Out of the Box!

"I interpret things differently than most people," said Geier. "I find ways to innovate systems, but more often than not my suggestions are rejected without valid reasons. Instead of congratulations, I get resentment. This leaves me feeling bitter, I become disenchanted, my dedication starts to deteriorate, and I feel I've wasted my productive years aiming at the wrong goals. I cannot bear authoritarian organizations. Do you think there's any chance of finding a job that allows room to explore my ideas?"

Plato's "Allegory of the Cave" in Book VII of The Republic offers an apt metaphor for Enneagram style Four's experience that others can't see the possibilities they see. In this excerpt, Socrates symbolized the predicament of humankind:

Human beings have been living in an underground cave since childhood, their legs and necks chained so they can see only in front of them. Behind them is a fire, and between them and the fire a raised stage with marionette players working puppets. The truth they see is nothing but "the shadows of the images."

My Enneagram Four colleagues are excellent consultants who bring this gift of looking in from the outside. Because it's their job to figure out a way to communicate with organization members, consultants experience less frustration with the cleverness and subtlety required. They know they must listen patiently, to understand their clients' perspectives in order to influence them to change.

When internal to an organization, though, innovative thinkers typically become frustrated when people more interested in maintaining the status quo don't understand or accept their ideas.

They may assume if they can find a better way to describe their vision, people will say, "Ah, wonderful, let's go!" Not so.

To find appreciation for out-of-the-box ideas among others who play by the rules, you have to GET IN THE BOX WITH THEM and, from inside, examine the barriers to looking outside. You might find it's sufficient to simply improve what's already being done. If you're open to learning what the world looks like from inside the box of others' way of thinking, you'll see opportunities to help them break through from the inside.

We all trap ourselves in belief systems and then perceive the world through filters that reinforce our beliefs. So we all live in boxes of one sort or another, and until we're enabled to see the light outside the cave, we don't know how to break through.

The Enneagram is a powerful diagnostic tool precisely because it helps us see the boxes we're in. Style Fours are deeply in touch with their feelings, and tend to sink into moodiness if met by resistance to their ideas. The same talent that allows them to look outside the box can lead  to wondering why they never see things the way others do, and subsequently to question if they're flawed.

If you're sinking into bitterness from feelings of rejection (typical of Enneagram style Fours but not exclusive to that personality), say to yourself "Ah, I'm inside a box where I compulsively focus on myself as an outsider, a misfit. I've bought into this belief and keep myself from seeing the light outside." When you're feeling disenchanted, notice, "Ah, I'm inside a box again, playing out the belief that the grass must be greener somewhere else." When you see yourself as odd, say "Ah, I'm in a box of focusing on my flaws."

Even when thinking, "Oh, God, I'm in this box again, I can't bear it," continue to observe yourself without judgment. As you develop your capacity to be non-judgmentally mindful, you may seek a more rewarding job, but you'll also discover the possibilities of the job you're in. You'll see the whole picture, notice how your "flaws" are also strengths, and learn to champion your ideas in ways that inspire instead of challenge cohorts who do things "because they've always been done that way."