Leadership Style of Type Eight

About the leadership style of Eight, as Palmer (1995) points out, Eight CEOs are likely to be direct, assertive, forceful, self-confident.  Also, they tend to like control subordinates and hierarchy system centering on them.  Eight CEOs are powerful and aggressive leaders.  Therefore, Eight CEOs may be highly valued when their companies launch a new business or participate in severe competitions, because these phases tend to need strong and aggressive leaderships in order to lead the subordinates powerfully.

In addition to that, Eight CEOs “prefer to centralize power rather than to delegate” (Palmer, 1995, p.217).  They are more partial to a top-down organizational system, because they can control subordinates more and concentrate power in the top of the organizations compared with a bottom-up organizational system.       

Healthy levels of Eight leaders: Martin Luther King, Jr., Nelson Mandela, or Franklin Roosevelt

Reference:

1 The Wisdom of the Enneagram: The Complete Guide to Psychological and Spiritual Growth for the Nine Personality Types

2 The Enneagram in Love and Work: Understanding Your Intimate and Business Relationships