About this Blog and "typing"

I type based on a variety of factors but I'm very much an intuitive typer. Now, since I have never met most of these people (or all of these people). I can never be 100% sure of any of my typings. I will say if I believe that I'm very sure, however most of the time my typings are mere conjectures based on their behavior, "vibe", and apparent motivations. I measure them against my knowledge of the enneagram (which I've been studying for about 10 years) and the people I've known. Typing is largely subjective so people will undoubtedly disagree. I'm always open for a dialogue about types and welcome an open, fair, and respectful discussion.

I have been heavily influenced by authors like Riso and Hudson, Thomas Condon, Claudio Naranjo, Baron and Weagle, Susan Rhodes, Helen Palmer, Sandra Maitri, and Katherine Chernick-Fauvre and David Fauvre.

Every once in a while it will probably be apparent if I don't like the person I'm typing, however I'll try and be as accurate and fair in my typing regardless of my personal feelings about the individual.
I utilize the theory of tritype as adopted by The Fauvre's on the original Arican theory of "tri-fix" which states that people utilize one type in each center of intelligence while still maintaining a main or "CEO" type. So my postings will reflect the usage of that theory. I understand it's a controversial notion and some people think that it muddies the purity of one's main type. However, I've found that it helps to give more richness and explanation to differences in people of the same type, wing, and instinctual stacking. In my work I've seen that people often identify a main strategy in each center but recognize an over-reliance in one particular type so in my experience tritype seems to be discovered organically by people.

If anyone ever has a request for a typing I'd be happy to take a look at the person and have a discussion with you about them. I don't claim to have all the answers and be the best typer in the world and think some of the best typings come from a collaborative process of other people's knowledge and experiences with types. I agree that often typing is reduced to a mere observation of people's behaviors with little consideration of the possible motivations of the person in question. I do believe that the final decision on someone's type is always reserved for that person, so while there may be strong indicators of a type as observed by other people, we can never be as sure as the person themselves.  I'm only ever 85%-90% sure of someone elses type (or my own for that matter), and since I believe in the dynamism of the enneagram system I think that giving myself and others room to truly explore their personalities and what their particular enneagram style means for them is extremely important. Even when I'm relatively sure of soemone's primary Enneagram type, I may in consideration of their tritype, wing, instinctual stack, MBTI, as well as factoring in their parents types, cultural or familial experiences, and personal life history there are so many variations on type it's mind boggling.