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Point Six - The Loyal/Skeptic
Sixes are mental types who use their perception and intellect to understand the world and figure out whether other people are friendly or hostile. They focus on guarding the safety of the group, project, or community. Sixes are good at anticipating problems and coming up with solutions. Knowing the rules and making agreements with other people is important, yet at the same time they tend to doubt themselves and question others. They can oscillate between skepticism and certainty, rebel or true believer. Some Sixes are in the "cautious" mode; they hesitate, they worry a lot, and they procrastinate. Other Sixes prefer to stay in the "strength" mode: they rush into action and they seek to brace themselves physically or ideologically as a way of overcoming their fear. As Sixes learn to trust themselves as well as other people, they become more flexible and they develop the courage to act even in the presence of doubt or ambivalence.
Strengths: Loyal, courageous, attentive to people and problems; often strategic thinkers.
Problems: Suspicious, pessimistic, doubtful.
Speaking Style: Setting limits on themselves and others, having serious questions, and playing devil's advocate. Sometimes ideologically zealous.
Lower emotional state: Suspicion or distrust, which can lead either to fearfulness and holding back or an aggressive and pushy attitude.
Higher emotion: Courage, which is not bravado but rather means feeling the fear and moving forward anyway.
Psychological defenses: Sixes use the defense mechanism of projection to avoid personal rejection and maintain a self image of being "loyal." (Projection is a way of attributing to others what one can't accept in oneself, both positive and negative qualities).
Somatic patterns: The cautious or phobic Sixes have fear layered on top of aggression and tend to be sensitive and cerebral. The counterphobic Sixes have aggression on top of fear and tend to accumulate muscular tension and rigidity. With many Sixes, the eyes can be either suspicious and guarded, or fearful and protruding. The diaphragm is a control center, which can result in a halting or stuttering style of speaking.
Famous people: George Bush Sr., Pete Wilson, Gary Hart, Richard Nixon, Pat Robertson, Janet Reno, Peter Senge · Jack Lemmon, Meg Ryan, Mary Tyler Moore, Mel Gibson, Chuck Norris, Diane Keaton, Steven Seagal, David Letterman, Jay Leno, Julia Roberts, Woody Allen, Ellen DeGeneres, Jane Fonda, Spike Lee, Dustin Hoffman, Carrie Fisher · Bruce Springsteen, Bob Dylan, Carly Simon, John Lennon, Pat Conroy · Jim Jones, Sigmund Freud.

Tips for relating to Sixes:
To create rapport: Appreciate their attention to problems; agree on rules and procedures.
Try to avoid: Changing the rules abruptly, or withholding important information.
Join them in: Acknowledging what can go wrong before moving ahead.
To handle conflict: Put your cards on the table as much as possible. Don't be ambiguous. Challenge them to take responsibility for their reactions instead of coming up with external reasons. Refuse to take on their projections. When they feel threatened, they may be antagonistic or withdraw.
To support their growth: Help Sixes to face their fears directly, get reality checks, and ask for personal support. When possible, get them to see the humor in situations. Provide enough safety to get them to relax their mental scanning operation and get more into their bodies and feelings.