Enneagram Type 8: The Challenger
· Angie Morgan
“We want justice!”
Enneagram 8’s are confident, bold, decisive, and not afraid of conflict. In fact, eight’s enjoy conflict and challenges. Enneagram 8’s have the highest energy of all enneagram numbers and they want others to approach them with the same intensity they present. Interestingly enough, to an eight, conflict is connection. Eights are often leaders and have a commanding presence. They want to make a difference in their world and have an impact on their environment, often in the form of pursuing justice. Enneagram 8’s value taking initiative, “carrying your own weight”, and being decisive.
Enneagram 8’s can come across as intense, mean, intimidating, and even heartless. Enneagram 8’s struggle with vulnerability due to a need to be seen by others and perceive themselves as strong and independent. In their fight for justice or their cause, they can lose sight of the risk of consequences. Eight’s can be quick to anger, as this is their “go-to” emotion, but it is often an “unconscious defense maneuvers” to escape vulnerability, which they perceive as weakness.
Who are Famous Examples of Enneagram Type Eights?
Martin Luther King, Jr., Muhammad Ali, Franklin D. Roosevelt, Indira Ghandi, Fidel Castro, Saddam Hussein, Donald Trump, Pablo Picasso, Ernest Hemingway, Toni Morrison, Serena Williams, James Brown, Aretha Franklin, Queen Latifa, Jack Black, Clint Eastwood, Tommy Lee Jones, Rosanne Barr, Barbara Walters, John Wayne, Pink, “Tony Soprano”
Enneagram Eights in Relationship
Enneagram 8’s struggle to be vulnerable and are often protecting themselves from exposing their more sensitive emotions. Eights can struggle to be aware of, process, and express emotions such as fear, hurt, or sadness. Eights do not like to sit in these emotions and, as a result, try to find a quick solution to get back to their protected state. Sometimes in relationships, it is not possible to have a quick solution and the relationship requires more prolonged processing of the conflict, issue, or emotion. Due to enneagram 8’s desire for independence, they can struggle with the give and take in relationships. They can also mistake a desire and effort for connection as weak and needy. Enneagram 8’s are loyal and fiercely protect the ones they love.