After being around for a long time, the Enneagram has gained a resurgence in popularity mostly due to social networks, popular books and podcasts, and word of mouth. While this is good because the ancient personality tool is getting exposure, it can also be detrimental. Lots of folks think they’ve “done the Enneagram” when they really haven’t.

For them “doing the Enneagram’ means taking a free online quiz, laughing and chatting about the results with...

A goal of the strengths journey is to turn your talents into strengths. While strengths hold great power, underdeveloped or overused talents may become limitations. And so a strength ends up becoming a shortfall. Here’s what I mean.

One of my top ten talent themes is communication. I can put thoughts into words, help ideas to be understood, and consider what will be valuable to the audience. When my communication theme is working this way, it’s very helpful.

However, when the same...

Here in the U.S. it’s Valentine’s Day, which means people are talking about love. This comes two days after I led a workshop for a group of leaders on the Enneagram.

It was a fun and insightful time, and it went way too fast. The goal was to help them understand themselves better and the value they bring at work.

The intersection of the workshop and Valentine’s Day got me thinking…what might each Enneagram type want to hear on Valentine’s Day?

If you’re...

It’s a journey to grow your talents into strengths. Just because you find your talents doesn’t mean they’re that useful yet. You must develop them into strengths. This doesn’t happen automatically; it takes focus and effort.

For example, one of my talents is "being responsible"—I naturally take ownership of what has been entrusted to me, and I can be counted upon to deliver. Sounds great…but it comes with shortfalls:

• I can be really quick to say yes
• I can...

We all hear that strong employee engagement is good for your organization, but is it really? Are engagement consultants and workplace improvement organizations just trumping up the value of engagement so they can sell their services to you? Are they telling you how bad your engagement is so they can show you how good their solution is?

Maybe. But how is employee engagement good for your bottom line? Before we consider that, let’s review what employee engagement is.

There are different...

CoachTalk.tv interviewed me about using the Enneagram for coaching. I use the Enneagram as an internal coach at my company and also with external clients.

In this conversation, we cover questions like:

• What are the nine personality types and core drives?
• How can we achieve health for the whole person?
• What types connect to other types?
• What is a wing?

We also talk about two coaching clients and how the Enneagram helped to improve productivity and set personal boundaries.

Watch the interview...

How well do you know yourself?

This may sound like a self-centered question, but it has implications far beyond you. Your level of self-awareness affects your relationships, your productivity, and your workplace. The problem is that most of us don’t really know ourselves.

For example, let’s look at emotional intelligence (EQ). In a study of 500,000 people, only 36 percent were able to identify what they were feeling (Travis Bradbury and Jean Graves, Emotional Intelligence, 2.0)....

As an identical twin, I've come to appreciate the uniqueness that we all bring. My brother and I share the same DNA, but we're very different people. In fact, we don't share any of the same top five strengths. This got me thinking about the 34 strengths.

What unique gifts does each strength bring to our world? By "34 strengths," I'm referring to the 34 CliftonStrengths® of talent. Being aware of your talents, growing them into strengths, and aiming them toward your goals is a key to...

As I shared before, self-awareness is critical for success in life, work, and relationships, and there are plenty of great tools out there. If you commit to learn from just one tool, you will be farther along today than you were yesterday, and tomorrow you will be farther along than you were today. So, what tools do I use when I work with people?

The two tools I like best are CliftonStrengths® and the Enneagram—and I’m certified to use both. Rather than use them separately,...

Lately I've been getting requests for strengths programs on the topic of change. The conversation goes like this, "We've had so many changes lately, and more are coming—how do we deal with change according to our strengths?" And I say, "That's a great question, let's talk about it!"

Each of the 34 strengths deals with change in a different way. Some rush in, some hold back, some bring others along. The key to great change management is utilizing the strengths in a positive way.

By "34...