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Point Six: The Trooper
Six in Love
Living with Sixes:
- Sixes question your intentions: suspecting your positive regard, wondering
what you really think, undervaluing romance.
- A Six can be a loyal ally, strong in an "us against the world"
relationship, a devoted supporter.
- Sixes want reassurance to overcome doubt. "Will you always love
me?" There's no right answer for this one. A positive response leads
to doubt of your sincerity, further assurances are required, and so on.
- Sixes tend to project personal dissatisfaction, for instance, denying
their own wandering eye by "seeing" that you are attracted to
someone else.
- Expect a Six to identify with the problem areas of relationship, which
become the focal points of attention.
- A Six wants to affect you (for example, through warmth, by a dutiful
alliance, or through sexual power) rather than be affected. Sixes find
it frightening to have their own desires aroused, to realize that they
are vulnerable to what others do. They prefer to show strength by assisting
others to attain their goals, are capable of significant self-sacrifice.
- Don't count on Sixes to be able to locate the source of tension in
intimacy. "Am I afraid of showing weakness? Am I sensing a possible
betrayal?" They expect hurt when their guard goes down.
- A Six searches for clues in your behavior. "What's going on underneath
the surface? How do you act toward other people? What do you really think
of me?" They need reassurance.
Six at Work
In the Workplace:
- Has strong analytic powers. Attention shifts to questioning and examining
the opposite position. Doubt and a suspicion of the obvious develop clarity.
- Overvalues authority's power. Invests those who project an authoritative
image with far more power than they actually possess. Feels weakened by
comparison.
- Reacts against own weakness by either seeking protection from authority
(loyalist) or attempting to bring it down (rebel). "At your feet or
at your throat."
- Tries for superhero status as a compensation for inner anxiety. Has
to prove self to others. Self-mastery. Toughing it out. Braced against
fear.
- Able to act, to go full out when up against the odds. Will compete
when the odds are against a win. Defends the underdog. A business turnaround.
- Tests an argument. Sensitive to the weak spots in any position. The
loyal opposition. "Yes, but..." The devil's advocate. "Let's
consider the other side."
- Action paralysis. Finds it hard to keep moving forward effectively
when success begins to materialize and hard to focus when there is no
opposition.
Doubt sets in until positive options begin to seem unreal.
- Has tendency to diminish a powerful success. Blowing it, losing time,
losing the critical file in a computer crash. Sense of endangerment arises
in the exposed successful stance. Backlash from the belief that nobody
likes authority.
- Has difficulty locating the source of tension connected to success.
"Is it that my subordinates do not like authority?" "Am
I sensing a behind-the-scenes attack? Is a takeover likely?" "Why
don't I feel the pleasure of a win?"
Helen Palmer
The Enneagram in Love & Work:
Understanding Your Intimate & Business Relationships
HarperSanFrancisco, 1995, 417 pages
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