Have you ever sat across from a colleague or partner and wondered why the same conversation keeps hitting the same wall? I have. More times than I care to admit. That quiet frustration of knowing someone is capable yet watching them dig their heels in, or sensing my own restless energy pushing projects forward while others needed more structure. It turns out a single framework helped one successful sports owner turn those exact moments into real advantages. She used it to co-found teams in the NWSL and invest in a future WNBA franchise. The tool is the Enneagram, and her story shows how understanding core motivations can reshape careers, partnerships, and even marriages.
How One Owner Turned Self-Knowledge Into Sports Success
Kara Nortman spent years in technology and venture capital before she ever considered owning a professional sports team. The pivot did not come from a sudden market report or a boardroom strategy session. It started with a gut feeling at the 2015 Women’s World Cup final. After the U.S. team won, she looked for a jersey and found almost nothing available. Online information felt sparse. That gap stuck with her. She began researching women’s soccer, later advised the players’ union, and eventually co-founded Angel City Football Club in Los Angeles. The club grew into one of the most valuable in women’s football. Monarch Collective, the firm she later co-founded, went on to invest in other NWSL sides and a new WNBA team set to debut in 2028.
Yet she is clear about the real unlock. Without the Enneagram she doubts she would have trusted that instinct enough to leave a secure path. The system groups people into nine types according to deeper motivations rather than surface behavior. Nortman identifies as a Type Seven. She links that pattern to discovery, creation, and adventure. The framework helped her see why leaping into an emerging sports market felt natural and why certain risks energized her instead of freezing her.
I’ve found that most personality tools stop at labeling. They tell you what you do. The Enneagram tries to explain why. That difference matters when you are building something new with people whose strengths look nothing like yours.
Why Other Assessments Fell Short
Over the years Nortman tried several popular systems. DiSC, Hogan, Myers-Briggs. Each offered useful language for teams. None produced the lasting shift in dynamics she wanted. People still talked past one another. Decisions stalled for reasons no one could name. The Enneagram changed the conversation because it focuses on what drives a person underneath the observable style.
Some people chase power. Others protect safety or follow clear rules. Creativity pulls another group. Once those drivers sit in plain view, friction starts to look different. A colleague who keeps raising risks is not necessarily negative. A Type Six often acts as the early-warning system. Nortman calls her husband a “danger ranger.” He spots cash-flow trouble early and shows up to events with extra water and first-aid supplies. That same quality can feel like a thorn when you are ready to move fast. Recognizing the motivation behind it turns irritation into useful information.
You want him on your team, you want him in your marriage, and sometimes he’s a thorn in your side.
That single insight improved how she responds at home and at work. Self-knowledge also clarified her own pull toward risk and new ventures. The same lens that supported a career change improved her marriage and the way she shows up as a parent. It is less about fitting into a box and more about seeing what makes each person tick.
Building Teams Around Real Motivations
When Nortman co-founded Angel City with Natalie Portman and Julie Uhrman, the three of them used the Enneagram to talk through communication styles and decision habits. Later, when she launched Monarch Collective with Jasmine Robinson, they typed themselves and began profiling people who joined the firm. The goal was never to hire only certain numbers. It was to understand how different patterns affect the whole group and how to help each person contribute at their best.
She rejects the idea that everyone must be good at everything. Great work happens when people know how to show up as members of a team and how to draw out the strengths of others. The Enneagram becomes a shared language for that process. It offers a new lens for viewing both yourself and the people around you.
In my experience the most productive teams stop pretending everyone processes information the same way. They get curious about the underlying drivers. That curiosity lowers the temperature during disagreement and raises the chance of creative solutions.
What Other Leaders Have Discovered
Nortman is not alone. Several business leaders have pointed to the same system as a practical tool rather than a personality party trick. One technology co-founder described reading his type description and finding it uncomfortably accurate. It highlighted strengths such as creativity while also revealing a tendency toward conflict avoidance and limited structure. That awareness helped him reshape his role and leadership approach around what he does best. The company later encouraged senior leaders and the wider team to explore their own types so relationships could be viewed through the same lens.
Another chief executive has said the framework worked well inside his organization. Employees can see each other’s types in the internal system. The value, he noted, is less about the number itself and more about understanding how to develop the patterns. Early-career people especially benefit when they learn to treat certain traits as trainable rather than fixed. Once a growth mindset takes hold around those areas, progress accelerates.
These examples share a common thread. The system is used as a living tool for self-awareness and collaboration, not as a rigid sorting mechanism. People still grow. They simply grow with clearer knowledge of their starting points and blind spots.
Scientific Caution And Practical Value
It is fair to note that research on the Enneagram remains mixed. A systematic review of many independent samples found inconsistent evidence for reliability and validity. Some studies support its usefulness for personal growth. Others do not confirm nine distinct types as cleanly as the model suggests. That caution is worth keeping in mind.
Yet practitioners keep returning to it because the language helps teams talk about motivation in everyday settings. When the alternative is vague frustration or repeated conflict, a shared vocabulary can still create progress even if the science is not settled. The practical test is whether people communicate more clearly and work together with less friction. For Nortman and several other leaders the answer has been yes.
Applying The Lens In Everyday Leadership
How does this play out day to day? Start with yourself. Notice what consistently energizes you and what drains you. A Type Seven may light up at new possibilities and feel constrained by too much routine. A Type Six may feel most useful when scanning for potential problems. Neither is better. Both become more effective once the pattern is named and owned.
Next, extend the curiosity to the people you work with closely. When someone repeatedly slows a process, ask what motivation might sit underneath the behavior. Is it a need for security, a desire for precision, or a drive for fairness? The question itself often softens the interaction. People feel seen rather than judged.
In partnerships the same approach reduces the chance of taking differences personally. Nortman describes how understanding her husband’s Type Six orientation helped her respond with more empathy instead of impatience. The same principle applies to co-founders, investors, or coaching staff. You stop fighting the personality and start working with it.
- Identify your own core motivation rather than just listing preferred tasks
- Share the framework with close collaborators so the language becomes mutual
- Use the insight to assign roles that play to natural strengths
- Revisit the patterns during conflict instead of defaulting to frustration
- Treat the types as starting points for growth, not permanent limits
Perhaps the most interesting aspect is how the tool travels across contexts. The same awareness that supports team decisions also improves personal relationships. Nortman has said the Enneagram affected her marriage and parenting style as much as her professional path. When you understand what makes you tick, you stop forcing yourself into roles that fight your nature. You also stop expecting others to operate exactly like you.
Holding Onto What Makes You Different
One piece of advice stands out. Figure out how to be credible and how to fit in enough to be effective, yet hold onto the qualities that set you apart. Those differences are often what change an industry. In women’s professional sports the opportunity was visible partly because Nortman noticed the missing merchandise and sparse information after a major tournament. A more conventional path might have kept her inside established tech investing. The restless curiosity associated with her type helped her follow the gap instead of dismissing it.
That same principle applies far beyond sports ownership. Teams that value only one style of thinking eventually stagnate. Groups that make room for different motivations tend to spot opportunities others miss and solve problems from more angles. The Enneagram does not create the differences. It simply makes them visible and discussable.
I keep coming back to the idea that we do not all need to excel at every skill. The better goal is knowing how to contribute as part of a larger whole and how to help others do the same. When that shift happens, the work feels lighter even when the stakes remain high.
Practical Steps For Introducing The Framework
If the approach sounds useful, begin small. Read a clear overview of the nine types and notice which description resonates most strongly. Many people recognize themselves immediately. Others need a few conversations or a guided assessment. Once you have a working sense of your own pattern, invite one or two trusted colleagues to explore theirs. Keep the tone light and curious rather than diagnostic.
Use the shared language during a real decision or a mild disagreement. Notice whether the conversation becomes more precise. Over time the vocabulary can expand to larger groups. Some organizations make type information available internally so people can prepare for collaboration. The key is treating the information as a living resource rather than a fixed identity badge.
Growth remains central. A Type Seven can learn to tolerate more structure when the goal is clear. A Type Six can practice moving forward even when every risk cannot be eliminated. The framework simply makes those development areas easier to name and work on deliberately.
Beyond The Workplace
The reach into personal life is harder to quantify yet often more meaningful. Understanding why a partner raises concerns early can transform an argument into a useful exchange. Recognizing your own need for novelty can explain why certain routines feel stifling and open conversations about balance. Parenting benefits in similar ways. Children display early patterns of motivation. Responding to those patterns with awareness rather than frustration builds trust.
Nortman has described the impact as affecting everything, not only a major career change. That breadth is what makes the tool stick for many people. It is not limited to quarterly reviews or hiring decisions. It becomes a quiet companion in daily interactions.
Of course no system solves every relational challenge. Chemistry, values, and life circumstances still matter. Yet a clearer view of motivation removes one common source of misunderstanding. People stop assuming bad intent when the real driver is simply a different core concern.
Looking Ahead In Team Building
Women’s professional sports continue to grow in visibility and investment. New teams, larger audiences, and more sophisticated business models create fresh demands on leadership. The ability to assemble groups that communicate well and leverage diverse strengths will matter more, not less. Tools that help leaders see beyond surface behavior into underlying drivers offer a practical edge.
The Enneagram is one such tool. Its mixed scientific standing means it should never be treated as absolute truth. Used thoughtfully, however, it has helped experienced operators build better partnerships, make bolder career moves, and respond to the people closest to them with greater patience. That combination is rare and valuable.
In the end the most useful outcome is not mastering nine categories. It is developing the habit of asking what truly motivates the person in front of you and what motivates you. Once those answers become clearer, collaboration improves, decisions gain speed, and the work of building something lasting feels more human. The sports teams and investment firms that result are simply the visible proof of quieter internal shifts.
Self-knowledge will not guarantee success in every venture. It does increase the odds that the right people stay aligned long enough to turn an idea into a durable organization. For anyone leading a team, investing in new markets, or simply trying to understand the people they live and work with, that advantage is hard to ignore. The next time a conversation stalls or a bold idea feels risky, pause and consider the deeper drivers at play. You might discover the same unlock that helped one owner move from tech investing into the front row of women’s professional sports.
