The extraverted Azure Blue is likely to focus their attention on assembling a cluster of believers. They would love to stand in front of the tent and weave a spellbinding dream of the future or of the decisive defeat of a dreaded enemy. For the introverted Azure Blue, the major focus of attention concerns devoting energy to and nurturing a specific relationship. They will often invite this special person to join them inside the tent, where everyone can be open, honest, and caring for one another. This is in keeping with the Jungian (MBTI) concept of introversion. Introverts are inclined toward relationships like the extroverts – but wish for only a few relationships (inside the tent) rather than many relationships (in front of the tent).
We might bring back Hans Eysenck at this point. The introverted Azure Blue, on the one hand, might decline large-scale relationships because they can’t screen all of the information that would come in when seeking to build multiple relationships: “Give me the quiet and intimacy of someone being with me inside the tent.” The extraverted Azure Blue, on the other hand, can handle all of the noise and commotion of multiple relationships: “Give me the excitement of a big crowd.” As sung in a song from Stephen Sondheim’s A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, the extraverted Azure Blue (joining with the extraverted Ruby Red) declares: “I am my own parade!” and I certainly don’t mind many other people joining my parade.
The strength of an introverted Azure Blue preference is providing service to other people [enneagram 2]. The strength of an extraverted Azure Blue preference is providing direction to a group or team [enneagram 7]. One’s image of self, especially as an extraverted Azure Blue, might require attention to Enneagram 3 and 4 (as well as Enneagram 2). The challenge for both the extraverted and introverted Azure Blue is overcoming the skepticism of other people (often coming from those with a Golden Yellow orientation), as well as helping other people gain appreciation for the “people” part of an issue (often having to counter those with a Ruby Red orientation). The ultimate threat for the introverted Azure Blue is being judged as someone who is ultimately uncaring—being found out as an Enneagram 2 with a hook. For the extraverted Azure Blue, it is being found out as dysfunctional Enneagram 4–someone who has dug so deep into a dream that it is hard to look out of the hole to see the real world. Or they are found out to be someone who is dysfunctional as an Enneagram 7. It is revealed or demonstrated that they have lofted themselves so high in the sky that they are no longer able to see the world located back on earth.
Azure Blue: Viewing Other Preferences
We must first of all note that those with an Azure Blue orientation hate to say anything bad about another person. They often tend to be “appreciation junkies.” The introverted Azure Blues are particularly hesitant, given that they are reticent, in general, to share their opinions (positive or negative) unless urged to do so. If encouraged (or perhaps forced) to share their concerns about the other two orientations, then they would have the following to say.
The Azure Blues suggest that those with a Ruby Red preference can tend to be a bit cruel—even “heartless”. This is particularly true of those Ruby Reds who are in a leadership role. According to the Azure Blues, the Ruby Reds also can be blunderers. They can move forward without knowing in which direction to move. As a result, the plans being made can often lead to haphazard actions, unanticipated consequences, and frequent reinventions. The extraverted Azure Blues are particularly critical of the blundering, while the introverted Azure Blues tend to focus on Golden Yellow indifference and sometimes cold cruelty.
What about those with a Thoughtful Golden Yellow perspective? According to the Azure Blues, while the Ruby Reds can be heartless, the Gold Yellows are indifferent—they are “soulless”. The extraverted Azure Blue declares (gently) that the Golden Yellows operate as calculators, who tend to view everything from the perspective of numbers: “if it can’t be quantified, then it doesn’t really exist.” Any sense of a compelling future is swamped in the counting up of things. Furthermore, the truly important dimensions of life are often overlooked or undervalued. Thus proclaims the extraverted Azure Blue. The introverted Azure Blue (quietly) joins in. We need more soul, as well as more heart, in our contemporary world.
It is sometimes hard to stifle criticism offered about both the Ruby Reds and Golden Yellows once the reluctant Azure Blues get started!
The Golden Yellow Person of Realism
The Golden Yellow person seeks illumination from the sun. This is the thoughtful Golden Yellow of dispassionate, knowledgeable leadership. What is our current reality? We must shed light on where we are right now, so that we don’t stumble forth in the darkness. The path forward will be discovered and illuminated only when we have sufficient Information. This is the person who ensures that there are adequate resources available to defeat the enemy. It would be foolhardy to leap out of the foxhole if there is inadequate ammunition, too few soldiers or an inaccurate (or nonexistent) assessment of the resources available to the enemy. Not only will soldiers be felled, but our side will be weakened and vulnerable to the enemy’s own initiative. The key motto is: “Don’t Just Do Something, Stand There [and gain better understanding of where we are right now]!”
While Ruby Reds tend to be extraverted, and Azure Blues tend to be extraverted if they are being visionary (though introverted if they are caring), the Golden Yellow preference is most often associated with introversion. Golden Yellows tend to step out on their own when seeking the illumination. There may be a widely held assumption among Golden Yellows that extensive interaction with other people and with their environment tends to “muddy up” their objectivity. Hans Eysenck’s screening might play a role here. In seeking to gain clarity regarding the “real” world, the Golden Yellow is particularly sensitive to the potential entrance of “noise” in their reception of the incoming information. They might lean toward an introverted attitude so that they can avoid the “noise” associated with interpersonal relationships and excessive interaction with the external environment. In bringing in this potential stance to be taken by Golden Yellows, Hans Eysenck’s hypothesis is altered: perhaps some people are introverted not because of an insufficient capacity to screen; rather, they “choose” introversion and remain isolated to gain maximum clarity and validity in what can be a quite “noisy” interpersonal world and environment.
Whether introverted or extroverted, the Golden Yellows are resolutely realists. As realists, they dwell in the domain of information. Such a world requires objectivity and diverse perspectives. The realist seeks out illumination in Reality. It is a reality that is quite challenging in our contemporary world of VUCA (volatility, uncertainty, complexity, and ambiguity), to which we have often added both turbulence and contradiction–resulting in VUCA Plus.
