Enneagram type 8

Enneagram type 8 (also written Enneagram 8) is called The Challenger, also known as The Protector. Here you will find a thorough description of type 8: core traits, basic fear, wings, love and relationships, stress and growth. In the Enneagram, type 8 belongs to the body centre along with types 9 and 1.

Characteristics

Enneagram type 8s are enterprising, powerful people who are concerned with staying in control of things and meeting their immediate needs. They are very responsible and are happy to fight if they experience injustice.

It is important for Enneagram type 8s to be in control and to maintain their strength, and they like to be independent of others. Eights have many leadership skills and go to the front with vigour and commitment that is sometimes perceived as anger.

They can fill much of the landscape and seem dominant, including using many expletives and images in their language. Eights are also very loving and protective people, and they have a fragile inner core that they are strongly attached to.

Contributes with

Enneagram type 8s are energetic people with great commitment. They are happy to take the lead and are good at keeping a grip on things.

Thrives best with

Enneagram type 8s thrive best when something is happening. They willingly take responsibility and take the lead. It is important for them that they can express themselves directly without having to package their messages.

Resources

• Leadership qualities
• Takes responsibility
• Direct (calls a spade a spade)
• Courageous

Direction of stress

When type 8s are under pressure and paralysed, they withdraw and become more thoughtful while they reorganise their troops. The movement goes toward type 5, The Investigator.

Direction of security

When Enneagram type 8s are comfortable and confident, their focus on their own needs is minimised and they switch to caring for other people. They become helpful and gentler. The movement goes toward type 2, The Helper.

The subtypes of type 8

All nine types come in three subtypes, depending on which instinctual drive weighs heaviest: self-preservation, social or one-to-one. Two people with the same core type can seem surprisingly different, precisely because the subtype colours the entire expression.

The self-preservation type 8

The self-preservation type 8 secures its territory. It brings in resources, keeps the practical side under control and makes sure that neither it nor its people go without. The power is concrete rather than demonstrative. The pitfall is an impatience that can make everyday life needlessly hard for those around it.

The social type 8

The social type 8 places itself in front of the group. It protects those who cannot protect themselves, and the loyalty weighs heavier than the dominance. There is a kindness here that surprises anyone who knows the type only from descriptions. The pitfall is taking on fights on other people's behalf that they never asked for.

The one-to-one type 8

The one-to-one type 8 goes all the way into the individual relationship. The intensity is high, the sense of ownership unmistakable, and there is a willingness to break the rules for the person it cares about. The pitfall is that provocation becomes a way of testing whether the other person will stay.

Type 8 through the nine levels of development

The Enneagram describes not only which type you are, but how that type looks in different shapes. Riso-Hudson divide each type into nine levels of development, gathered into three bands: levels 1, 2 and 3 are the healthy ones, levels 4, 5 and 6 are the average ones, and levels 7, 8 and 9 are the unhealthy ones. You move between them over the course of a life, and often within a single day.

Below, the three bands for type 8 are described in outline. Riso-Hudson describe each of the nine levels in depth, and we work with that material on our courses, where you learn to recognise your own movements between the levels.

The healthy levels — 1, 2 and 3

At the healthy levels, the strength turns into magnanimity. Type 8 can use its force on other people's behalf without having to prove anything, and it dares to show that it can be hurt too. This is where the type becomes a leader people follow willingly — not because they have to, but because they dare to.

The average levels — 4, 5 and 6

Here control becomes the way of avoiding vulnerability. Type 8 takes up space, sets the pace and rarely lets anyone close enough to do any damage. The directness is genuine, but it is also used as distance, and other people start choosing their words carefully.

The unhealthy levels — 7, 8 and 9

At the unhealthy levels power becomes an end in itself. The type can turn ruthless and vengeful, and the thought of giving way feels like annihilation. This is where relationships break down in earnest, because nobody dares say what needs saying any more.

Your personal path of development

Enneagram type 8's path of development goes through letting go of the fixation on justice and control by developing contact with the softer emotions and with their inner vulnerability. Eights develop their ability to be 'innocent': to be present in any situation without influencing what is happening, without controlling it and without taking responsibility for the situation. Through this, eights connect to the particular aspect of essence in which the underlying and overarching truth illuminates everything that happens.

Passion

Desire

Fixation

Justice

Special ability

Innocence

Essence

Truth