A Non-Woo Look At The Enneagram For Skeptical Leaders

Being skeptical about the Enneagram is perfectly valid. It has a reputation for being “woo,” and unlike the Big Five, it isn’t scientifically validated.
Skepticism comes from a healthy part of us, the part that doesn’t swallow information without checking sources or making sense of things.

And it’s also true that the Enneagram has been misused at times (usually through stereotyping or forcefully typing others), so it’s understandable to keep some distance when that has happened.

The Enneagram has two aspects: a psychological one and a spiritual one. They’re interconnected, and both offer something powerful depending on your background and interests.
And it’s completely fine to focus on the psychological side only - the strengths and challenges, the patterns and habits, and the communication tendencies - and let go of the spiritual side if it’s not your thing.

That’s the lane I work in with most of my STEM clients (with some exceptions), and it’s where leaders get the most practical value in the workplace.

From that perspective, the Enneagram becomes an awareness-building and pattern-recognition tool, a way to understand the automatic habits that influence how we handle stress, make decisions, and interact with others. It also helps us catch the moment when we lose presence or shift into autopilot mode.

That’s why many STEM professionals end up appreciating it after their initial resistance. In my trainings and coaching, I hear it all the time: “Wow, this is actually incredible. This should be taught in high school and college.”

The Enneagram gives language to patterns of thinking, feeling, and behaving that  they’ve noticed for years but couldn’t fully explain or more importantly, interrupt.

Here are a couple of quick communication examples -  and yes, I’m simplifying types more than I usually like:

• Type 1: Organized, precise, and principled, but may over-correct others, edit internally while listening, or tighten their tone when something feels “off” or imperfect.

• Type 7: Energetic, optimistic, and creative, but may unintentionally talk over people, jump topics quickly, or avoid hard conversations that feel uncomfortable.

Neither is good or bad. They’re simply patterns.
And once you can see a pattern, we can learn to interrupt the autopilot and choose a different way to show up.

That’s the real value of the Enneagram in communication:
Self-awareness leads to more choice, which leads to better interactions and therefore stronger teams.

Think of one interaction with another person that happened this week.
What pattern of yours showed up? And what was it pursuing or protecting?