ESTP 8w9 Characters

Bill is way more down to earth than Holden; he is concerned with the real life applications of their theoretical work, and not at all interested in interviewing serial killers at first, until he sees how it might be useful. He is way better at reading people and responding to them, knowing and responding to what is happening, and being in the moment; when they’re hit by a car, it takes him only a few seconds to recover, get out, and start yelling at the guy who struck Holden’s car door. When the cops turn up on his doorstep, he easily steps forward, introduces himself, and does something to take control over the situation. He is detached and warns Holden not to get too involved; he points out how gullible Holden is as an ENTP and says he’s being told what he wants to hear from a particular killer, who memorized some psychology books and is now regurgitating what he thinks would interest Holden the most. In that way, he’s never fooled by people. He also has a fairly healthy low Fe, in that he cares about others and their feelings, he feels unsettled when Holden is oblivious to social norms, and he tries to manage situations so they will not cause undue offense (telling Holden that a particular part of the evidence needs to be withheld and the tape destroyed). Bill doesn’t think much about the future, other than in looking forward to their collective research being used to profile serial killers down the road.

Enneagram: 8w9

Bill is very ‘embodied’ in a way that his coworkers are not; he is fully present, he means what he says, he can be assertive, and he isn’t afraid the serial killers that try to intimidate him in the prisons. He firmly articulates what he will and will not tolerate and sometimes just gets up and leaves the room. He easily takes charge of bad situations, asserts himself, and then gives others the space to do their jobs, but also has a 9 wing that doesn’t like unnecessary conflict; when his wife struggles and goes through a hard time with their adopted son, Bill more or less agrees with almost everything she says, and has no problem with her just up and leaving him to go out by herself one day. He encourages Holden a couple of times to tone down his language and/or censor it because it might offend Wendy. And he calmly sits around studying serial killers, even when they do random stuff to startle him. Bill doesn’t see the point in getting involved in “civilian affairs” beyond their job description, but says if some guy tickled his son’s feet, he’d just tell him not to “f**king touch my kid.”