Typology

Eights are motivated by a powerful need to be strong and, when unhealthy, can have a hard time lowering their guard in fear of appearing weak or vulnerable. Healthy Eights understand that there is strength and power in vulnerability. Yes, it takes courage to risk vulnerability. But if Eights want to love and be loved they will have to risk opening their heart and revealing their innermost feelings to a trusted few.

Today, Ian welcomes young adults pastor, Chris Cruz, into a conversation about letting go of the pressure to be strong, choosing mercy over vengeance, and embracing the awkwardness of being vulnerable.

About Chris Cruz: Chris Cruz is a husband, father, pastor, speaker and blogger. He serves on the leadership teams at Bethel School of Supernatural Ministry and Tribe Young Adults at Bethel Redding. His role includes preaching, mentoring interns and pastoring students. Chris loves to see the church be a cultural influence for positive change in the world, and he lives to see heaven and earth become one. In his free time, Chris and his wife, Lana, love exploring and experiencing different cultures and cities. Chris is an avid creative, pursuing outlets that vary from graphic design to handmade leather goods. He also has a love for craft coffee and a slight fascination with raw denim.

Chris Cruz is the Young Adults Pastor at Bethel. He's a passionate person, all the way from coffee to life with God. Chris loves teaching leaders and churches the way of Jesus and how it's leads to heaven overlapping with earth. He worked as a Pastor for seven years at Bethel School of Supernatural Ministry. Chris and his wife Lana live in Redding, CA with their son Solomon and daughter Pearl.

Last week, StoryBrand's Don Miller joined Ian to discuss the importance of directing your own story. Tune in today as the conversation turns toward understanding how each Enneagram type tends to lead and how that can impact the broader culture of a workplace.

About Don Miller:

Donald Miller is the CEO of StoryBrand, and every year he helps more than 3,000 business leaders clarify their brand message. He is the author of New York Times best-sellers: Blue Like Jazz, Scary Close, and A Million Miles in a Thousand Years, and the #1 Wall Street Journal best-seller, Building a StoryBrand.

Don is considered one of the world's leading experts on the subject of story. His audiences are challenged to lean into their own story, creatively develop and execute the story of their team, and understand the story of their customers so they can serve them with passion. Don's thoughts on story have deeply influenced leaders and teams for Pantene, Chick-fil-A, Steelcase, Intel, Prime Lending, Zaxby's, and thousands more.

Don lives in Nashville, Tennessee, with his wife, Betsy, and their chocolate lab, Lucy. For more about Donald Miller, check out his website at www.storybrand.com.

The Enneagram is not just meant to help people understand themselves and then do nothing about it. Rather it is a tool for fostering deep, inner work. In order to make lasting changes in your life, you need to know the story and themes that run beneath the surface. The Enneagram reveals what story you are programmed with and how a self-limiting narrative drives a lot of thoughts, actions, and behaviors.

In today's episode, Don Miller and Ian Cron talk about the importance of directing your own story and ask "What story do you want to live? and "What story are you actually living?"

About Don Miller

Donald Miller is the CEO of StoryBrand, and every year he helps more than 3,000 business leaders clarify their brand message. He is the author of New York Times best-sellers: Blue Like Jazz, Scary Close, and A Million Miles in a Thousand Years, and the #1 Wall Street Journal best-seller, Building a StoryBrand.

Don is considered one of the world's leading experts on the subject of story. His audiences are challenged to lean into their own story, creatively develop and execute the story of their team, and understand the story of their customers so they can serve them with passion. Don's thoughts on story have deeply influenced leaders and teams for Pantene, Chick-fil-A, Steelcase, Intel, Prime Lending, Zaxby's, and thousands more.

Don lives in Nashville, Tennessee, with his wife, Betsy, and their chocolate lab, Lucy.

One of the gifts of the Enneagram -- the wisdom that we can gain from it -- is self-knowledge. No matter your Enneagram type, self-knowledge can help you dis-identify with those aspects of your personality that put you in an unhealthy place of habitual reactivity. And once you start to observe those unhealthy aspects, and dive into your work, you'll no longer be ruled by your personality.

Our guest this week, John Mark McMillan, is a brilliant singer-songwriter, artist. He's a platinum-selling songwriter, and as an Enneagram Four, he joins Ian to discuss his deep connection to his feelings, touches on the Four's defense mechanism of introjection, and shares a checklist of ways he counteracts when he's feeling down.

About John Mark McMillan

John Mark McMillan is something of an anomaly: an artist and Platinum-selling songwriter bending genres and defying categorization by carving out his own unique and independent path. With an ear for melody and a poet's eye for metaphor, no topic has been off-limits. While each of his albums over the past decade have continued to explore new territory, it's McMillan's ability to give lyric and language to the human experience that many consider his greatest gift. McMillan, who has made a career of rejecting easy categorization and challenging expectations, co-founded the independent record label Lionhawk Records with his manager Josh Lujan Loveless in 2015. Mercury & Lightning was the third release from the label followed up in 2018 with The Mercury Sessions and The Lightning Sessions - alternative takes of the records with special guests including Joy Williams and Josh Garrels. McMillan recently remastered and re-released his beloved album The Medicine (10th Anniversary Deluxe Edition) available digitally and vinyl. His first-ever Christmas record Smile In The Mystery comes out Nov. 23.

Enneagram Threes, or The Achievers, see a world in which people only value others for what they can do versus for who they are. They tend to be driven, task-oriented, visionaries, goal crushers who want to avoid failure at all costs. Threes are very concerned with what other people think of them and are able to look in anybody's eyes and respond instinctively to whether or not they're being approved or disapproved of in the moment, and then tweaking or projecting a specific image to make sure they stay in approval.

But sometimes Threes have a hard time settling in on their type because the underlying motivation doesn't seem to fit quite right. We've talked about subtypes and how they can make a type look and act in three different ways. But, another way we learn about people in their types is through, what are called, Hornevian groups, based on the work of Karen Horney, or stances. What they indicate for us is the social style of each type, or the direction we move in, in relationship to people.

There are three styles: the assertive stance, the withdrawing stance, and the earning stance. In today's episode, Miles Adcox joins Ian to talk about each stance and how knowing your stance can help you find your type.

Miles Adcox is an entrepreneur, speaker, host, and coach. He is the Owner and CEO of Onsite, an internationally-known emotional wellness lifestyle brand that delivers life-changing personal growth workshops, inspiring content, leadership retreats, and emotional treatment. He and Onsite have been featured on 20/20, Good Morning America, New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Dr. Phil Show, and The Doctors. He is the founder and co-host of The Unspoken Podcast, the owner of Onsite Music Publishing and founder of Inspire Productions. Miles has created and managed multiple mental health programs, personal growth workshops, and speaks nationally on mental health, emotional wellness and leadership. Miles has been a featured speaker and facilitator at various international events including Random House; O-The Oprah Magazine's Rising Strong Day with Dr. Brené Brown and TEDx. He has consulted major brands on organizational health and emotional wellness and is a communication, personal growth, and mental health consultant to the entertainment industry. He works with and consults several NGO's and serves on the board of The Onsite Foundation, C4, Dream 514, and is an advisory board member for Musicians on Call. Miles has currently been selected to take part in the Leadership Music class of 2019.