The Mediator Back to Enneagram
Type Nine
The Calm, Easy-going and Receptive Person
AKA: The Peacemaker, The Harmonizer, The Mediator
Typically: Nines are easy-going, open-minded and optimistic. They are patient, stable and accepting of others. They easily recognize and focus on similarities between people, and are good at bringing people together. Nines can mediate conflicts impartially, remain calm in a crisis, reassure and support others, and promote harmony. Good communicators, they synthesize and express ideas with optimism.
When stressed: Nines withdraw and try to avoid dealing with conflict. They resist change and the loss of their personal sense of well being. They tend toward inaction, procrastination and non-assertiveness. They minimize problems and their own importance in an attempt to maintain their peace of mind. Stubborn and neglectful, Nines can be passive aggressive, complacent, and neglectful.
Point of View: "It is important to me to be at ease and comfortable with myself and those around me."
Examples: Abraham Lincoln, the Dalai Lama, Ronald Reagan, Princess Grace, Sophia Loren, Norman Rockwell, George Lucas, Kevin Costner, Marge Simpson, Edith Bunker, Audrey Hepburn.
Focus on: Other people’s positions.
Important Issues: harmony, generosity, empathy, over-adaptation, inertia, and stubbornness
Approach to Problem Solving: "Let’s get together and hear what everyone has to say."
What They Like in Others: Positivity, humility, consistency
What They Dislike Like in Others: Confrontation, arrogance, changes.
How They Frustrate Others: Passive-aggression, withdrawing, indecision.
Chief Asset to Team: Interconnectedness. Nines have a unique capacity to see the connections between people, things and events. They are excellent "big-picture" thinkers and mediators.
Core Struggle: Nines feel that they are not inherently significant or worthwhile. They avoid overtly making demands on others or asserting their own needs and agendas. Their easy-going demeanor is in service of maintaining connection.
Unconscious Contradiction: Nines want to be admired, but are ashamed of their desire to be seen as outstanding. Their humility and self-deprecation is a response the guilt they feel for wanting to be noticed.
Coping Strategy: Narcotization. Nines cope by maintaining a state of inner calm by whatever means necessary. They may attack the source of their discontent, or they may choose to simply "check out."
Vice: Sloth, which is manifested by not identifying their own desires independent of the desires of others.
The Lie Nines Tell Themselves—"Other people’s needs are more important than my own and I should just go with the flow."
Counterproductive Trap—Seeking. Nines have a tendency to think that the answer to their problems are "out there somewhere" and that their time is better spent looking outward rather than inward.
Area of Avoidance—Conflict. Nines have difficulty entering into conflict over their feelings of being ignored or overlooked.
Anti-Self Behavior— Self-Forgetting. Nines simply feel that their needs are not worth paying attention to. They downplay their own value and contributions and sometimes undermine their own success.
Potential Strengths as Leaders: Great at conflict management; have long-term vision; see big picture and other points of view.
Potential Weaknesses as Leaders: Can be lethargic and disengaged; stubborn; resisting change; passive/aggressive.
