_{Photo by Miguel Á. Padriñán}

Over the past five years, I’ve worked with thousands of people to help them understand themselves better. This work is sacred because you’re dealing with people’s actual lives. The context may be a business workshop, academic setting, or corporate coaching series, but the topic is always personal—let’s talk about you.

When working with people, there are sometimes three big questions that come up: HOW, WHY, and...

Author and Pastor Clare Loughrige invited me to have a conversation with her as part of an Advent Series on unwrapping the presence of Jesus while considering the Enneagram. In addition, we also discussed the connections between Enneagram and Strengths.

Clare is one of the authors of Spiritual Rhythms for the Enneagram, and is the creator of the Motions of the Soul Enneagram certification program, which I attended and highly recommend. 

In our first video, we talk about Generosity:

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After studying the Enneagram for two years, I’ve realized I’ve mistyped myself. This revelation didn’t happen overnight, it has been a progressive unfolding. But progressive as it has been, I’m still coming to grips with it.

And it's a bit embarrassing because to some, I'm an Enneagram teacher. Shouldn't I know my stuff? I will say more about this in the future, but I won’t say much at this point, it’s still too new.

I will say that for two years, I thought...

Last week we released our study on the associations between CliftonStrengths® themes and Enneagram Types. According to the research, there are two Enneagram Types that share the same five missing strengths themes. In other words, none of the people who identified as these two Enneagram Types have these themes in their Top Five.

What are the Enneagram Types and what are the absent CliftonStrengths® themes? That’s the subject of today’s post.

(By Enneagram types, we...

This week we’re releasing our study on the associations between Enneagram Types and CliftonStrengths® talent themes.

While putting on the finishing touches of the report package—and adding extra value—we revealed some of our findings in a webinar. We also answered for you in a blog post, which Enneagram types share seven top five strengths themes?

In this post, we’ll answer another question: Which surprising Enneagram type has these top strengths?

The answer: Type...

As I’ve worked with both the Enneagram and Strengths, I’ve noticed some tensions between these tools. That’s because while both tools do measure and reveal personality, they focus on different parts of personality.

The Enneagram is oriented around drive and whole-person health while Strengths is oriented around talent and performance. We must not make the mistake of treating both tools the same.

As the finishing touches are being applied to our study of Enneagram and...

We’re about to release our study on the associations between Enneagram and Strengths. We gathered data from over 500 people worldwide from a variety of professions and asked data scientists to analyze the data. What did we find? You’ll have to wait for the webinar which preludes the release of the report package.

But for now, here’s a question, and the answer may suprise you.

Which Enneagram types share seven of the same top Strength themes?

(By Enneagram types, we mean the...

Today is July 1, which means it’s now the second half of 2020. This year isn’t going the way we thought it would when it started. But we thought it worthwhile to look back at the first half of the year and then look forward to what's coming.

Developments

Although this year has been really hard for a number of reasons, there were good leaps forward. Thanks for sticking with us.

This year we:

• Launched our new website
• Launched our online Enneagram course
• Started the Enneagram +...

One year ago, this happened:

When I was flying home from the Detroit airport, I didn’t expect to create a hero dad moment for my teenage daughter, but that’s what happened. I have the Enneagram to thank…and Jerry from Parks and Recreation. Let me explain.

I was returning home from a training course on the Enneagram called “Motions of the Soul,” by Clare and Scott Loughrige, authors of the new book, Spiritual Rhythms of the Enneagram. As a Gallup Certified...

The great author Annie Dillard wrote, “You were made and set here to give voice to this—to your own astonishment.” We have several of her books at our creek-side cabin, particularly because she writes of her own creek with such intricate detail and breathless joy that you feel you want to participate in the fellowship of the creek with her.

And so we do, and many lines from her writings stick with me. One of them is the above. She suggests, even urges us to give voice to...