Out of the Box Coaching and
Breakthroughs with the Enneagram, Mary R. Bast, Ph.D. 
Copyright © 1999. All rights reserved. Revised: October 06, 2009 

Case Description: Style Three

Bill Danvers was being considered for the presidency of a small but highly profitable company that had been founded by the CEO, Barbara Levine, many years before. Barbara wanted to retire, but had her own money invested in the business and wanted to make sure she was leaving it in good hands. Bill outshone all of his peers in getting new customers, was an active and positive representative of the company in the business community, and was considered a real strategic partner by Barbara. However, she knew through the grapevine that Bill's peers were not so keen on a future where he was their boss, and she was afraid she'd have a mutiny if she promoted him.

Bill did all the external work with customers and consequently got most of the visible credit for sales. The rest of his team felt that their behind-the-scenes support contributed equally to his success, so they saw him as being only out for himself. Furthermore, they didn't trust Bill, in part because he played things so close to the vest and in part because he was competitive and opportunistic, and didn't always get a deal written exactly the way they had agreed to ahead of time. I coached Bill to focus more on teamwork, to be more aware of his own feelings, and to pay more attention to group process. He developed enough trust among his peers that they supported his eventual promotion.

"The Star Performer"     An Aggressive Style      Subtypes

Path of Transformation     Relationship Dynamics   

Poems That Speak to Threes    

Quick Views of Nine Personality Patterns           Leadership and the Enneagram

Much more in Out of the Box Coaching Book
(Click here for free preview of Three chapter)