FARMER SEVEN - KEEPERS

They Didn't Ignore Your Strategy Deck. They Fell Asleep Before Slide Three.

Your long-term strategy bored someone who runs three deals at once.

You spent two weeks building a comprehensive strategy document. Market analysis, competitive landscape, five-year projections, phased implementation roadmap. You sent it to your VP of Business Development, a sharp, charismatic operator who always seems to have three deals running simultaneously, with a note: "Here's a long-term strategic concept I've been developing. Would love your thoughts when you get a chance."

They opened it. Read the executive summary. Skimmed page two. Closed the tab. Three days later in a hallway conversation, they mentioned an alliance with a distributor they'd been working on, the exact kind of partnership your document addressed. They'd already moved on it, without your plan, using their own network.

Your strategy was sound, but you packaged it as a thought exercise when they needed ammunition. You framed it as long-term when they're wired for right-now. You gave them a 30-page document when they wanted three plays and a green light. The information was there, but the energy wasn't.

The problem with generic communication

Most advice about workplace communication treats people as interchangeable. Write clearly. Be concise. Lead with empathy. These are fine defaults, and they fail constantly with specific people for specific reasons.

Personality science has mapped this for decades. The Enneagram identifies 27 distinct subtypes, each with a different instinctual drive that shapes how they filter, prioritize, and react to incoming messages. These are hardwired filters, running beneath conscious awareness, that determine whether your message lands or gets discarded before it's finished.

The Farmer Seven processes every message through one filter: where's the advantage, and how fast can I capture it? They scan for opportunity density: how many actionable moves per sentence. If your message is theoretically sound but practically inert, it registers as slow.

Meet the Farmer Seven: "Keepers of the Castle"

The Farmer Seven expresses gluttony through making alliances and creating opportunities for gaining an advantage. Pragmatic and self-interested, these Sevens find safety through networking and being alert to opportunities that support their survival. The name "Keepers of the Castle" refers to their way of establishing a partisan network of allies through which they create safety and satisfy their needs. Cheerful and amiable, they have a love of pleasure and tend to get what they want.

Opportunity radar. They're constantly scanning for the next play. Every conversation, every email, every meeting is evaluated for actionable advantage. When your message is abstract or theoretical ("let's think about this" rather than "here's what we can do"), it falls below their detection threshold. They're being efficient with their attention, and your message didn't earn it.

Alliance pragmatism. Their network is strategic. They build relationships that create leverage, access, and options. When you communicate in ways that ignore relationship capital or delay partnership activation, you're leaving their strongest resource untapped. Speak in terms of who to activate, what it unlocks, and when to move.

Pleasure-driven velocity. They love the rush of a deal coming together, an opportunity clicking into place, momentum building. Dry, cautious, slow-moving communication kills their engagement the way a dark room kills a plant. Match their clock speed and keep the energy moving forward.

5 ways you're losing them before you start

1. Leading with abstract philosophy. "Let me share the theoretical framework behind this approach." Their eyes glazed over at "theoretical." They need the output. Show the direct practical benefit first. If they want the theory later, they'll ask.

2. Offering one rigid path. "Here's the plan. We execute it exactly as written." You just turned a strategic game into a compliance exercise. Farmer Sevens need optionality, meaning choices with clear tradeoffs. Give them two or three options and let them pick the one with the best angle.

3. Hiding the tradeoffs. "This is a win-win with no downside." They're pragmatists, not optimists. They know every move has a cost, and when you hide it, they feel manipulated. State costs, risks, and upside transparently. They'll respect the honesty and move faster.

4. Dragging out the decision cycle. "Let's table this for now and revisit next quarter." You just killed a live opportunity in front of someone whose instinct is to capture advantage before it evaporates. Time-box decisions. Set a deadline. Make the cost of delay explicit.

5. Delivering it dry. "Per the attached analysis, the data suggests incremental gains." You wrote a memo for a spreadsheet. They need energetic, concise, action-oriented language that matches their internal tempo and carries momentum. Write like the opportunity is real and the window is closing, because for them, it always is.

What they actually want to hear

The Farmer Seven needs information that moves.

Try it out: FREE Communication Optimizer for Farmer Sevens

Paste your draft message into your LLM, then paste the following prompt after it. The model will rewrite your message specifically for this subtype.

mode: communication_optimizer
target_subtype: FARMER_SEVEN
subtype_name: Keepers_of_the_Castle
instinct: self_preservation
core_drive: "secure advantage through pragmatic alliances opportunities and resourceful networking"
communication_stance: "opportunity-led,pragmatic,network-aware,benefit-explicit"
tone[4]:
  - upbeat over heavy
  - practical over theoretical
  - opportunistic over rigid
  - fast-moving over stalled
message_rules[6]:
  - lead with upside and practical advantage
  - present multiple options with clear tradeoffs
  - tie recommendations to network leverage and resources
  - keep energy high while forcing concrete decisions
  - move quickly from idea to executable action
  - close with immediate gain and next opportunity
anti_patterns[5]{id,pattern,why_it_fails,fix}:
  1,abstract_philosophy_only,feels detached from utility,show direct practical benefit
  2,single_path_rigidity,reduces strategic freedom,offer options with explicit tradeoffs
  3,hidden_tradeoffs,looks manipulative,state costs risks and upside transparently
  4,slow_decision_cycles,misses opportunities,time-box choices and act
  5,dry_delivery,drains engagement,use energetic concise action language
few_shot[3]{id,generic,optimized}:
  1,"Here is a long-term strategic concept.","Three plays are available now. Option B gives fastest advantage."
  2,"We should think about partnerships later.","Activate these two alliances this week to unlock distribution."
  3,"Maybe this can help in the future.","This move saves cost immediately and opens the next deal path."
quality_gate[4]:
  - every message should reveal concrete upside
  - keep optionality without losing commitment
  - expose tradeoffs clearly and quickly
  - end with an immediate executable move
input_source: prior_thread_message

Twenty-seven subtypes. One message.

The Farmer Seven wants opportunity density and action velocity. The Farmer Five ("Castle") wants the exact opposite: minimal intrusion, bounded scope, and time to process alone. The Teamer Six ("Duty") filters for institutional obligation and group accountability, not personal advantage. Your high-energy, opportunity-rich pitch would light up the Seven, shut down the Five, and confuse the Six. Same words, three different planets.

Personalization determines whether your message gets read or discarded.

The dealmakers and operators who learn to match their pacing, framing, and energy to each person's instinctual filter will close faster and build stronger networks. Everyone else will keep wondering why their brilliant strategy deck gets opened and never read.

You don't have a content problem. You have a clock-speed problem. And for this subtype, slow is the same as silent.

It's why we're building Rally, communications automatically optimized for each person's instinctual profile. See how we do it: AI Smells Remover.