What happens when the need to appear competent becomes the very thing that disconnects us from others—and from ourselves?

In this deeply honest and surprisingly funny conversation, Ian welcomes author, speaker, and Enneagram Three, Steve Cuss for a wide-ranging dialogue on anxiety, performance, false self, and the quiet freedom that comes with becoming more human-sized. Drawing from Steve's experience as a hospital chaplain, pastor, and leadership consultant, they explore why our most polished coping strategies often come from fear, how predictable patterns keep us stuck, and why anxiety is so contagious in families, churches, and organizations.

Along the way, they unpack the Enneagram Three's drive to succeed, the exhaustion of self-presentation, the difference between ambition and authenticity, and why true maturity looks a lot like being relaxed—no masks required. Expect stories, laughs, hard-earned wisdom, and a refreshing reminder that you don't have to win the room to belong in it.

If your nervous system needs a deep breath and your soul could use some permission to stand down from proving itself, this episode is for you.

About Steve Cuss

Steve Cuss, M.Div. is a pastor, former chaplain, and founder of Capable Life, which helps people lower internal and relational anxiety in the workplace and homeplace. Steve is a Spiritual Care Professional in the Association of Clinical Pastoral Education, holding 1600 hours of supervised ministry in CPE and a Masters degree focusing on Family Systems Theory and Theology. Steve, his wife, Lisa, and their two sons and a daughter live in Erie, Colorado.

Connect with Steve at:

Website: https://capablelife.com and https://stevecusswords.com

Soul Care Intensives: https://capablelife.com/pages/intensives

Podcast: Being Human with Steve Cuss

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What if your most meaningful work begins after you stop striving to prove yourself?

In this warm, wide-ranging conversation, I sit down with old friend, songwriter, filmmaker, and Enneagram Two Andrew Greer for a heartful exploration of loneliness, love, boundaries, creativity, and what it really means to live a good life.

Andrew opens up about the hidden sadness behind the Enneagram Two's gift for connection—the ache that often fuels the desire to help, anticipate, and care for others. Together, we unpack how pride, control, and fear of being a burden can quietly shape relationships, and how learning to receive may be the most courageous spiritual practice of all.

We also dive into Andrew's new book, More Than a President, and explore Jimmy Carter as a quintessential Enneagram One—principled, disciplined, justice-driven, and far more impactful after the presidency than during it.

This episode is a meditation on personality, vocation, and maturity—on shifting focus from résumé to soul, from achievement to love, from striving to rest. It's thoughtful, funny, deeply human, and quietly challenging.

Pull up a chair. This one stays with you.

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About Andrew Greer

Author, musician, and filmmaker, Andrew Greer has published three books, released multiple chart-topping recordings, and directed the PBS documentary Plainspoken, a film inspired by the lives of Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter and their neighbors in Plains, Georgia. A Texas native, and longtime Nashvillian, Greer now makes his home in Plains.

Website: https://www.andrew-greer.com/
New Book: http://sundayswithjimmycarter.com/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/andrewbgreer/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/agreermusic

This Christmas, we're delighted to bring back one of our most beloved conversations with Enneagram Three, pastor, and author AJ Sherrill. In this replay, AJ joins me to revisit the Nativity story—not as the sentimental tale we often breeze past each year, but as a rich, multilayered narrative pulsing with mystery, courage, vulnerability, and divine surprise.

AJ shares his own journey into spiritual direction, what it's teaching him about listening, presence, and compassion, and how the Enneagram continues to shape his inner world. We explore why the season invites us to slow down, pay attention, and resist the frantic pace that so easily numbs our capacity for wonder.

Together, we dig beneath the familiar Christmas imagery to uncover the often-misunderstood characters who surround the manger—the homeowner who offered radical hospitality, Zechariah rediscovering awe through silence, and even Herod, whose shadow side has more to teach us than we might expect. Their stories echo our own desires, fears, and growth edges in striking ways.

We also have some fun speculating about the Enneagram archetypes present in the Christmas narrative—Mary, Joseph, John the Baptist, and others—and how their unique postures toward God can inspire our own transformation.

This episode is thoughtful, illuminating, and sprinkled with the kind of laughter and honesty that always seems to show up when AJ is with us.

A perfect listen for Christmas Day.

Settle in, take a breath, and join us as we rediscover the story beneath the story—and the God who meets us there.

With the holidays just around the corner, we're bringing back a conversation that continues to deliver relational gold. Whether you heard it the first time or you're discovering it now, this replay with author and Enneagram teacher Christina Wilcox offers a beautifully practical and deeply compassionate look at how the Enneagram can transform the way we show up for one another during the most emotionally charged season of the year.

In this episode, Christina shares her journey of discovering herself as an Enneagram Six—along with the courage, clarity, and self-understanding that followed. Together, we explore how each type navigates holiday stress, joy, expectation, and connection…and how you can care for the people you love in ways that truly meet them where they are.

You'll learn:

• How to support friends and family of every Enneagram type through the busyness and emotional intensity of the holidays

• Practical tools for managing social anxiety, especially for Sixes

• Why presence and gratitude matter so deeply, particularly for Fours—and how all of us can cultivate them

• Simple, insightful practices for building healthier, more attuned relationships this time of year

Whether you're hoping to deepen your emotional intelligence, strengthen your closest relationships, or simply bring more kindness and awareness into your holiday rhythms, this episode is a gift worth unwrapping again.

Lean in, listen well, and let the Enneagram help you love the people in your life a little better this Christmas.

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P.S. For a limited time, take 40% off all Enneagram Courses through the holidays. Use the discount code HOLIDAY40 here.

What happens when the life you built—carefully, faithfully, and publicly—splits down the middle in a single night?

On this episode of Typology, I sit down with bestselling author and beloved cultural commentator Jen Hatmaker to talk about her stunning new memoir, Awake. Jen, an Enneagram Three with a courageous streak that can look a whole lot like an Eight, opens up about the "before-and-after date" that changed everything—July 11, 2020—when her 26-year marriage ended, and her whole world cracked open.

Together, we explore what it means to wake up in midlife:

• to grief and betrayal,

• to leaving behind scripts you never chose,

• to freedom from needing to be liked,

• to discovering what really matters in the "second half of life."

We dive into the Enneagram and the unique way Threes navigate identity, image, success, and failure—especially when life doesn't cooperate with the plan. Jen shares how therapy, embodiment work, and raw honesty helped her rebuild, and why this memoir isn't about spectacle, but about hope.

This is a conversation about midlife transition, spiritual awakening, and the quiet miracle of becoming more fully yourself—right when you thought everything was falling apart.

If you're navigating change, heartbreak, faith shifts, or a midlife renaissance of your own, this episode will feel like a hand on your shoulder and a light on the path.

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ABOUT JEN HATMAKER

Jen Hatmaker is a bestselling author, award-winning podcaster, speaker, and fierce advocate for women living in freedom and agency. With 14 books—including four New York Times bestsellers—along with her beloved For the Love podcast, Jen Hatmaker Book Club, and more, she reaches millions with her signature mix of humor, vulnerability, and wisdom. Her newest book, AWAKE: A Memoir, (released on September 23, 2025), chronicles her raw, real-time journey through the shocking end of her 26-year marriage and surprising reinvention. She lives in a creaky old farmhouse, loves 90s country, and drinks Almond Joy creamer like it's a personality trait. Find her at JenHatmaker.com.

CONNECT WITH IAN

Follow Ian on Facebook or Instagram at @ianmorgancron and @typologypodcast.
Check out Ian's website at www.ianmorgancron.com

**Interested in a 30-minute one-on-one virtual coaching session with Ian? Fill out this intake form and we'll be in touch.

This week on Typology, we welcomed the incomparable Lynn Smith—former national news anchor turned communications strategist, executive coach, and proud (and newly discovered) Enneagram Three with a Two wing. And friends… buckle up. This conversation is a masterclass in emotional intelligence, presence, and what it means to pursue success without losing yourself in the chase.

Fresh off taking the Typology Assessment, Lynn joined us in that familiar Three-ish blend of humor, candor, and high-octane energy, joking that the results made her want to immediately call her therapist. What unfolded from there was a remarkably vulnerable exploration of people-pleasing, approval-seeking, identity, and the hidden costs of a lifetime spent earning applause.

Lynn pulled back the curtain on her years in broadcast news—an industry where worth is measured in seconds, headlines, and flawless delivery—and revealed the deeper story beneath her polished exterior: a lifelong drive to achieve, a tenderness inherited from her family's immigrant narrative, and a powerful desire to help others communicate with confidence and authenticity.

But the real gem of this episode is Lynn's groundbreaking work on what she calls "the brain bully."

That inner critic.
That saboteur whispering that you're one misstep away from failure.
That internal voice Threes know far too well.

Lynn not only names it—she teaches you how to outsmart it.

Her framework for dismantling fear and building resilient confidence is practical, empowering, and deeply human. And when she reveals her own brain bully's name—"Bob"—you can't help but laugh and exhale. Sometimes the most powerful breakthroughs come with a wink.

We also wandered into a juicy conversation about magnetism versus authenticity, why your energy enters a room a full tenth of a second before you do, and how the Enneagram can radically improve communication across teams, industries, and families.

Connect with Lynn Smith at www.lynnsmith.com or on socials at @lynnsmithtv

CONNECT WITH IAN

Learn more about the Enneagram at www.ianmorgancron.com or follow Ian at @ianmorgancron and @typologypodcast on Instagram and Facebook

P.S. Interested in a 30-minute one-on-one virtual coaching session
with Ian? Fill out our interest form here.

German-born spiritual teacher and self-help author Eckhart Tolle once wrote, "Acknowledging the good that you already have in your life is the foundation for all abundance."

I found this to be true in my life as well, and as it turns out, expressing gratitude isn't just a sound spiritual practice. It's essential to our emotional and physical well-being.

According to a recent study performed at Harvard Medical School, "Gratitude is strongly and consistently associated with greater happiness. Gratitude helps people feel more positive emotions, relish good experiences, improve their health, deal with adversity, and build strong relationships."

How can you reap the benefits? While there are many beneficial exercises that can help you cultivate an attitude of gratitude, such as journaling, morning or evening reflections, and performing acts of kindness, many people focus their thoughts outward (Ex: I'm grateful for my children, a roof over my head, my job, etc.).It's easy to lose sight of the good in ourselves.

Instead, let's focus inward. Tune in as Anthony and I share what we're grateful for about each Enneagram type and why you should be too.

What happens when an Enneagram Two (or…maybe a Four?) takes a deep dive into the ache beneath our desire to be good, loved, and whole?

This week, I sit down with Heath Hardesty, pastor and author of All Things Together: How Apprenticeship to Jesus Is the Way of Flourishing in a Fragmented World. What begins as a conversation about the Enneagram Two's longing to help soon unfurls into an exploration of the soul — the ache for beauty, the mystery of shame, and what it means to live authentically before God.

Together we explore:

• The difference between helping and hiding

• Why our "ache" might actually be a form of divine homesickness

• How beauty, poetry, and the transcendent lead us toward wholeness

• What dies — and what's reborn — as we grow older and surrender our false selves

• The sacred invitation to move from doing ministry to stewarding mystery

It's equal parts theology, therapy, and literary love letter. Whether you're a Two, a Four, or simply a human being trying to make sense of your inner world, this episode will remind you that becoming whole is less about striving and more about awakening.

🎙️ Listen now and discover the sacred ache that pulls us home.

ABOUT HEATH HARDESTY

Heath Hardesty is the author of All Things Together: How Apprenticeship to Jesus is the Way of Flourishing in a Fragmented World (Multnomah; 10/14/25). He serves as the lead pastor of Valley Community Church and is the founder of Inklings Coffee & Tea in the heart of downtown Pleasanton, California.

Heath grew up in a blue-collar home and was a plumber's apprentice in Colorado before becoming a pastor on the edge of Silicon Valley where he, his wife, and four kids now reside.

He holds degrees in literature, leadership, biblical studies, and theology from the University of Colorado Boulder and Western Seminary in Portland. Visit him on IG@heathhardesty.