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Articles > ESTJ Strengths

The ESTJ: Strengths

See how the ESTJ's personality dimensions combine to yield several remarkable patterns

Reading time: 5 minutes

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ESTJs tend to have distinct patterns on the Big Five personality traits, and these patterns lead to a few common strengths among ESTJs.

Ambitiously optimistic

ESTJs love rising to a challenge, especially when it involves opportunities to lead.

ESTJs are often extraverted and highly conscientious
ESTJs are usually enthusiastic and persistent due to their higher Extraversion and higher Conscientiousness.

Their combination of high Extraversion and high Conscientiousness often leads to enthusiasm, persistence, and confidence. ESTJs typically prefer taking a leadership position rather than staying back or following others. They generally set high expectations for themselves and like taking responsibility for planning and making decisions.

Principled and orderly

ESTJs are often more conventional and highly conscientious
ESTJs are more likely to have a strong sense of traditional morality due to their lower Openness to Experience and higher Conscientiousness.

With their high Conscientiousness and lower Openness to Experience, ESTJs often have a robust set of internal principles. ESTJs tend to see ideas and actions as either unambiguously good or evil, true or false, and right or wrong. They usually have straightforward, concrete opinions on moral and ethical concerns and are more likely to trust and value traditional institutions and conventional belief systems.

Competitive and exacting

ESTJs are usually highly motivated by goals and have strong opinions on how to accomplish them.

ESTJs are highly conscientious and can be more demanding
ESTJs' lower Agreeableness and higher Conscientiousness can lead to a disciplined, competitive way of tackling new goals.

ESTJs enjoy a good challenge and will often look for ways to add a competitive aspect to ordinary activities and several areas of their lives. When the pressure is on, they like taking the lead and making quick decisions. When they become intensely focused on winning or achieving a particular goal, they can sometimes come off as overly stern and critical.

Terse and to the point

ESTJs will often say what they mean and use very few words to say it.

ESTJs are often more conventional and less agreeable
ESTJs usually score lower on Agreeableness and lower on Openness to Experience.

High Openness is related to using more sophisticated, abstract language, whereas lower Openness (as seen in ESTJs) correlates with more straightforward, concrete words and phrases. Combined with this, most ESTJs tend to score lower on Agreeableness, which influences our use of polite, friendly language. The lower Agreeableness of many ESTJs may be behind their more direct and frank communication.

Individual strengths

Understanding an individual’s unique strengths requires more than just knowing a personality type or Big Five personality traits. Even among ESTJs, every person has their own set of strengths that they use when they are at their best.

Discover your personal strengths and lean into what you do best.

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What are your true strengths?

Discover your personal strengths and lean into what you do best.

One easy way to learn about your own strengths is with the Strengths profile in TraitLab Plus.

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