Why Personality Tests Matter, My Results + a Book You’ll Love

I have long loved personality tests. I think they are useful tools for understanding ourselves and others. Cultivating a deep understanding of personality can enrich our relationships in a very meaningful way.

My first recollection of using personality tests to understand working with others was while in college, when I was an RA in the dorms. Our team had to take personality tests so that we would be able to better understand one another.

I don’t remember much about the test, except that I was a gold, which meant a leader, innovator and loud talker. Throughout the year, my fellow RAs would tease that “Jessica was going gold,” or “let a gold do it.”

As a working professional, I have found that many of my jobs have required personality tests. A few years ago, my team completed the Strengths Finder test.

My results, which shocked no one:

1. Strategic
2. Maximizer
3. Communication
4. Achiever
5. Woo

We hung our Strengths Finder results on our office doors so that people would recognize colleagues’ strengths in various work groups and project collaborations.

Then of course there is the popular Myers Briggs test, in which I am an ESFJ, with the J being very dominant. Again, this describes me perfectly.

Most recently, I have been learning about the Enneagram. I have friends who love this tool and a career coach who places a lot of value in its insights. Ultimately, we determined I am an eight, which is described below. My boss often says that your greatest strength can also be your greatest liability, which I think is clearly shown here —  Martin Luther King, Jr. was an 8, but so was Fidel Castro!

So why all this talk about personality today? Well, my friend and long-time personality test lover Anne Bogel released a new book this week called Reading People: How Seeing the World Through the Lens of Personality Changes Everything. 

From Anne: “Reading People explains the life-changing insights that can be gained from the most popular personality frameworks, such as Myers-Briggs, StrengthsFinder, Enneagram, and others and shares specific, practical real-life applications across all facets of life, including love and marriage, productivity, parenting, the workplace, and spiritual life.”

Anne is a wise friend and perfect guide for this personality journey that is important for us all. (She also has GREAT taste in books, so clearly she is a kindred spirit.)

It is transformative to understand our own personalities and the personalities of others that we know and love. Applying these insights can really revolutionize our relationships.

I’m so grateful Anne wrote this needed book. It is short enough to read in an afternoon, but packed with enough information to serve you well for years to come.

Order Anne’s book today!

Thank you to Baker Books for sponsoring this post.