In this book, Palmer offers only the briefest of introductions to the historical background of the enneagram, and then goes on to in-depth descriptions of each of the nine enneatypes. For each type, she covers the basic personality traits, biases and preoccupations, as well briefly addressing the three "instinctual variants" found within each. She then proceeds to describe each type "in love" and "at work." In terms of love, these descriptions attempt to explain what it is like to "live with" each type, as well as that type's orientation towards intimacy and the "signals" (positive AND negative) they send to their intimate surroundings. In the "work" contexts, Palmer covers work styles, leadership styles, teamwork and areas of conflict. Overall, I found the descriptions to be quite accurate, and I gained some new insights into why people in my life behave the way they do.
The most useful part of the book is the third section, the "Directory of Relationships." This is basically a "matrix" of descriptions outlining how any given type is likely to interact with any other type. For each combination (for example, "four with nine") there is a brief description of the dynamic that might exist in a love relationship, as well as the dynamic of a boss/employee work relationship. The book is worth buying for this section, alone.
There is no "quiz" or "self test" in this book to help readers determine their enneagram type, so it is definitely beneficial to know your enneatype before starting-- otherwise be prepared to spend some time reading the different type descriptions before you can really gain much benefit from the relationship/work focus of the book's content.
I do have a few "niggles" with "The Enneagram in Love & Work;" some of which have already been touched on by prior reviewers. Palmer seems to have a somewhat uneven knowledge of each of the nine enneagram types. In spite of her "expert status," I give her the benefit of the doubtm as this is possibly a reflection that she's a follower of the "oral tradition" of the enneagram-- which revolves around learning from each type as they talk about their lives. The shortcoming of this system is that certain personality types are DRAWN to psychology workshops (thus offering a greater wealth of knowledge) while other types would have little interest in such things, thus resulting in underrepresentation and limited information. In general, though, Palmer offers many more accurate insights than questionable ones.
Another (very minor) problem I have is that Palmer starts the book by outlining the enneagram from a spiritual path perspective, setting the scene from the Bible's "Seven deadly sins" (Plus two others, which I am never quite sure where come from!), yet the entire book is basically focused on "personality type psychology." Given the body of work presented here, I think she would have done well to have provided more psychological perspectives in the introduction-- surprising, in a way, given that Helen Palmer is a practicing psychotherapist.
Final Thoughts: Recommended (8 out of possible 10 bookmarks); Palmer does a fair job of taking on the topic relationships between enneagram types, but at the end I still find myself thinking that "there's really more to it than this." This is perhaps not the most useful book for someone who's just starting out, but definitely a useful (and fun) reference for a person with some basic knowledge of the enneagram, or psychological type, in general.
Thanks for reading!
--Peter
Palmer first gives a synopsis of the nine types . However, she gives different names of the types, different from Riso, although the focus of attention each types corresponds to Riso's analysis. I've listed Palmer's designation, followed by Riso's, and on the whole, I like Palmer's designations better, with the capital vice and antidote to each type.
1 Perfectionist, Reformer, anger, meekness
2 Giver, Helper, pride, humility
3 Performer, Motivator, [deceit], [truthfulness]
4 Romantic, Individualist, envy, charity
5 Observer, Investigator, avarice, poverty
6 Trooper, Loyalist, [fear], [courage]
7 Epicure, Enthusiast, gluttony, abstinence
8 Boss, Leader, lust, chastity
9 Mediator, Peacemaker, sloth, zeal
Like Riso, she covers George Gurdjieff, who pioneered the Enneagram in the West, but here's a fresh spin. She takes Dante's areas of Purgatory and Geoffrey Chaucer's virtue listed in The Parson's Tale. Each type is characterized by a certain passion, or a capital vice, and Chaucer's virtue is an antidote to that. The brackets above indicate that they are designations from Oscar Ichazo, who further developed the virtues. Palmer then uses Gurdjieff's centers of intelligence (mental, emotional, and body-based) to identify the focus of attention on each group. For a four, it's melancholy on the mental, envy on the emotional, and competition, shame, and recklessness on the body-based.
Palmer then covers each type in terms of worldview, spiritual path, concerns, personality bias, subtype focus, focal issues, security and risk, intimacy, positive and negative signals, leadership style, conflicts, conflict resolution, employee participation, and team building. In particular, I like the brief sentences used to describe the worldview. In my case, a Type 4, it is "Something is missing. Others have it. I have been abandoned." The sense of shame on feeling unworthy proceeds from that feeling that something is missing.
She does use Riso's dynamics for change in each group using the 142857 cycle. For example, a secure Type 4 shifts to a Type 1 on a positive, but an insecure Type 4 slides down to a Type 2.
Finally, Palmer creates a directory of relationships, love and workplace, playing each type against each other, e.g. 1's with 5's, 4's with 8's, etc. However, she steps away from Keirsey's notion that one type is optimal with another type, i.e. Rationals with Idealists, stating, "It would be a mistake, therefore, to categorize types according to compatibility or incompatibility. Your best match in intimacy and team building is actually any psychologically mature person."
As director of the Center for Enneagram Studies, and having written The Enneagram and The Pocket Enneagram, Helen Palmer is ideally placed to write this book.