In enneagram work we define first the core type or Annette. Then in our expression of that type we speak of a “wing” which refers to one of the two types adjacent to your core type on the Enneagram circle. 

While your core type remains dominant, your wing colors your expression—adding nuance, variation, and complexity. For example, a Type 8 may lean toward 8w7 (more assertive and charismatic) or 8w9 (more grounded and diplomatic). Understanding your wing helps fine-tune self-awareness and interpersonal effectiveness. It also gives the colour and dynamism of this method helping to include great levels of diversity and individuality throughout.

Integration is a big topic in depth psychology and higher systems in the science of human behaviour. Since the Enneagram includes dynamic pathways of growth and stress, integration reflects  growth, and an individual draws on the strengths of another type, which give access higher functioning traits. In disintegration (stress), they fall into the defenses of a different type. For example, a Type 1 in growth may adopt the spontaneity of a healthy Type 7, while in stress may take on the rigidity of a Type 4. These paths illuminate both potentials we each have and also our vulnerability, essential in leadership under pressure.

When we speak of healthy and unhealthy we are also referring to the degree to which we are behaving in ways that assist our lives or sabotage it. Each type exists along a continuum from healthy (self-aware, integrated, expansive) to unhealthy (defensive, rigid, reactive). Health is not about type superiority but about the degree of self-mastery and freedom from unconscious patterns. A healthy Type 3 leads with authentic impact; an unhealthy one may manipulate for approval. The Enneagram invites not just typing, but transformation—an ethical responsibility for leaders in influence.

After rising debate over the years, the master of the Enneagram himself Dr Claudio Naranjo explains that the point of enneagram inner work is to see all the types within oneself eventually. However, strictly speaking, every person has one core type, though it may be obscured by trauma, adaptation, or cultural influences. 

That said, we all express traits from various types—especially under the influence of wings and growth/stress movements. Mistyping is common early on, which is why guided interpretation is essential, especially in leadership assessments. These assessments can also highlight ways that the enneatypes can effect personal, professional life areas and ways each enneatype can bring us new perspective for each.

Naranjo also explained that your core type does not change.  It forms early in life as an adaptive strategy to meet psychological needs, but your expression of the type—your level of integration—can evolve dramatically. 

At the heart of Enneagram work is always the level of integration you have with what you could never see about yourself. So growth is not about changing your type but becoming the most conscious version of it. This insight is crucial for long-term leadership development especially if you are to guide and direct others.. you become a danger to them  if not!