Last week, a group of my colleagues at Vanderbloemen took the Enneagram personality assessment. Our team tends to enjoy discussing personality theory and studying how we communicate with one another and what makes us "tick" (and honestly, it's one of the reasons we're such a cohesive team). But what really struck me is the focus on self-awareness and self-leadership that such assessments encourage. And today's Friday Finds reflect that.

I'm hoping these articles can help and encourage you this week:

The Power Of Truth Telling At Work by Skip Prichard via SkipPrichard.com

One of the personality areas that my friends kept comparing and chuckling about was one another's tendency toward embracing or avoiding confrontation. But even for those who don't shy away from confrontation, speaking the total truth in your workplace is tough. We fear the consequences of being totally honest. Especially on a church staff, we want to be liked. Read this interview between Skip Prichard and Mindy Mackenzie, author of The Courage Solution: The Power of Truth Telling with Your Boss, Peers, and Team.

Leadership Is About Emotion by Meghan M. Biro via Forbes

What are the qualities of a truly outstanding leader, one that inspires you at a gut-level? I'll give you a hint: I already discussed two of them - self-awareness & honesty. Read this great article by Meghan Biro to discover the other traits that great leaders need to inspire their team.

5 Hurdles Every Executive Pastor Has To Get Over by Kevin Lloyd via LeadBravely.org

My friend Kevin Lloyd also touches on truth-telling in this insightful post. It's all too easy for XPs to "soft pedal" the truth to their Senior Pastors. But as I wrote here, speaking truth to power is a necessary skill to cultivate in leadership. Kevin also touches on our tendency to be too high-control - another personality trait that had my teammates chuckling as they read their Enneagram results to one another.

What Story Are You Telling Yourself? by Michael Hyatt via MichaelHyatt.com

This article is subtitled, "Overcome Limiting Beliefs with These 5 Steps," and it's pure gold. One of my colleagues read that her Enneagram type has an especially harsh & constant voice of criticism inside her head, and her response was, "Wait - everyone else doesn't have that same voice all the time??" The reality is that many of us struggle with self-limiting beliefs, a voice in our heads that tells us what we're not good at. But what if you got good at tuning it out or re-writing the narrative? Don't miss this Michael Hyatt awesomeness.

What are you reading this week? Let me know in the comments below.