cover image The Enneagram Advantage: Putting the 9 Personality Types to Work in the Office

The Enneagram Advantage: Putting the 9 Personality Types to Work in the Office

Helen Palmer. Harmony, $24 (256pp) ISBN 978-0-517-70432-5

While some readers may find themselves aptly described in one of these nine personality profiles--Perfectionist, Giver, Epicure, Boss, Loyal, Skeptic, Mediator, Observer, Performer, Tragic-Romantic--others will consider that each human being is too much of a composite to be pigeonholed into a single primary type. Palmer, who runs an enneagram studies center in Berkeley, Calif., and wrote The Enneagram in Love and Work, and Brown, author of The Corporate Coach, apply this tenfold system to the workplace, offering sensible advice on time management, negotiating, decision-making, training, interacting, motivating and communicating. Packed with tables, diagrams, case histories and self-assessment exercises, this compact manual demonstrates how different types of people can tackle the same job from radically different perspectives. The guide's underlying premise--each personality type's distinctive self-protective mechanisms, developed in childhood, can be redirected to encourage more productivity--may induce readers to psychologize their co-workers. BOMC, QPB and One Spirit Book Club alternates; author tour. (Jan.)