Personality

Analysis
Vlamir Putin

student
Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin, second Prime Minister of the Russian Federation (following
Yeltsin).

The counter-phobic Questioners I know act tough but sit on a base of fear or insecurity, which
they try to hide. Their behavior often vacillates and they use sarcasm or other kinds of
complicated wit. They build themselves up, often literally by working out or playing a sport.
They're interested in intrigue, such as conspiracy theories or what the CIA is up to.

Asserters I know don't seem as fear based or as interested in proving something. I've seen them
walk away from conflict because someone isn't worth the trouble or because the issue doesn't
interest them. Of course, if it is important to them, they're formidable opponents.

Putin was born in 1952 in Leningrad (now St. Petersburg). He has a Ph. D. in Economics,
graduated from the Law Department of Leningrad State University, and worked for the KGB in
East Germany. I chose Putin to write about today because he seems the opposite of Richard
Branson, about whom I wrote in my blog last week. Both are billionaires, but Branson has high
ideals and uses much of his money for good. He's for the 99% and helping make our earth a
healthy place. Putin is considered a despot by many, a malevolent dictator who schemes to
remain the head of the country forever, though the law states the Prime Minister has an eight
year limit. Rumor has it he has put his wife in a mental hospital so he can hang around with a
woman in her twenties.

I think Putin is a Questioner in the Enneagram personality system. He tries to prove he's a tough
guy by demonstrating his physical abilities and taking part in dangerous acts, such as extreme
sports and interacting with wild animals. Russian TV broadcast video of him co-piloting a
firefighting plane to dump water on a raging wildfire. He shows his insecurity by clamping down
on the freedom of the press. Russians have demonstrated against unfair elections and fear he
intends to abolish municipal as well as regional elections.

Bloomsberg Businessweek says Putin's background in intelligence "has reinforced his innate
love of order, hierarchy, and organization. ‘His character and personality are definitely not
those of a dictator. But he is a perfectionist and a controller,' says Alexander Rahr, director of
the Koerber Institute on Russia & the CIS in Berlin and a biographer of Putin." Questioners need
to control but often avoid becoming the head, aware as they are that the person at the top is
an easy target.

His paranoia is also typical of a Questioner. He thinks like a spy and suspects everyone's
motives. Bloomsberg Businessweek concludes Putin does not crave the powers of a dictator.
"People of this type are driven by a sense of duty."