Jim McPartlin - The Enneagram at Work: Unlocking the Power of Type to Lead and Succeed

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For Mike Casey, always my number one

In 2003, after ten years with Kimpton Hotels & Restaurants, it felt like a chapter had come to a close, and I was ready for a change. So when I was offered the general manager position at the W San Francisco, I took it.

Starwood Hotels & Resorts was the hot hotel company at the time, and W Hotels was their rock-star brand. It was a plum position, and I was excited to dive in. It was also a bit daunting: I was afforded a great deal of respect in my previous position, but this new job required me to reestablish my authority. I was the manager, but the team I inherited was operating at a high level, and their technical skill sets surpassed mine. Im also not a huge guy, and the majority of the team towered over me. It was intimidating.

On my first day, Marcus and Michael, two senior team members, walked into my office for our scheduled meeting. My office was quite large, complete with a conference table and a desk with two visitor chairs. As Marcus and Michael walked into the room, I gestured to the chairs in front of my desk. A look passed between them, and, smiling slightly, they sat down at the conference table and stared back at me. The nonverbal messaging was clear: you come to us; were not coming to you. I held the more senior title, but they had longevity and strength in numbers on their side. The power struggle had begun.

Regardless of your industry or position, weve all had our authority challenged. It can be disorienting and downright scary: no one wants to look weak. I immediately recognized what was happening and made a deliberate, instantaneous choice to openly acknowledge it. Gentlemen, this is a fine example of positional power that youre demonstrating. However, Im not playing. Get over here and sit down. They both looked at me in surprise, then at one another, and ultimately picked up and moved. The wry smiles were now replaced with thoughtful looks and a more respectful demeanor. The dynamic shifted. Now they were nervous. To be clear: I was nervous, too! But you cant lead with that sort of passive vulnerability. I needed to set the tone from day one and operate from a place of strength. So I nodded and said, Thank you. Now lets get started. By the end of the meeting, we were all talking easily, but it was clear I was their boss.

Over fifteen years later, Im still in touch with both of these men and count them as close friends. Weve often laughed about that encounter, and both of them confirmed that I gained their immediate respect that morning. How? In that brief yet significant moment, I quickly scanned my three intelligence centers and asked myself: How do I feel? What do I think? What can I do? In a matter of seconds, I was able to guide myself away from an emotional reaction and instead combine logic with swift actionand it paid off. That single exchange laid the foundation for my relationship with the team and the authority I commanded in that company, and it continues to color the respect Im afforded by those individuals. It wasnt natural ability that led to that outcome. Rather, it took years of developing self-awareness, as well as a set of replicable tools for putting that awareness to work.

Having led revenue-generating teams for the greater part of my career, I know that in order to get where you want to go, you must first and foremost connect with people on an emotional levela quality often referred to as emotional intelligence. This was a lesson learned during the nearly thirty years of my career that I spent working for the most important names in the hospitality industry: George Kalogridis of Walt Disney World Resort, Bill Kimpton of Kimpton Hotels & Restaurants, Barry Sternlicht of the W Hotels, Ian Schrager, Andr Balazs, Jonathan Tisch. Ive also hosted people in my hotels like Bill Marriott, Anna Wintour, Sandra Bullock, Brad Pitt, and Angelina Jolie, to name just a few. But across my entire career, the asset that has distinguished me the most is my ability to broker in what I believe is the greatest, most underrated leadership currency: self-awareness.

This book takes the training methodology Ive developed over the last few decades and condenses it into a format applicable across industries. Its a book about leadership, mentorship, and the practical mechanics of building the ultimate teamwith the help of the Enneagram. Leaders are sometimes naturally born, but for the rest of us, it takes time, discipline, and self-awareness to grow from being a manager to someone who can guide and inspire a team. Ive worked for incredible leaders over the years, taken several standout managers who worked for me under my wing, and am proud to say Ive led some truly remarkable teams. I believe the Enneagram was the tool that helped me unlock the power of my own leadership potential, and gave me the road map for guiding others to do the same.

Beginning with a one-day class back in 1993, the Enneagram showed me nine specific worldviewsand forever changed the way I view myself and those I lead. These worldviews are not a box in which to put an individual; rather, theyre a way to gain insight into yourself and the people around you. Each of those nine worldviews are associated with patterns of behavior. And heres the thing: we like our patterns and our patterns like us. Were attached to our behavior patterns. Theyre comfortable and familiar, even when they dont serve us or those around us. What I learned by cultivating my own self-awareness through this centuries-old tool and in mentoring those around me, was that trying to change our patterns is enormously difficult. However, through a systematic understanding of who you are, what motivates you, and how you relate to those around you, you can evolve and grow. This takes time and only comes with experience and focus, but too often, we dont know where to begin. For many, this book will serve as that starting point.

This book offers an instructive, fun, inspirational guide meant to support anyone who is seeking to reach their potential as both a leader and a human. One of the first lessons learned is that youre fine just as you are. My sense is everyone is paying their taxes and getting to work on time. In other words, youre functioning as an adult. This book is not another New Age self-help gimmick that promises a quick fix for all the problems in your life. Rather, it helps you understand all that youve ever been, all that you are, and how to tap into your future potentialif youre willing to do the work.

Self-awareness tools like the Enneagram are currently experiencing a surge of popularity and are heavily relied upon by companies to encourage their employees and optimize work relationships. That being said, I dont see this as a book strictly devoted to the Enneagram, just as my teachings have already resonated well beyond the hospitality industry. As with my curriculum and talks, the Enneagram serves as a useful entry point for the type of advice I want to give in service to creating greater awareness of self and others. This book will help you recognize your own skills and understand how best to utilize them in order to achieve optimal performance and success as a leader. In the end, I hope that through the stories, insights, and action-oriented tools I provide, readers will celebrate their own leadership talents, conquer any fear currently holding them back, and step into a future of possibility.