The Work of You
This is a podcast about the leadership that matters most — the kind that starts from within.
Hosted by certified behavioral coach and Enneagram expert Jen Ostrich, The Work of You is for high-achieving humans ready to stop repeating patterns and start leading themselves differently.
Through insights from coaching, the Enneagram, and her own personal inner overhaul, Jen brings honesty, humor, and sharp emotional clarity to the table. With real talk, self-awareness tools, and a healthy dose of tough love, she helps you uncover what’s driving you, shift what’s no longer serving you, and ultimately do the work of you — one honest episode at a time.
This isn’t about fixing yourself. It’s about finally understanding yourself — so your choices, relationships, and leadership can actually align with who you truly are.
The Work of You
Why Your Strengths Matter More Than Weaknesses
What if the key to your growth isn't fixing what you've been told is a weakness or an area that you need to improve; instead, it's about doubling down on your strengths?
Today's focus is on strengths and why they matter more than your weaknesses. Strengths are a foundation for self-leadership and growth. This is an invitation for you to, instead of obsessing over where you need to improve or what might be some of your weaknesses, to actually think even more than you ever have before about your strengths. The the work of you is about leading from your core, your authentic core, and your strengths are a huge part of that.
Episode topics:
- What is a strength - considering when you are your most energized and most engaged (vs what you're good at vs bad at)
- When you're in "flow" you are using your strengths
- Per Gallup, your strengths are talents that come more naturally to you and the more you use them in different ways the stronger they become
- Strengths can also be over-used, and like patterns, are things we need to know how to manage in certain situations or for specific desired outcomes.
- Jen shares one story of a client (Enneagram 7 + WOO strength) who needed to manage his strengths in order to help his team grow and develop further.
- Strengths as doorways to growth - how attaching a strength to another area where you'd like to improve can help you get there.
Coaching Prompts:
- What are you doing during the times when you feel your most energized or engaged?
- Journal or spend some time thinking about when you feel like you are in flow - what's that like for you when you're working on something and time just flies by.
- Are there areas of strengths that you feel you're under leveraging? Particularly if you do take one of these assessments, look at what's in your top five, and ask yourself, am I leveraging each of these strengths on a daily basis?
- And if not, where / how could I leverage one of them more?
Resources | Links:
Test | Gallup | CliftonStrengths Assessment Link
Test | VIA | Character Strengths Assessment Link
Book | StrengthsFinder 2.0 by Tom Rath
Book | Feedback Reimagined by Jen Ostrich + Peter Berridge