Portola Pharmaceuticals, where she led the clinical development program for hematology and oncology indications spanning Phases 1 to registrational trials. She eventually returned to Genentech, taking responsibility for the global clinical development program for HEMLIBRA®, during which time she led the transition from Phase 1 through to global registration for adults and children with hemophilia A. Gallia is board-certified in hematology and earned an M.D. and Ph.D. in Molecular and Cellular Biology from the University of Michigan, during which time she discovered ADAMTS13, responsible for Thrombotic Thrombocytopenic Purpura (TTP). She completed her residency in internal medicine at Stanford University and a fellowship in hematology at the University of California, San Francisco. She also spent time at the Pasteur Institute, during which she received an M.S. in Molecular and Cellular Biology from the University of Paris VI, and she holds a B.A. from the University of California, Berkeley. Connect with Gallia on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gallia-levy-b4700775/ Have a request for a future episode? Drop a text here!

  2. 4d ago

    247. When “Doing It Right” Becomes Doing Too Much: Type 1 at Work

    Type 1s bring something incredibly valuable to the workplace: high standards, reliability, precision, follow-through, and a natural ability to see what could be improved. But those same strengths can become heavy. A Type 1 may notice the typo, the missed deadline, the unclear process, the skipped step, or the work that is almost right - and then quietly become the person who fixes it, checks it, follows up on it, or takes it back over. Over time, responsibility can turn into over-responsibility.   In this episode of the Enneagram at Work Podcast, we'll explore together what can happen when a Type 1’s desire to do things well starts creating extra work for themselves, and sometimes extra pressure for the people around them. The question at the center of the episode is: Does this actually need to be improved, or is it simply not how I would have done it?   You'll also hear about in this episode: Why Type 1s are often the people who notice what everyone else missesHow responsibility can quietly become over-responsibilityThe invisible workload Type 1s may take on without being askedWhy “I’ll just fix this real quick” can add up to a much bigger workloadHow resentment can build when a Type 1 feels like they are the only person who caresWhy different approaches do not necessarily mean someone is less committedWhy delegation can be especially difficult when “done” isn’t the same as “done the way I would do it”How high standards can unintentionally make teammates feel constantly correctedPractical questions Type 1s can use before stepping in, redoing, correcting, or taking something backYou'll also hear about three useful categories for evaluating someone else’s work: 1. It is actually incorrect. There is a factual, legal, safety, requirement, or outcome-related issue. 2. It genuinely needs improvement. Something is unclear, inconsistent, likely to create a problem, or does not meet the agreed-upon standard. 3. It is simply different. The approach, style, order, process, or execution isn’t how you would have done it, but it isn’t actually wrong.  That third category can be one of the biggest growth opportunities for Type 1. Because different people can be committed to the same outcome while valuing different parts of the process. Different does not automatically mean less committed. Questions for Type 1s to consider Before correcting, redoing, or taking something over, ask: Does this really matter to the outcome?Is this actually my responsibility?Was this standard clearly communicated?Is the outcome wrong — or just different?Am I fixing this because it needs fixing, or because fixing it lowers my own discomfort?What happens if I let this be good enough? The goal isn’t to stop caring or lower your standards. It may simply be learning that not every detail deserves the same amount of energy, not every task belongs to you, and not every different approach needs to be corrected.   ***** Want to go deeper into your Enneagram type? Enneagram MBA now offers individual typing, coaching, and workstyle sessions designed to help you better understand your patterns and actually apply what you’re learning to your work, leadership, and workplace relationships. Our 1:1 Session Options: Typing Interview Understand Your Type + Instinct3-Session Deep DiveCoworker Translation SessionLeadership Strategy SessionLearn more at: EnneagramMBA.com/enneagram-coaching Have a request for a future episode? Drop a text here!

  3. Oct 5

    246. Using AI + the Enneagram at Work

    AI can help us write faster, prepare for meetings, summarize information, and organize ideas. But can it also help us become better managers and teammates? In this episode of Enneagram at Work, we're looking at how AI and the Enneagram can work together as a thinking tool - not to predict, diagnose, or stereotype people, but to help us become more intentional about the way we communicate, lead, give feedback, navigate conflict, and prepare for important conversations. The goal isn't to ask AI, “How do I manage this person?” A better question might be: “How can I manage myself more intentionally before I walk into this situation?” Because AI doesn't know the person sitting across from you. And their Enneagram type can't tell you exactly how they'll respond. What these tools can do is help you slow down, examine your own patterns, consider another person's perspective, and explore a few different ways forward. In this episode: How to use AI as a thinking partner before feedback conversationsWhy adding your own Enneagram tendencies can make an AI prompt significantly more usefulUsing AI to explore conflict without deciding who's “right”Questions AI can help you ask about your own reactions before a difficult conversationWhat not to ask AI about someone's Enneagram typeWhy both AI and the Enneagram should help us become more curious about people, not more certain about themThe AI + Enneagram Prompt Template Before asking AI to help you prepare for a conversation, meeting, or conflict, give it four pieces of information: 1. CONTEXT: What is happening? Briefly explain the situation you are preparing for. 2. PATTERN: What do I know about myself? What tendencies do you recognize in yourself, through the Enneagram or simply through experience? Where might you overdo a strength? What tends to happen when you're frustrated, stressed, rushed, or under pressure? 3. PERSON: What do I actually know about the other person? Focus on what they have told you or what you have directly observed. How do they prefer to communicate? Do they like time to process? Do they prefer detail, brevity, conversation, written information, or clear next steps? Avoid assuming what they need simply because of an Enneagram type. 4. OUTCOME: What do I want this interaction to accomplish? What would a productive outcome look like? Then ask AI to help you prepare. Copy + Paste Prompt Context: I need to [describe the conversation, meeting, feedback, conflict, or decision]. My patterns: I tend to [describe your natural tendencies, including anything you know from your Enneagram type]. When I am stressed or frustrated, I can sometimes [describe the pattern you want to watch]. The other person: What I know about this person is [share only what they've communicated or what you've directly observed about how they work, communicate, process information, or receive feedback]. Desired outcome: I want this conversation to [describe what you want to accomplish]. Help me prepare for this conversation. Identify any blind spots I should consider, language that may land differently than I intend, questions I could ask rather than making assumptions, and a few ways I could approach the conversation while still sounding like myself. Example I need to address a missed deadline with a direct report.I tend to move quickly into problem-solving and can become overly direct when I get frustrated.This employee usually likes context and time to think before answering.I want the conversation to create accountability without shutting down the conversation.Help me prepare.Compare that with simply asking: “Help me prepare for a conversation about a missed deadline.” The additional context gives AI much more useful information to work with, while still leaving the judgment, discernment, and actual leadership to you. One Important Reminder Use the Enneagram and AI to generate questions, possibilities, and perspectives, not conclusions about another person. Avoid prompts like: “Based on these behaviors, what Enneagram type is my employee?”“How do I get a Type Six to agree with me?”“My teammate is a Type Nine, so how should I handle conflict with them?”Instead, try: “Here are some tendencies this person has told me about themselves. What questions could I ask to better understand what they need instead of assuming?” That's the bigger opportunity. The Enneagram gives us language for patterns. AI can help us examine those patterns and consider alternative paths forward. And you still bring the judgment, experience, relationship, and humanity required to lead the person in front of you. ****** Planning an Enneagram Experience for Your Team? Year-end meetings, leadership retreats, team offsites, and new-year kickoffs can be a great opportunity to bring teams together around something that is both fun in the room and useful back at work. Enneagram MBA offers standalone team workshops, team development experiences, and programs designed to bring multiple teams or departments together around a shared language for communicating, collaborating, and navigating tension more effectively. Explore the options at EnneagramMBA.com. And if you've found an especially useful way to combine AI and the Enneagram at work, we'd love to hear about it. Reach out at EnneagramMBA.com/contact. Have a request for a future episode? Drop a text here!

  4. Oct 2

    245. He Didn't Want to Be at the Enneagram Workshop. Then He Took the Assessment.

    Not everyone walks into an Enneagram workshop excited to be there. In fact, there are usually a few skeptics in the room, and that’s okay. In this episode, I’m sharing a recent experience from an Enneagram team workshop in Nashville. One participant admitted that he didn’t want to attend the workshop and didn’t want to take the Enneagram assessment. But after receiving his results and learning more about his Type 8 pattern, his reaction changed completely. He described how surprisingly accurate the Enneagram felt, not only in identifying his strengths, but also some of the things he knows he struggles with.  And it gets even better. He went on to become one of the most engaged people in the workshop, asking great questions and adding perspectives that made the experience better for the rest of the group.  It was a great reminder for managers, HR and L&D professionals, and anyone facilitating the Enneagram with a team: Skepticism doesn’t have to be the enemy of a good workshop. You don’t need everyone to arrive already believing in, or even liking, the Enneagram. You need to create an experience that is credible, relevant, useful, engaging, and strong enough to earn their participation.  In this episode, I share:  Why I don’t try to talk skeptics out of being skeptical  What changed for this particular participant after taking the assessment  Why his skepticism ultimately contributed to the workshop  What managers can learn from this experience when they’re worried their team won’t “buy in”  Why an Enneagram workshop doesn’t require everyone to walk through the door excited about personality typing If you’ve thought about bringing the Enneagram to your organization but wondered, “What if some people on my team are skeptical?” this one is for you. Thinking about an Enneagram experience for your team? Visit Enneagram MBA to tell us a little about what’s going on with your team, and we’ll help you explore an experience that fits. enneagrammba.com Have a request for a future episode? Drop a text here!

  5. Sep 30

    244. The Type 6 Question That Isn’t Really “Just a Question”

    “But what happens if…?” “Have we thought about…?” “Who’s responsible for…?” “What if this doesn’t work?” If you work with an Enneagram Type 6, you may be familiar with the questions. And depending on how those questions are delivered or received, they can sometimes sound like resistance, negativity, or a challenge to the person leading the conversation. But what if the Type 6 question isn’t really just a question? In this episode of Enneagram at Work, we're looking underneath a common Type 6 workplace behavior to understand what may actually be happening. For a Type 6, striving to feel secure can mean looking for potential problems, unanswered questions, missing information, or risks that everyone else seems ready to move past. In other words: What sounds like resistance may actually be risk detection. And that can be incredibly valuable to a team. Of course, there's another side to it. Question after question without the ability to eventually move forward can slow down a decision or frustrate coworkers. That's why the goal isn't to label questioning as either a strength or a weakness, it's to understand the pattern underneath it and learn to use it more intentionally. In this episode, we explore how Type 6 questioning can show up at work, why managers may misinterpret it, the value a Type 6 can bring by pressure-testing a plan, and how both Type 6s and their coworkers can translate those questions into more productive conversations. For the Type 6, try: “I want to pressure-test one part of this before we move forward.” For the manager or teammate, try: “What's the biggest risk you're seeing that you don't think we've accounted for?” Sometimes a better conversation starts when we stop reacting to the question and get curious about what's underneath it. Bring the Enneagram to Your Team Tell us what's going on with your team, and we'll help you determine the right place to start. enneagrammba.com Have a request for a future episode? Drop a text here!

  6. Sep 28

    243. What If I Relate to More Than One Enneagram Type?

    “I can see myself in several of these.” If you’ve ever said that while trying to determine your Enneagram type, you’re not alone, and it doesn’t necessarily mean you’re doing anything wrong. In this episode of Enneagram at Work, we’re talking about why it’s completely normal to relate to multiple Enneagram types and why identifying your type requires looking beyond individual traits and behaviors. Of course you can be helpful without being a Type 2. Ambitious without being a Type 3. Security-conscious without being a Type 6. Excited by new possibilities without being a Type 7. And there are probably times when you want connection, peace, autonomy, recognition, or certainty. The question isn't “Which type descriptions sound like me?” It's “Which underlying strategy do I find myself returning to most often?” We’ll also look at some of the factors that can make multiple types feel familiar, including your work role, learned behaviors, resource points or arrows, Instinctual Biases, and simply being a complex human being. If you’re stuck between two (or three!) Enneagram types, the goal isn’t to find the description that matches everything you do. Start getting curious about why you do it. Because your Enneagram type isn't meant to explain every behavior. It helps you notice the pattern underneath them. Bring the Enneagram to Your Team: enneagrammba.com Have a request for a future episode? Drop a text here!

  7. Sep 25

    242. Someone Plagiarized Our Website. Here’s Why That’s a Good Thing for You.

    Someone plagiarized our website. Not exactly the way I expected to find clarity about the future of Enneagram MBA, but here we are. In this behind-the-scenes episode of Enneagram at Work, I'm sharing what happened when I discovered that a significant amount of our website messaging, design, and offers had been copied, and the unexpected good that came out of an understandably frustrating experience. Because somewhere between “Are you kidding me?” and figuring out what needed to happen next, I started asking a much more interesting question: What have we built that someone else can't simply copy so easily? That question made me realize something: Enneagram MBA had outgrown some of its own messaging. For years, we've talked about Enneagram workshops for the workplace. But the work our clients are asking us to do today goes much further, helping teams improve communication, navigate tension, develop leaders, strengthen cross-department relationships, and figure out how to keep using the Enneagram long after the initial workshop ends.  In this episode, I'm taking you behind the scenes of that evolution, including our new Shared Language Framework: Learn It → Translate It → Use It → Keep It Going You'll hear why learning the nine Enneagram types is only the beginning, what we mean when we talk about creating a shared language at work, and why the real value comes from translating Enneagram theory into your team's actual meetings, feedback, conflict, leadership, and day-to-day relationships.  I also share what's changing at Enneagram MBA, from standalone workshops to development programs and organization-wide experiences, and why we're putting even more attention on what happens after the workshop.  Because ultimately: The Enneagram is the tool. What you do with it matters. Knowing I'm a Type 7 and you're a Type 1 might be interesting. But what changes in our next meeting? Our next conflict? The way we give each other feedback? The way our departments work together? That's where the work really begins.  So no, I wouldn't necessarily recommend having someone plagiarize your website as a business strategy. But in this case, it forced us to get much clearer about what we believe, what makes our approach different, and how we can better support the people and organizations we work with.  Curious what this could look like for your team? Visit Enneagram MBA and tell us what's going on. You don't need to know which workshop or program you need, that's our job to help you figure out. enneagrammba.com Have a request for a future episode? Drop a text here!

  8. Sep 23

    241. We Were in the Same Meeting But Heard Two Different Things

    Have you ever walked out of a meeting thinking a decision had been made, only to discover your coworker thought you were still discussing it? You were in the same room. You heard the same words. And somehow, you walked away with two completely different interpretations. In this episode of Enneagram at Work, we’re kicking off our Overheard at Work series by looking at what can get lost in translation during everyday workplace communication. Because we don't necessarily listen to conversations neutrally. One person may be listening for What did we decide? Another is listening for What could go wrong? Someone else is focused on How will this affect the team? while another is already thinking about What happens next? The Enneagram can help us understand some of the different patterns influencing what people naturally pay attention to, and why two smart, engaged coworkers can hear the exact same conversation differently. In this episode, we explore:  Why workplace miscommunication isn't always about someone being a “bad listener”  How different people assign importance to different parts of the same conversation  Why we can mistake our interpretation of a conversation for the conversation itself How the Enneagram can help teams get curious about what coworkers may be listening for  One simple question managers can use at the end of a meeting to catch misunderstandings before everyone walks out the door Try This Instead of ending your next meeting with: “Does everybody understand?” Try: “What is everyone walking away believing we've decided?” Or: “What are you taking away as your next step?” You may be surprised by the answers. The goal isn't to test whether people were paying attention. It's to give everyone a chance to translate back what they heard, and catch what's been lost in translation before it turns into a missed deadline, unnecessary frustration, or the classic: “Wait...that's not what I thought we decided.” That's your translation to try this week. Learn more about bringing the Enneagram to your team: enneagrammba.com  Have a request for a future episode? Drop a text here!

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About

Welcome to Enneagram at Work, your Saturday leadership download. We're bringing you insights for your weekend so you're ready for Monday. This is a podcast about understanding people at work and navigating professional relationships. We spend so much of our time at work, why not make it more enjoyable by working on creating more enjoyable relationships with our teammates?  Listen in each week to gain self-awareness, relationship management, leadership development, personal growth insights, and real-life application ideas through the lens of the Enneagram inside educational episodes and interview conversations. Learn about bringing the Enneagram to your organization or group and view the current workshop menu at: enneagrammba.com 

Information

  • Creator
    Enneagram MBA
  • Years Active
    2021 - 2026
  • Episodes
    248
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © 2026 Enneagram at Work
  • Show Website
    Enneagram at Work

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