What happens when the type you've claimed for years turns out to be wrong? Today, I sit down with returning guest Beatrice Chestnut — Enneagram teacher, author, and co-founder of the Chestnut Paes Enneagram Academy — for a wide-ranging conversation on one of the most common (and most human) struggles in Enneagram work: mistyping.

We dig into why mistyping happens, how to hold a hypothesis about someone's type without imposing it, and the subtype distinctions that resolve the Enneagram's trickiest lookalikes — especially Twos vs. Nines and the three very different faces of Type Four and Type Six. Beatrice also opens up about her own evolving growth path, and I share a personal story about the moment a single sentence in one of Beatrice's books changed how I understood myself.

IN THIS EPISODE

• Why mistyping is a normal part of the self-discovery journey — not a system failure
• How to gently raise a hypothesis about someone's type without playing "Enneagram police"
• The key differences between Twos and Nines (emotional expression, image-consciousness, who initiates)
• Self-preservation, social, and sexual subtypes of Type Four — the "glad," "sad," and "mad" Fours
• Why Sixes so often don't recognize their own fear-based motivation until they find the Enneagram
• Beatrice's personal reflection on growing from a Four toward Eight-like strength
• What it actually feels like when your type finally "lands"

ABOUT OUR GUEST

Beatrice Chestnut, PhD, is the co-founder of the Chestnut Paes Enneagram Academy and author of The Complete Enneagram (new edition available next month) and The 9 Types of Leadership. Learn more at beatricechestnut.com.