As a principal symbol of the teaching, it could not be understood or used appropriately outside the teaching. The existence of the enneagram was first made widely known with the publication of P. D. Ouspensky's In Search of the Miraculous in 1949. Naranjo codified it into a system and, on his own accord, began to teach it to others with the proviso that they keep it a secret. This, of course, was naive. And taught it she certainly has, traveling the world giving lectures, workshops and corporate consultations, as well as teaching at her own 'school' in Berkeley.
Business consultants love it because it deeply facilitates conflict resolution.
It really helps in negotiation and especially in team building. And Mrs. Palmer is just one of the many who are propelling the enneagram movement. Jesuits, frocked and defrocked, therapists, New Agers, human potential and business consultants have all now published enneagram books. Enneagram associations have been formed. Meanwhile, in business, human resources people use the enneagram as a hiring tool and, according to Newsweek, the CIA uses it to train its agents.