Chestnut - The 9 Types of Leadership: Mastering the Art of People in the 21st Century Workplace

A POST HILL PRESS BOOK

The Nine Types of Leadership:
Mastering the Art of People in the 21st Century Workplace

2017 by Beatrice Chestnut

All Rights Reserved

ISBN: 978-1-68261-148-7

ISBN (eBook): 978-1-68261-149-4

No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by any means without the written permission of the author and publisher.

Cover Design by Quincy Alivio

Interior Design and Composition by Greg Johnson/Textbook Perfect

Post Hill Press

posthillpress.com

Printed in the United States of America

CHAPTER 6

The Type Three Leadership Style

The Compulsively Productive Professional,
or Getting to the Goal and Looking Good Doing It

Competition brings out the best in products and the worst in people.

David Sarnoff, broadcasting pioneer

Choose a job you love, and you will never have to work a day in your life.

Confucius

The only place success comes before work is in the dictionary.

Vince Lombardi, iconic American football coach

T he Type Three archetype is that prototypical person who wants to do the best job possible to achieve a given objective and look good doing it (and because of it). Sometimes called the Performer or the Achiever, the Type Three style is all about creating an image of success through working hard to achieve the best results, competing to win, and accomplishing tasks to gain status. A Threes attention automatically goes to work tasks and projects and how to accomplish them in the quickest, most efficient, and most direct way possible to look good in the eyes of others.

A Threes programming tells them that the way to feel good is to be as successful as they can be according to the surrounding cultures definition of successand to get seen doing it. Their style is shaped by a primary focus on doing and working to achieve success so others will view them as winners. By focusing their attention intently on goals and tasks, they accomplish a great deal, enabling them to attain the possessions, titles, and other markers of material success that will let people know that they have value. Threes usually identify strongly with their work persona, say they enjoy working, and are, in fact, the biggest workaholics of the Enneagram. They are strongly motivated to do everything they can to succeed in everything they do because they believe being the best makes them appear attractive and admirable.

Not surprisingly, Threes communication style matches their work style: their manner of speaking tends to be straightforward, to-the-point, on-topic, and bullet-pointed. Threes focus their communication on work and tasks, usually without a lot of extraneous chit-chat that could slow things down and distract from making progress toward the goal. Natural performers, they will tune into their audience enough to be able to impress them and collaborate if the situation requires it, but not so much as to stir up emotions or get bogged down in unnecessary conversation.

Leaders who have a Type Three style tend to be work-focused, task-oriented, goal-driven achievers. You will find them (in copious amounts) at the highest levels of most organizations, as work climbing the corporate ladder or being the best at whatever they are doing is exactly what motivates them. America itself is a Type Three country, so its not surprising that Threes do well in the business culture of America. The ideals of success, making a profit, working hard to get things done, and competing to win (and being able to buy things that reflect a winners status) is what Americaand the Type Three styleis all about.

Type Three leaders tend to enjoy being the leader and the perks associated with the positionparticularly having a say in how work gets done. They specialize in executing a plan to get things done and get results, and may focus on producing quality results through relentless hard work while appearing modest and humble, or by competing to win at all costs or by becoming the ideal of personal appeal and charisma. But whether they want to be deeply good at what they do, appear good at whatever they are doing, or look good as they support others in being successful in what they do, Threes usually succeed at attaining whatever goal they decide to focus their considerable energy on.

How to Tell if You Are a Type Three: The View from the Inside

If most or all of the following characteristics apply to you, you may have a Type Three personality style:

• You see the work you do through the lens of how to do the best job possible in the most efficient way. You strive to be productive, effective, fast, and efficient. You are driven to work hard to achieve success in whatever you do.
• You focus like a laser beam on goalsyou always think in terms of what is the goal and how can we get there in the most direct way? You naturally see work in terms of specific goals to be achieved and the steps and tasks that need to be accomplished to get to the goal. And if someone or something gets in the way you work around them or it (no matter what the cost).
• You are good at reading an audience. You tune in to what the people around you see as admirable, effective, and attractive, and automatically assess what others view as the best way to be or appear or do things.
• You are skilled at discerning what people in different contexts view as successful and then becoming that. You have a talent for matching any image you decide to turn yourself into. One of the ways you strive to be successful is by looking the part. You are a bit like a chameleon in that you can shift your image to suit your surroundings.
• You are motivated in the work you do by wanting to look successful to others, according to how others measure success. You automatically sense what the people around you view as successful in all the different contexts in your life, and (often automatically) seek to match that ideal.
• You want to win and be the best. Second place is unacceptable. If you cant win, you probably wont do it.
• You identify with your workyou think you are what you do. You find value in getting things done and achieving the rewards and status that go along with having the power to get so many things done.
• You work really hard and have a hard time slowing down. You tell yourself that you enjoy your work (and mostly you really do), so when you work 24/7 there doesnt seem to be anything wrong with this.
• You get impatient with people who slow your progress toward your goal. You have a hard time dealing with people who you see as incompetent, indecisive, or untrustworthy when it comes to delivering on their commitments on time.
• You are a high-achiever or an overachiever. You have a crazy long rsum of huge accomplishments, but you may still worry about someone who has done more than you looking better than you.
• You love checking things off your to-do list as done. You keep lists, and one of the reasons you move so fast is that it feels so good to complete tasks and revel in how productive youve been.
• You can be out of touch with your emotions or consider them a waste of time. You believe that its not productive to feel all those pesky feelings, and they just slow you down anyway, so you usually avoid them.
• You enjoy being in leadership positions and having a say in how work gets done. You excel at meeting goals, doing work quickly and well, and aligning with the companys culture and visionso you naturally gravitate toward leadership roles. You like being in charge of how the work gets done and making sure the work gets done, and since you are so good at it, people want you to be in charge.