Our culture is obsessed with extroverts. These friendly, sociable, outgoing people are idealized in the morning news, our social media feeds, and our work places. This extroverted ideal is especially prevalent in leadership. Because extroverts crave external stimulation, they are often looked to as natural leaders. Researchers estimate that 50 to 74 percent of the U.S. population is extroverted. Other ...

Hi, my name is Mary, and I am an introvert. I am also a leader. If you had asked me what leadership meant 5 years ago, I might have glanced up from a book and said that leaders are people “in charge” who tell others what to do. At this point, if our conversation wasn’t already over, I would have ...

Our lives are profoundly shaped by personality. It is the driving force behind our habits, social interactions, and inner psychology. Merriam-Webster defines personality as “the complex characteristics that distinguishes an individual or a nation or a group; especially: the totality of an individual’s behavioral and emotional characteristics.” Personality defines us emotionally, psychologically, and even physically. Personality is “reflected in our ...

It’s that time of year again. A time when many of your friends and family talk about the resolutions they’ve made for the new year. According to some estimates, more than 40 percent of Americans set New Year’s Resolutions. That’s roughly 130 million people setting goals! Perhaps you’ve made some resolutions yourself. Maybe there’s some weight you want to lose, ...

“Communion with God” is a phrase that gets thrown around a lot in Christian circles. This idea has a tendency to sound super spiritual, but it can be hard to conceptualize. In this Leadership Conversation, Israel Steinmetz and Amber Riggs (co-directors of Artios Christian College) sit down to answer the question: what does communion with God actually look like? Israel ...

Culture is complex. Not only does the term encompass everything that makes up a unique society, but culture is constantly changing and evolving. In the previous Artios Leadership Conversation, Israel Steinmetz and Amber Mann Riggs (co-directors of Artios Christian College) established that, as Christians, we should care about our culture. Whether we like to admit it or not, culture shapes us ...

If you’ve heard it once, you’ve heard it a thousand times: we are in the world, but not of the world. This popular sentiment of our Christian sub-culture (taken from John 17) has come to imply that the Church and the rest of the world cannot and should not mix. We are not of this world, so why should we ...

What kind of individual do you picture when you hear the word “leader”? Do you think of well-dressed men and women in a corporate board room? Perhaps instead you picture a pastor speaking to thousands of people at a mega-church, or even a missionary trekking through the jungles of the Amazon to reach a remote native tribe? While there are ...

Do you identify as a leader? If you had asked me this question three years ago I would have called you crazy. I am an extreme introvert. As a result, the thought of being a leader—of telling people what to do or making decisions for a group—made me want to retreat to my quiet corner of the world and hide ...