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The Psychology of Leadership: My Journey Through Personality Assessments

  • Writer: Mercedes Grzimek
    Mercedes Grzimek
  • Oct 5
  • 3 min read

Updated: Oct 9

I’ve always been drawn to understanding people. With a background in psychology, I started my career fascinated by what makes us tick—why we behave the way we do, how trust forms in teams, and why some groups thrive under pressure while others crumble. When I moved into project management, that curiosity stayed with me. I wanted to understand not only my teammates but also myself. So I began taking personality and strengths assessments. At first, they were just experiments. Over time, they became guideposts...mirrors that showed me truths I couldn’t always articulate and maps that shaped the kind of leader I wanted to be.

Discovering My Strengths

The first assessment I took was CliftonStrengths. I remember sitting down with it while I was in the middle of managing large, global rollouts. The results felt like puzzle pieces clicking into place: Relator, Achiever, Deliberative, Adaptability, Consistency.

Suddenly, it made sense. Relator explained why I’d wake up at 5 a.m. to connect with offshore engineers in India, as I thrive on trusted one-on-one relationships. Achiever captured my relentless drive during Nestlé’s multi-year digital program, where I kept moving forward even when the to-do list seemed endless. Deliberative explained why I was the one pausing the room when leaders wanted to rush into risky decisions. Adaptability reminded me why I stayed calm during a chaotic vendor handover. And Consistency pointed to why I built playbooks for my team, clients and internal PMO so every stakeholder had the same clear path to follow.


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Seeing Through the INFJ Lens


Later, I took the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) and wasn’t surprised to land as an INFJ, often called “The Advocate.” INFJs are known for blending vision with empathy and that was exactly how I led at Google/Looker when we designed a global learning platform. For me, it wasn’t just about building a tool; it was about creating an experience that felt meaningful to thousands of users.

But the assessment also revealed a blind spot. I realized I often assumed others could see the “why” as clearly as I did. Learning to translate vision into simple, practical steps made me a stronger communicator and a more effective leader.



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Facing My Motivations

The Enneagram added yet another layer. My results pointed clearly to Type 2 (The Helper), with strong Type 6 (The Loyalist) tendencies. I thought of my time at BORN Group, mentoring junior colleagues and coaching them through difficult escalations. That was my Helper side thriving. But the Enneagram also showed me the shadow side, whether it be the late-night Slack messages, the overextending, the tendency to care so much that I sometimes forgot to care for myself.

That awareness was uncomfortable but freeing. It taught me that boundaries aren’t selfish, but rather that they are essential for sustainable leadership.

How I Take Action

When I took the Kolbe A Index, it was refreshing because it didn’t measure personality, it measured how I instinctively take action. My score was 6–4–5–5: a balance of fact-finding, structured follow-through, comfort with experimentation, and practical implementation.

It explained why I often thrive in ambiguous program launches. While others sometimes freeze in uncertainty, my instinct is to gather information, test quickly, and then build a system around what works. Kolbe showed me the “how” behind my problem-solving process.



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Grounding It in Research

Finally, the Big Five Personality Test offered a scientifically validated framework. My results showed high Conscientiousness and Agreeableness, balanced Extraversion and Introversion, and moderate Openness. That combination explained so much of how I lead: I’m detail-oriented and reliable, but also collaborative and flexible.

It reminded me of the many times I acted as the “bridge” in distributed teams—sometimes speaking up to keep momentum, other times stepping back to give quieter voices space. That balance has been one of the most important tools in my leadership toolbox.

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Why This Matters

Looking back, each assessment gave me something different. CliftonStrengths gave me language for my natural talents. MBTI revealed how I process information and communicate vision. The Enneagram uncovered my motivations and blind spots. Kolbe showed me how I instinctively take action in uncertainty. The Big Five grounded it all in science.

Together, they didn’t put me in a box, they gave me clarity, confidence, and compassion. They taught me that project management isn’t just about deadlines and deliverables, it’s about people. And the first person you need to understand is yourself.


References & Where to Take the Tests



 
 
 

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