Bringing Out the Best in Yourself at Work: How to Use the Enneagram System for Success

I love this book. I am an executive coach and I find this very useful for helping my Enneagram-aware clients apply the model directly and quickly to work situations -- to help debug relationships, communications, conflilct, etc. I especially like Lapid-Bogda's distinctions and examples around "Pinch" and "Crunch" for each of the types. I don't know of any other books except Michael Goldberg's "The Nine Ways of Working" that fill this business-application niche quite so well. Highly recommended for those who need a practical, hands-on way of using the Ennegram in day to day work interactions.

This is a book on using the Enneagram system specifically oriented to todays business environment. The Enneagram is not unlike other personality oriented systems. First an individual is asked to examine nine different personality types and to identify himself with one. Then the Enneagram, a diagram of the interaction of the various types can be used to predict behavior. The book, however, reverses the normal trend in personality testing books where the book is organized around the personality type. Instead the book describes several common business situations and then describes how the various personality types react to the situation.

Objective, yet comprehensive. Practical, yet very solid in its concepts. Lapid-Bogda has a solid background both in Organizational Development (OD) and the Enneagram, an outstanding tool for self-understanding/developing and relating better with others (the author is today the President of the International Enneagram Association). The result is a creative and useful bridge between these two areas, with stories, checklists and insights that will help practitioners on both sides. OD consultants with enrich their approaches with the use of the Enneagram; and Enneagram practitioners will find added-value to the current literature, through innovative chapters, which are divided per organizational problems, rather than per personality types. In a brief: this book brings invaluable information for everyone who wants to achieve superior results for oneself and for others, creating a high functioning and conscious team at work. Being an organizational consultant from Brazil, I can also add that the book's guidelines are universal.

My experience as an organizational and personal development professional working with groups and individuals has convinced me that the primary source of failures in leadership, management, and teamwork is the pervasive lack of self understanding, hence understanding of others, exhibited by leaders, managers, and staff in our organizations. To the best of my knowledge, this is the first book presenting a truly useful system to enhance and build such critical understanding--the Enneagram in a business context.

Fantastic book! No technical jargon, no psycho-babble, just a lot of wise, witty, and perceptive insights. This will probably become the definitive work in the field, but it's written in a light, breezy style that makes it a fun read at the beach for the general reader. Read this book twice: The first time, to understand what pushes your own buttons; the second time, to understand what pushes the buttons of the people around you.