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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A Whole New World of Celebrating Others' Strengths, January 22, 2001
This review is from: Enneagram Personality Portraits, Enhancing Professional Relationships (Hardcover)
This book has almost everything you always wanted to know about understanding yourself and others in both the professional arena and in your personal life. There are many books about the Enneagram and many of them have a lot of information to plod through before getting to the heart of the message. The beauty and power of this book lies in the authors' abilities to capture the essence, the bottom line, of the nine personality types in clear and concise, phrases, and charts. It only takes a couple of hours to read this book to get a vivid mental portrait of who you really are. Not only that, you can also get a clear picture of how you can most effectively and efficiently grow and develop yourself. And as for improved relationships with others, a whole new world of celebrating others' differences and strengths can open up. The authors Patrick and Dee Dee Aspell say the Enneagram is a cutting edge system that "describes nine personality types and professional styles of thinking, feeling, acting, and relating." But there's even more than that. This book provides a framework for the appreciating and empowering of personal and professional styles. From this vantage point, it can be a springboard for a person and/or team to grow in many areas of development. This book tells you the next steps you can take so you can eventually have all the strengths of all nine types in your reach. Like me, perhaps in reading this book, you will also have many "a-ha" moments of deep insight and a feeling of new vistas opening up in front of you. The pages of this book seem to exude a real feeling that you can immediately put this information into practice in some area of your life, professional and/or personal. Although there's a chapter for each personality type to be discussed in depth, the summary charts in the appendix are well worth the price of the book. You can almost read these charts and in a few moments figure out what type you and others are. But that's not a good idea. It's strongly suggested that a person complete an Enneagram Inventory and Profile test to determine his or her type. On page 111 of the book is information on how to order this self test.
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
The Enneagram Without The Usual New Age Nonsense, November 1, 2001
This review is from: Enneagram Personality Portraits, Enhancing Professional Relationships (Hardcover)
A good book - clearly set out. I have to disagree with the negative review on this page. The white space, simple layout is a huge bonus for users who do not want to wade through page after page of padding. Authors take note. I think this must be the Aspell behind the brilliant Aspell-Gilpin Profile which led me to search for more on the authors. If so, it seems the Aspells are the real thinkers behind the system. This book gives much less information on the types than the on-line version and I got confused by the fact that the personality types were given different names but it was useful background reading. The on-line version also dispenses with the enneagram 'star' and makes it easier to follow. Fellow Brit Gilpin has written Unstoppable People which is worth a read and is much better than most of the motivational writing that I have read.
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Enneagram Personality Portraits: Enhancing Professional Rela, March 12, 2000
This review is from: Enneagram Personality Portraits, Enhancing Professional Relationships (Hardcover)
THE ENNEAGRAM PERSONALITY PORTRAITS, Enhancing Professional Relationships by Patrick J. Aspell and Dee Dee Aspell, is an easy-to-read and very understandable introduction to the Enneagram personality system. It is unique in its business friendly approach to personal and professional development. The terminology, the application, and the physical appearance of the book and companion workbooks all lend themselves easily to the business environment. The book describes the personality traits along with work, leadership, and thinking styles. This description immediately focuses in on those interested in using this system at work to become more effective. The description then goes on to include beliefs and principles, and motivation which appeals to the total person approach of self improvement. Finally the section on personal and professional development brings the work and personal aspects together in an easily applicable prescription for greater growth and effectiveness. In the relationship section, Aspell and Aspell clearly explain how each type relates and communicates with others, how they engage in conflict management, and how to develop rapport with each personality type. After reading how each type relates and responds to others, one has a much better grasp of how to communicate with others both at work and at home. The Summary Charts of Key Traits and Techniques for Matching Behaviors and Words for each type are quick reference guides in better understanding self and others. They bring very intricate and intellectual information together in a format that is user friendly for the beginning as well as the advanced Enneagram student. The positive and empowering style of writing enables the reader to see gifts as well as challenges of personality in a accepting way, and points to directions of growth and decline as dual sides of life and personality that lead a person either toward a more fulfilling life, or toward a less fulfilling life. They liken the process to a description by Carl Jung termed "shadow and light", and point out how often the characteristics are the same - "they differ only in the degree to which they are exhibited in a particular situation." Claudette Keller Director, Self Empowerment Services
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