Famous authors and celebrity Enneagram personalities.
Ones
Ones are driven by their desire to be good and their fear of being corrupt or evil. They tend to have strong ethics, high standards, and, if healthy, a propensity for fighting for justice.
Probable ones include Confucius, Plato, Sir Thomas More, C.S. Lewis, Mahatma Gandhi, Pope John Paul II, Nelson Mandela, Hilary Clinton, George Bernard Shaw, George Orwell, Henry David Thoreau, Al Gore, Rudy Giuliani, Sandra Day O’Connor, Thomas Keller, Ralph Nader, Noam Chomsky, Bill Moyers, George Will, William F. Buckley Jr., Bill Maher, Tina Fey, Susan Brownmiller, Jessica Mitford, and Julie Andrews.
(Sound of Music in Real Time at 30 Rock?)
Twos
Twos are driven by their desire to be loved and their fear of rejection and being unworthy of love. At their best, they are usually warm, empathetic, and interested in pleasing and caring for other people.
Probable twos include Byron Katie, , Pope John XXIII, Desmond Tutu, Mother Theresa, Barbara De Angelis, Eleanor Roosevelt, Betty Friedan, and Nancy Reagan.
(A Saint, a Feminist a Hugger and a former First Lady?)
"Too often we underestimate the power of a touch, a smile, a kind word, a listening ear, an honest compliment, or the smallest act of caring, all of which have the potential to turn a life around."
Threes
are driven by their desire to feel as though they have something valuable to offer the world and their fear of being worthless. They are generally ambitious, hardworking, and image-conscious.
Probable three authors include Truman Capote, Tony Robbins, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Oprah Winfrey, and John Edward.
(War At Peace With Your Soul?)
Fours
Fours are driven by their desire to create a strong identity and their fear of having no identity of their own. They are usually creative, emotional types, mercurial, and reserved.
Probable four authors include Edgar Allan Poe, Rumi, Virginia Woolf, Anne Rice, Yukio Mishima, Anne Frank, Isak Dinesen, William Faulkner, Fyodor Dostoevsky, Tennessee Williams, Mary McCarthy, Robert James Waller, Anaîs Nin, and J.D. Salinger.
A Four with a Three Wing?
Edgar Allan Poe had to start somewhere. Before Poe was a marquee name with millions of fans, he was just another struggling would-be-published writer who couldn’t get his emails returned and, as a result, lay awake all night asking the ceiling: “How come everyone I went to college with is making buckets of money and having their second baby when I can’t even get one lousy essay in the NYT?!”
From the time he was about 18 to the time he was 24, 25, Poe was writing poems and essentially doing the modern equivalent of self-publishing because, then as now, there is not much of a commercial market for poetry. Even when he could find a press willing to put out his work, Poe either had to pay for the printing himself, or the press wanted him to guarantee any losses it might incur in bringing out his book.
When, in his mid-20s, Poe finally switched to writing super goth short stories, he did so out of financial necessity. He’d begun to despair of ever finding any market for his poetry, and so he turned his attention to what the market was willing to pay for—tales about posthumous dental extractions. Or old wives coming back from the dead only to murder new wives. Or undead horses emerging from the tapestry to enact terrible revenge. That sort of thing.
This was not his dream. And he was extremely worried and self-conscious about how the people he admired, and high-brow types generally, might find his stories to be crass and dumb. He’d just run out of options. He needed cash and he was tired of toiling in obscurity. He wanted to be noticed. To break out. To find an audience and get some recognition
So Poe switched genres. Switched topics. Even switched styles.
From now on, he told one of his editors, he would write pieces about “the ludicrous heightened into the grotesque: the fearful coloured into the horrible: the witty exaggerated into the burlesque: the singular wrought out into the strange and mystical.”
That is, horses and murder and posthumous dental extractions. Exaggerated situations stretched to and then past their breaking point.
Maybe such pieces were in bad taste, he acknowledged. But you know what? Screw bad taste. He was going big or going home. “To be appreciated you must be read, and these things are invariably sought after with avidity,” Poe said.
Brazen sellout? Yes. Spectacular success over time? Also yes. Today, two-ish centuries later, we can see how Poe’s desperate-yet-calculated switch worked out for him. We’re all still reading those stories, aren’t we?
Poe took the gothic short story, a form he’d grown up reading, and he improved upon it so that his stories weren’t just scary predicaments but metaphors as well as comments on the genre, even comments on themselves. It’s a major reason his stuff feels so modern. If a story is functioning on the literal and metaphorical level—a plane of universal human feeling, one that every generation is, in due time, bound to discover for itself—then that story is going to remain open to new, contemporary interpretations.
The funniest thing about the reception to Poe’s work is how high-brow types still tend to think that because his work is both read and beloved by children at the same time it has the depth and power to keep academics busy means that it must be stupid, must be lowbrow. Its massively broad appeal is treated as a mark against it. As though Poe wasn’t pretty much in on the joke all along.
Fives
Fives are driven by their desire to understand the world and prove themselves competent, and their fear of being helpless and incapable. They are usually independent, cerebral, and somewhat detached.
Probable fives include Stephen Hawking, Albert Einstein, Emily Dickinson, Friedrich Nietzsche, Agatha Christie, James Joyce, Stephen King, Oliver Sacks, Susan Sontag, Jean-Paul Sartre, Ursula K. Le Guin, Cormac McCarthy, Vladamir Nabokov, Loren Eiseley, Graham Greene, Patrick O’Brien, Peter Matthiessen, Ian McEwan, Lewis Carroll, Karl Marx, Paul Bowles, and Clive Barker.
(Alice has an Existential Crisis in Wonderland?)
Nausea (Satre sounds more like a Four to me)
Then I had this vision. It left me breathless. Never, until these last few days, had I understood the meaning of “existence.” I was like the others, like the ones walking along the seashore, all dressed in their spring finery. I said, like them, “The ocean is green; that white speck up there is a seagull,” but I didn’t feel that it existed or that the seagull was an “existing seagull”; usually existence hides itself.
I was thinking of belonging.
With the publication of Nausea in 1938, Jean-Paul Sartre became known as one of the most iconic and key figures in the philosophy of existentialism. The novel is about a french writer, Antoine Roquentin, who comes to terms with the ideas of existentialism and is ultimately horrified at his own existence, thus the title, Nausea.
He has an epiphany of sorts in chapter two:
I understood that the world was nothing: a mechanical chaos of casual, brute enmity on which we stupidly impose our hopes and fears. I understood that, finally and absolutely, I alone exist. (pg. 21-22)
Sixes
Sixes are driven by their desire for security and their fear of not having enough support and guidance. They are usually responsible and loyal. Sixes can be divided into two categories: Phobic sixes usually obey authority whereas Counterphobic sixes have a tendency to rebel against authority as a way of dealing with their anxiety.
Probable sixes include Mark Twain, Sigmund Freud, William James, J.R.R. Tolkien, Jiddu Krishnamurti, and John Grisham.
(Lord of the Rings: Frodo and Gollum Meet Huckleberry Finn?)
Sevens
Sevens are driven by their desire for the easy life–to have all their needs fulfilled–and by their fear of pain and suffering. Sevens are usually gregarious, spontaneous, and constantly on the go.
Probable sevens include Benjamin Franklin, Robert Fulghum, Gerald G. Jampolsky, Henry Miller, Joseph Chilton Pearce, Bernie S. Siegel, Tom Wolfe, Richard P. Feynman, Oscar Wilde, and Sarah Palin.
(Flying a Kite From Alaska, While Seeing Russia from a Window)
Eights
Eights are driven by their desire to control their own destiny and their fear of being under someone else’s thumb. They are generally assertive and have a tendency to dominate their environment.
Probable eights include Dr. Phil, Barbara Walters, Harlan Ellison, Toni Morrison and Ernest Hemingway.
Nines
Nines are driven by their desire for inner peace and harmony and their fear of loss and separation from those they love. They tend to be easygoing, accommodating, and mellow.
Probable nines include J.K. Rowling, Jane Austen, Carl Jung and Carl Rogers.
(Harry Potter and the Dark Shadows?)
The Shadow Side of the Great Psychotherapists
The great Swiss psychiatrist C. G. Jung called the dark side of the human personality the shadow; he used the word as a metaphor for primitive, negative, or socially disvalued emotions and impulses like rage, selfishness, lust, and power strivings. Whatever we consider evil or unacceptable in ourselves is repressed and becomes part of our shadow (Jung, 1973). To become a healthy and whole human being it is necessary to accept the shadow side of oneself. Recognizing and owning our negative impulses gives us the ability to make conscious choices about how we will behave in the future.
Carl Rogers had a few simple ideas that he spent his life disseminating: listen to the client, be respectful and nonjudgmental, be empathic, and help clients find their own solutions (Cohen, 1997).
…in the 1950s Rogers worked with the U. S. Central Intelligence Agency on various secret projects. He was given information on Soviet Premier Nikita Krushchev and asked to analyze his personality and recommend how to deal with him. He also consulted on research on psychological methods to influence human behavior. As a patriotic American, Rogers saw no reason not to help the CIA, and psychiatrist Martin Orne and psychologist B. F. Skinner also consulted with the CIA.
One of the Agency projects under Rogers’ purview, MKULTRA, was meant to study how people can be influenced and controlled, so that soldiers could be trained to resist brainwashing. It included studies of Communist defectors, the use of prostitutes to blackmail informants, and the use of LSD and other mind-altering drugs for interrogation, persuasion, and mind control.
Some of the research participants were not aware they were being experimented upon and did not give informed consent. It is unclear how much Rogers knew about the more ethically dubious projects of MKULTRA. Years later Rogers said that he believed the CIA was doing legitimate research at the time, but that he looked at it differently later (Kirschenbaum, 2007).
Love this? Find our enneagram picks for 99 fictional characters!
Romance Novels for Each of the Types
Ones
like doing what is right because it’s the right way to do it, and hate being wrong or making mistakes. Helen Hoang’s The Kiss Quotient is a great romance novel for type ones. Stella Lane is the best at her job designing algorithms and makes more money than she knows how to spend. At 30, the only part of her life she thinks could improve is dating, so she hires an escort to help her practice. She wants to do it right. From the beginning, Stella set up clear rules, but as she starts to realize that relationships aren’t as straightforward as mathematics, she might have to become a little more flexible to find her happily ever after.
Twos
These empathetic people are often teachers, nurses, and prefer to be running things behind the scenes. They tend to be people pleasers and have to watch that they aren’t denying themselves too much. American Fairytale by Adriana Herrera is about a Social worker Camilo Santiago Briggs who has been taught his whole life that he can only rely on himself. Thomas Hughes, builder of a billion dollar business, gets everything he sets his mind to—and he wants Milo. The only problem is Milo isn’t interested in anything Tom can buy him. Typical two energy. Milo needs to learn to let someone else take care of him while Tom learns money can’t buy him love.
Threes
write lists, set goals, and make things happen. They are big idea people and will work themselves into the ground to bring those ideas to fruition. Achievers are afraid that if they let themselves rest and stop producing, they lose their value. Brazen and the Beast by Sarah MacLean has a heroine who knows exactly what she wants and how to get it. Lady Henrietta Sedley has sights on running her father’s business, making her own fortune, and living her own life. One problem: she’s an unmarried woman. Hattie’s 29th year is the perfect time to enact her plan. But there’s another problem. A handsome man is hogtied in the carriage that’s intended to take her to her self-planned ruination. In true three “I see it I want it” fashion, she kisses him, then pushes him out of the moving carriage. Whit, a bareknuckle bastard known as Beast, keeps getting in her way because for him it was love at first sight.
Fours
care most about authenticity and being unique. This craving to be different is sometimes their downfall because they can get lonely in their big emotions and feel isolated from others. How to Date Your Dragon by Molly Harper’s one of a kind love story they long for. Mystic Bayou is a rural Louisiana town that is different from other small towns in more than it’s located on a swamp. The town is full of shape-shifters of all kinds who coexist and anthropologist Jillian Ramsay intends to study every last one of them. Local sheriff Bael Boone isn’t so keen on her study being funded by a shadow government agency, even with the promise of medical care and much needed money for towns folk. Jillian can’t figure out the kind of shifter Bael is and he can’t stop noticing how good she smells. It’s not every day a PhD working for a shadow government agency falls in love with a man who can turn into a dragon at will.
Fives
are analytical, intellectual, and self-reliant. They are problem solvers and want to know everything they can before moving forward or making a decision. While at healthy levels this is a strength, this desire for knowledge can make unhealthy fives obsessive and reclusive. Beard Science by Penny Reid has a hero that acts exactly like a five: gathering information, solving problems before they arise, and quickly pinpointing people.
Sixes
want to feel safe at all costs and plan for every contingency. Sometimes they can bury themselves in preparedness or work when they don’t feel secure, often at the cost of their relationships. Girl Gone Viral by Alisha Rai is a novel about a wealthy recluse whose bodyguard has been pining for her for years. When Katrina King’s innocent interaction with a stranger at a coffee shop goes viral, her intentionally sheltered life goes online where the whole world can see her. She doesn’t want to be in her carefully guarded home anymore, it doesn’t feel safe.
Sevens
are spontaneous adventure seekers who can be scattered at times. They are optimistic, versatile, practical and playful. Being so up for anything sometimes backfires for them and they get overextended and can make impulsive decisions. House Rules by Ruby Lang In typical seven “what could go wrong” attitude, Simon Mizrahi and Lana Kuo decide that living together in New York City years after their divorce will be mutually beneficial to both of them. They set up strict rules for each other and agree to a temporary trial. When old feelings start to surface, the couple has to examine what feelings are real and which feelings are nostalgia.
Eights
are powerful and self-assured. They don’t back down when they believe in something, often coming across as combative. This straight-talking type is protective and decisive. They don’t like anything that threatens their independence and can become domineering when feeling their freedom is threatened. Not the Girl You Marry by Andie J. Christopher is a retelling and role reversal of How to Lose a Girl in 10 Days. Jack Nolan wants to stop writing fluff pieces, and Hannah Mayfield needs to show a romantic side to her boss so she can start planning weddings and climb the event planning ladder. A fake relationship ensues.
Nines
are easygoing and conflict avoidant, sometimes at all costs. Nines are accepting, trusting, and supportive. They want everything to go smoothly, which means they can sometimes be complacent and minimize problems. Untouchable by Talia Hibbert is a book where everyone talks about their feelings and wants what’s best for the whole. Hannah Kabbah was the perfect nanny until a huge mistake ruined her career. Nathaniel Davis is a widower with two kids he absolutely cannot handle while also caring for his sick mother. Hannah is hired to make everything easier on everyone, but she makes things…harder.
Another great nanny book for the nines where the roles are reversed is Rafe by Rebekah Weatherspoon: hot male nanny, competent doctor mom, lots of talking about feelings and being upfront with intentions.