Type Eight
The Strong, Decisive, and Independent Person
AKA: The Challenger, The Boss, The Confronter
Typically: Eights are confident, assertive, and directive. They are natural leaders and take charge with ease. Forceful and dynamic, they can make good decisions quickly and confidently. They excel at mentoring and empowering others. Eights have the ability to gain and use power for positive change, and have a desire to protect the "underdog."
When Stressed: They seek to gain control over their environment. They tend to be more focused on their own agenda and their positive assertiveness becomes disruptive aggression. They become bossy, demanding, self-centered, loud, and impatient, disregarding the feelings of others, and intimidating people. They tend to dominate others and acquire power in an effort to come out on top.
Point of View: "It is important to me to be in control and to be able to exert my will."
Examples: Jesse Ventura, Martin Luther King, Jr., Donald Trump, John Wayne, Frank Sinatra, Roseanne, Sean Connery, Dennis Miller, Joan Crawford, Lee Iacocca.
Focus on: Maintaining control.
Important Issues: Truth, justice, strength, dominance, insensitivity, rebelliousness
Approach to Problem Solving: "It’s time for me to take charge."
What They Like in Others: Confidence, lack of pretense, straightforwardness.
What They Dislike Like in Others: Timidity, bullying, rigidity .
How They Frustrate Others: Arrogance, hostility, stubbornness.
Chief Asset to Team: Vitality. Eights are robust and energetic. They bring great passion and determination to whatever they undertake.
Core Struggle: Eights feel the need to be the arbiter of "truth;" and to feel a sense of certainty. Their aggressive and controlling behavior stems from this need to be certain in all areas of their lives.
Unconscious Contradiction: Eights have a strong need to connect with others but are too proud to admit that they have emotional needs. Their strong and aggressive stance to life works to deny these needs and keep them out of their consciousness.
Coping Strategy: Denial. Eights deny they have emotions (other than anger), they deny they have needs (physical or emotional), and deny their vulnerability and fears. They often deny being wrong when they know they are, just to continue the argument.
Vice: Lust, which is manifested in a need for intensity and a complete focus on object of attention.
The Lie Eights Tell Themselves—"The world is a threatening place that will not cut me a break. I must take from life anything good that I can get."
Counterproductive Trap—Justice. Eights are hypervigilant to instances of injustice and they seek any opportunity to set things straight.
Area of Avoidance—Weakness. Eights do whatever they can to avoid seeing their own weaknesses and vulnerability. They often have difficulty tolerating weakness in others.
Anti-Self Behavior—Self-Punishing. Eights secretly see themselves as weak and responsible for all that goes wrong around them. They punish themselves for not being stronger and more capable.
Potential Strengths as Leaders: Powerful, confident leaders; protective; focused; can break through barriers.
Potential Weaknesses as Leaders: Abusive; combative; demanding; paranoid; makes unnecessary enemies.
