Character Strengths and Leadership: Exploring the Role of the 24 VIA Character Strengths in the Workplace

A review of every instrument used to measure character strengths, across age groups and settings, with the strengths and limits of each. Starts with a clear introduction to the classification itself.

Lisa Wagner and Willibald Ruch

A study of how mindfulness and character interact to produce happiness at work, and why the effect depends on where a person starts from. Open access research with the full analysis included.

Lucas Monzani, Ana Ruiz Pardo and others

A placebo-controlled trial comparing what happens when you train your signature strengths versus your weakest ones, followed up over the long term. Answers a question practitioners argue about constantly.

René T. Proyer, Fabian Gander, Sara Wellenzohn and Willibald Ruch

A test of whether the 24 strengths really group into the six virtues the classification assigns them to, judged by 70 experts and 41 laypeople. Includes the full table of strengths and definitions.

Willibald Ruch and René T. Proyer

The study that grounded the six core virtues by tracing them through Confucianism, Taoism, Buddhism, Hinduism, Athenian philosophy, Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. The historical foundation of the whole classification.

Katherine Dahlsgaard, Christopher Peterson and Martin E. P. Seligman