I work with a lot of Nines, which surprises some people.
Nines get the reputation as being lazy underachievers in the Enneagram literature, not corporate vice presidents. It wouldn't seem to make sense to find them in senior leadership positions in large companies.
This characterization of Nines is simply not accurate, however, and I find that Nines can make very good leaders because they tend to be good at building consensus and putting people at ease, critical competencies for leaders. I've worked with Nines who lead multi-billion dollar organizations and numerous U.S. presidents were probably Nines--Lincoln, Eisenhower, Ford, and Reagan come to mind, and my initial hypothesis is that Obama is a Nine as well.
There is one subtle behavior that I often see holding back even high-functioning Nines, however: a tendency to self-deprecate.
Self-deprecation is the act of down-playing one's accomplishments, insights, or contributions, and it is an almost knee-jerk response that Nines have when they're in a position to talk about themselves. It is often difficult to see the harm in self-deprecation; it comes across as a mark of humility and as a welcome contrast to all of the people we interact with who are only too willing to regale us about their successes, no matter how limited.
In fact, self-deprecation is one of the basic tools that Nines use to ensure that others see them as likable and unoffensive: They will qualify statements they make so they don't sound like a know-it-all ("Well, I'm not the smartest guy in the world, but here's what I think...."); they will shrug off compliments ("It wasn't me, the team did it...."); or they will simply not speak up when there is an opportunity to point out an accomplishment.
There are a number of problems with this behavior, however.
While their self-deprecation may make Nines less offensive, it also subtly undermines the perception that others have of their value and can hurt their career growth. If someone continually tells you he is not the smartest guy in the world, you will begin to believe it. If someone tells you "the team did it" all the time, you will begin to wonder what you need her for. These perceptions of the Nine can take hold unconsciously. It is often the case when a Nine gets passed over for promotion at senior levels that no one can quite put their finger on why. Explanations tend to be along the lines of "He has all the right skills and abilities, but there's something missing; he just doesn't seem to be the senior leadership type...."
Beyond hindering career development, self-deprecation paints an inaccurate portrait of the resources of the organization. If someone is capable of more than her bosses and coworkers realize, the organization misses out on the opportunity to utilize those capabilities. In other words, the company does get the chance to maximize its resources if it doesn't understand what those resources are.
The most significant effect that self-deprecation has, however, is to signal a lack of self-confidence to others. A confident person states their point of view without qualification or hesitation (and also without false bravado); they don't adopt an aw-shucks humility.
The fear that Nines often have is that if they are not self-deprecating they will seem arrogant. We all create these sort of false-dichotomies and resist change based on a fear that if we are not one thing we will automatically be it's opposite. Philosophers call this error the "fallacy of the excluded middle;" we rarely have only two choices of behavior, but we have a tendency to believe we do. The truth is that there are a variety of positions between self-deprecation and arrogance.The position I recommend to my Nine clients is simply telling the unvarnished and undiluted truth. They should not feel compelled to boast, they should simply resist self-deprecating.
They should delete qualifying statements from their conversation (that is, simply say "Here's what I think...").
They should take credit when credit is due. When someone compliments them they can say, "Thank you. It really was a team effort...."
They should speak up and let people know when they have ideas or expertise that is not being utilized so everyone can benefit.
Self-deprecation can be a tricky area for Nines because it is so ingrained in their psyche (they typically don't even know they do it until it is pointed out to them) its affects on them and their career are so subtle. This subtlety is what makes it so important to pay attention to, however. The more common weak areas for Nines, such as conflict avoidance, are more obvious and they tend to get more feedback on those areas. Self-deprecation goes unnoticed at a conscious level but registers unconsciously, making it that much more problematic. At the same time, I have seen overcoming self-deprecation to be one of the single most important behavioral improvements a Nine can make.
Mario Sikora
