159: Ignite Your Character Strengths with Ryan Niemiec and Robert McGrath

Today it’s an honor to have Ryan Niemiec and Robert McGrath on the podcast. Ryan is an author or co-author of nine books, an award-winning psychologist, international keynoter, and education director of the VIA Institute on Character. Robert is Professor of Psychology at Farleigh Dickinson University, senior scientist at the VIA Institute, and has published extensively on the topic of character and virtue. Together, they are author of the new book, The Power of Character Strengths: Appreciate and Ignite Your Positive Personality. Find our your character strengths at viacharacter.org.

In this episode, we discuss the following:

• What is a positive personality?
• The measurement of character strengths
• Why are so many people interested in learning about their character strengths?
• How self-knowledge can impact people positively in their lives
• The difference between virtue and character
• The three main sources of a good character
• Is it possible to have a perfect character?
• Does the perfectly virtuous person exist?
• Is enlightenment actually possible?
• The developmental trajectory of character strengths
• Is the development of character strengths for everybody, including those experiencing adversity?