President's Message

Message from the IEA President, Uranio Paes

The New Role of the IEA
Over the last 14 years the IEA has played many important roles within the Enneagram community: organizing annual conferences, opening dialogue between schools and teachers, connecting people from different countries and continents through the Enneagram system, stimulating the development of Enneagram theory and applications, etc. However, little has been done to promote the Enneagram beyond the current Enneagram community and helping it to reach out to new populations. This is a new role the IEA intends to gradually start undertaking from now on.

By helping the Enneagram become more widely known, the IEA will create and contribute to a new dimension of service to the world at large and to our members who are teachers and/or practitioners of the Enneagram. Members of the IEA will be, in the end, the main beneficiaries of greater global exposure to the Enneagram. In addition, by stimulating and sponsoring social projects with the Enneagram (e.g., introducing the Enneagram to underprivileged communities), the IEA Board believes we will be in tune with one of the biggest dreams of most people in our community: to use the Enneagram to help change the world.

The centerpiece of this exciting new vision will be the volunteer participation of each member of our community. In other words, we want to invite you, our IEA members, to take a more active role in our association as we move forward. We wish to become an association of many more active volunteers, united around the common cause of raising consciousness with the Enneagram and cooperating in projects for transforming the world.

In addition, to accomplish this dream, the IEA will need a new organizational model – one that includes more voices and the active participation of members of our International Affiliates in the international IEA. This means becoming more permeable and inclusive of the influence of these IEA branches around the world, within a new corporate governance model.

Come to the IEA Conference in Atlanta this August.   You will not only enjoy high-quality presentations by many different teachers, as usual, but also get to know (first hand!) some of the concrete plans and projects the IEA will soon implement.   Come stand with us on the threshold of our new moment in time. You just cannot not be part of this transformation!

Cheers!
Uranio Paes