My guest this week is Erin Baute. She is an expert in The Enneagram assessment. She has been using it for 12 years and is a certified Enneagram teacher and trainer. Her background is in Human Health and Development.

Erin told me: I geek out, I get excited by making behavior change. So I studied public health in graduate school. I'm getting my PhD in organizational psychology now, and I'm really interested in figuring out how we influence behavior that has a communal impact that makes a difference.

Enneagram, if you are not familiar with it, "

as a behavioral model of personality, is meant to help us understand the why underneath our behavior."

Her take on this personality assessment is not like most of the Enneagram people out there. The way she uses it is expansive. She believes that our type, our number, is one window into who we are but it says nothing about why we are that way.

I asked Erin if taking this and other typing tests put people into a box or put a label on them that then limits them.

Here's her response,

"the clear distinction is that the assessment is not meant to tell us who I am. It's showing me why I choose the patterns of behavior I choose. Why did I learn to limit myself? Why did my life and whatever I faced say, Hey, Gregory, if you make yourself small in this way, if you limit yourself in this way, you're safer, you belong more, you cope better.

You make your parents happy. So actually naming our Enneagram type is naming the most limited version of ourselves. That is the box. Right? And so when we get to know the whole model, we hold it as a map. I am actually all of these things."

Erin and I share a belief in the idea of freedom being central to an optimal experience of life. For me the word rebellious embodies that, for Erin, it's wild.

To find the resources Erin mentions--the one free Enneagram assessment she can live with but says "it's okay to take a test. Just don't trust it all the way."--scroll down on her home page til you find 4 boxes, one is Digital Resources.

Or go to her shopify page to grab the free test and other content to support what you learn.

Erin's website

Erin offers one on one Enneagram typing consultations as well as group coaching for leaders and one on one coaching to fully live the Enneagram. Check out her offerings here: https://livingtheenneagram.com/my-offerings-and-philosophy

A book we talked about that made a big difference in both our lives coincidentally is What Happened To You?by Oprah and Dr. Bruce Perry. It's a reframe on how we treat people with trauma, what trauma looks like, and how to heal. I recommend it on Audible or from your library because Perry tells such great stories and with humor and compassion.