What is a Good Life?

Mark McCartney
  • 5.0 (6)
  • SELF-IMPROVEMENT
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A project exploring the big questions around how we live, who we are and what actually matters. Over the past four years, I’ve sat with more than 300 people — artists, parents, executives, wanderers, therapists, and strangers and invited them into a simple but profound inquiry, "What is a good life for you?" The conversations explore presence, paradox, uncertainty, and the moments that shape a life - love and loss, trust and fear, clarity and not knowing. It’s an invitations to slow down, to listen deeply, and to bring you into conversation with your own life. There are new episodes every Tuesday.

  1. What is a Good Life? #166 - Living Your Own Version Of Success with Kaylyn Lehmann

    14H AGO

    What is a Good Life? #166 - Living Your Own Version Of Success with Kaylyn Lehmann

    What does it mean to trust yourself when the path isn't clear? Kaylyn Lehmann is Co-founder and Executive Coach at Simplified Coach, a former VP of HR, and a specialist in neuroscience leadership and character strengths. Over the past decade she has coached hundreds of C-level and high-potential executives across high tech, biotech and highly funded start-ups.  Drawing on a formative experience of loss in her late twenties, Kaylyn has long carried a question from Tuesdays with Morrie: Is today the day? — not as something to fear, but as a guide. From walking away from a VP salary that no longer felt right, to building a business during a bed rest pregnancy in the middle of the 2008 recession, to a Ralph Waldo Emerson quote from her mother that reframed how she saw herself, this is a conversation that charts a path to greater autonomy and coherence. A life which realises the significance of awe and play along the way. If you are in the middle of uncertainty that you are struggling to navigate, this will offer so much to consider and support. 🔔 Subscribe for weekly conversations on what it means to live a good life. For more of Kaylyn's work:Website: https://www.simplifiedcoach.com/LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/simplifiedcoach/ For more from Mark McCartney:Newsletter: https://www.whatisagood.life/Website: https://www.mmcleadership.com/LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mark-mccartney-14b0161b4/YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@whatisagoodlifeInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/markcmccartney 00:00  The Bird Question02:03  Death as a Life Guide05:49  Autonomy & Self-Direction08:26  Living Your Values12:15  Building Self-Trust18:38  Permission to Redefine Success22:23  Is Today the Day?28:30  The Gift of Family Time34:27  Fear & Starting the Business39:53  Resilience & the Long Game46:13  Play as a Life Essential53:54  What is a Good Life? Keywords: Meaning of Life Interviews | meaning of life conversations | exploring life | big life questions | meaning of life discussions | creating a meaningful life​

    58 min
  2. What is a Good Life? #165 - Money Is Never Just Money with Bogumil Baranowski

    MAR 10

    What is a Good Life? #165 - Money Is Never Just Money with Bogumil Baranowski

    Most conversations about money stay on the surface. This one doesn't. Mark McCartney sits down with Bogumil Baranowski — investment advisor, author of Crisis Investing and Money Life Family, host of Talking Billions podcast, and profound thinker on the intersection of wealth and human experience. In this episode, they go deep on why money is one of the most emotionally charged forces in human life, what inheritance really carries alongside the numbers, why asking the right questions matters more than having the right answers, and how being present with another person is paramount in any field of work. Whether you're interested in wealth, relationships, meaningful work, or simply living with more intention — this conversation is for you. 🔔 Subscribe for weekly conversations on what it means to live a good life. For more of Bogumil's work:Talking Billions Podcast: https://www.talkingbillions.co/Blue Infinitas: https://www.blueinfinitascapital.com/Website: https://www.bogumilbaranowski.com/ For more from Mark McCartney:Newsletter: https://www.whatisagood.life/Website: https://www.mmcleadership.com/LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mark-mccartney-14b0161b4/YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@whatisagoodlifeInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/markcmccartney 00:00 – How can I help?03:14 – When money stops being the point06:28 – Holding someone's hand11:13 – What clients really talk about14:20 – Money as intimate conversation18:21 – Inheritance and unasked questions22:18 – Finding the story behind the number27:47 – When words don't tell the truth32:18 – Rediscovering presence and wonder40:52 – Why idle minds light up45:00 – The shift away from scarcity56:02 – What is a good life for Bogumil Keywords: Meaning of Life Interviews | meaning of life conversations | exploring life | big life questions | meaning of life discussions | creating a meaningful life​

    1h 2m
  3. What is a Good Life? #164 - The End Of All Seeking with Nicholas Janni

    MAR 3

    What is a Good Life? #164 - The End Of All Seeking with Nicholas Janni

    What does it mean to be fully human — and to live from that place? Nicholas Janni has been working with CEO’s and senior teams globally for over twenty-five years, and teaches at two of the world’s leading business schools, pioneering a new vision and practice of leadership. He bridges the worlds of creative, personal, spiritual and professional development in a uniquely powerful, relevant and accessible way. His book “Leader as Healer, a new paradigm for 21 st century leadership” was published to wide acclaim in 2022, and won Business Book of the Year at the Business Book Awards 2023. His new book, “Leading in Chaos”, co-authored with Amy Elizabeth Fox, is available now in Europe, and from April 9th in the US. He is the co-founder of Matrix Development. We explore: - How we threw the baby out with the bath water with religion- The difference between belief and direct experience- How "life as effort" is programmed into our nervous systems- What emptiness, receptivity and wonder have to do with innovation- Why wellness alone won't cut it — and what transformation actually requires- The concept of "somebody before nobody" and the melting of identity- Why 2026 feels like a year of accelerated inner and outer collapse- And what a good life really means For more from Nicholas Janni's work:Leading in Chaos: www.leadinginchaosbook.comMatrix Development: www.thematrixdevelopment.com/ For more from Mark McCartney:Newsletter: https://www.whatisagood.life/Website: https://www.mmcleadership.com/LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mark-mccartney-14b0161b4/YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@whatisagoodlifeInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/markcmccartney 00:00 – What is it to be fully human?01:59 – Throwing the baby out with the bath water06:32 – Theatre, emptiness & direct experience10:17 – Resting as a radical act17:35 – When word and energy align23:57 – Transmission in corporate spaces32:28 – We're already in collapse38:00 – Being recoded right now42:10 – Somebody before nobody48:11 – Feeling alive vs. feeling small55:53 – What is a good life? Keywords: Meaning of Life Interviews | meaning of life conversations | exploring life | big life questions | meaning of life discussions | creating a meaningful life​

    56 min
  4. What is a Good Life? #163 - Listening To The Mighty Heart with Dr Scilla Elworthy

    FEB 24

    What is a Good Life? #163 - Listening To The Mighty Heart with Dr Scilla Elworthy

    Dr Scilla Elworthy is a three-time Nobel Peace Prize nominee for her work with Oxford Research Group to develop effective dialogue between nuclear weapons policy-makers worldwide and their critics from 1983-2003. She founded Peace Direct in 2002 to fund, promote and learn from local peace-builders in conflict areas, was awarded the Niwano Peace Prize in 2003, the Luxembourg Peace Prize in 2020, the GOI Peace Award in 2023. Her TED talk on nonviolence has been viewed by over 1,500,000 people. She founded The Business Plan for Peace  to help prevent destructive conflict and build sustainable peace throughout the world, based on her latest books - The Business Plan for Peace: Building a World Without War (2017), The Mighty Heart: how to transform conflict (2020), and The Mighty Heart in Action (2022). In this wonderful conversation, Scilla and Mark explore why the heart is the one faculty that will always tell you the truth, how learning to listen to it transformed her work with diplomats and military leaders, and why she believes the world is entering an era of profound change led by those willing to lead from the inside out.  This is a conversation for people who sense there's a deeper way to live but haven't yet learned to trust it. For more from Dr Scilla Elworthy's work:Oxford Research Group: http://oxfordresearchgroup.org.uk/Peace Direct: https://www.peacedirect.org/The Mighty Heart: https://mightyheart.co.uk/ For more from Mark McCartney:Newsletter: https://www.whatisagood.life/Website: https://www.mmcleadership.com/LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mark-mccartney-14b0161b4/YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@whatisagoodlifeInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/markcmccartney 00:00 – Introduction02:06 – Why the Heart Doesn't Lie07:07 – The Rhythm of Your Heart10:46 – Learning to Meditate Deeply15:02 – Meditators Beneath the Diplomats21:04 – Inner Intelligence in Others27:51 – Who Am I, Really?33:45 – Nourishing a Hurting Heart42:52 – The Mighty Heart Program46:39 – What Is a Good Life? Keywords: Meaning of Life Interviews | meaning of life conversations | exploring life | big life questions | meaning of life discussions | creating a meaningful life​

    50 min
  5. What is a Good Life? #162 - What Comes After Optimising with Jasper Walshe

    FEB 17

    What is a Good Life? #162 - What Comes After Optimising with Jasper Walshe

    In this episode of What Is a Good Life?, Mark McCartney is joined by Jasper Walshe, coach, facilitator and founder of TRIPS Tank™, for an honest and wide-ranging conversation about identity, self-trust and what it really means to live well. Jasper traces his journey from fixating on high-performance coaching to a deeper, more grounded relationship with himself — touching on psychotherapy breakthroughs, psychedelic experiences, the trap of wrapping identity in achievement, and his present question: how can I live in wonder? This is a genuinely human conversation about accepting the full range of life, not just the optimised parts. Topics covered:- High performance identity & its hidden cost- Psychotherapy & the power of unfiltered honesty- Living in wonder vs chasing optimisation- Self-respect as a core value- Moments of unexpected clarity- What is a good life? This episode is for anyone who's hit the goals and found themselves asking — is this it? For more from Jasper Walshe:Company Website: https://tripstank.com/LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jasperwalshe/ For more from Mark McCartney:Newsletter: https://www.whatisagood.life/Website: https://www.mmcleadership.com/LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mark-mccartney-14b0161b4/YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@whatisagoodlifeInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/markcmccartney 0:00 – Jasper's evolving life question02:30 – The high performance Kool-Aid06:00 – Curiosity beyond performance10:33 – Letting go of identity15:04 – "So, who are you?"19:30 – Dropping the filtered answers23:00 – The couch breakthrough moment28:30 – How "wonder" emerged36:30 – Visualising five years ahead45:44 – What self-respect looks like58:55 – What is a good life? Keywords: Meaning of Life Interviews | meaning of life conversations | exploring life | big life questions | meaning of life discussions | creating a meaningful life​

    1h 2m
  6. What is a Good Life? #161 - The Potential For Compassion with Rasmus Hougaard

    FEB 10

    What is a Good Life? #161 - The Potential For Compassion with Rasmus Hougaard

    What does it take to be happy? And why does happiness so often slip away? In this episode of What Is a Good Life?, Mark McCartney is joined by Rasmus Hougaard for a conversation that moves from childhood questions about happiness, to monasteries in Nepal, to the boardrooms where he now works to transform leadership. Rasmus is the Founder and Chairman of Potential Project and was nominated by Thinkers 50 as one of the eight most important leadership thinkers in the world today. He's the author of The Mind of the Leader, Compassionate Leadership, and More Human: How the Power of AI Can Transform the Way You Lead. Together, they explore: Why an eight-year-old's question about happiness became a life's workThe cultural wisdom Rasmus found in Nepal that the West is missingHow his brother's death inspired his life's purposeA profound encounter with an unknown monk that transmitted unconditional loveThe difficulty of being human, even with deep practice and good intentionsThe innate goodness we all carry (and why many of us have forgotten it)What changes when leaders ask "how are you?" before "what do we need to do?"This conversation sits with both the challenge of being human and the incredible capacity we have for loving kindness. It's about the practice of returning to what matters again and again. This episode is for anyone wondering if there's more to leadership, happiness, and being human than what we've been taught. For more of Rasmus' work:Potential Project: https://www.potentialproject.com/Books: https://www.potentialproject.com/resources#01-books LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rasmushougaard/ For more from Mark McCartney:Newsletter: https://www.whatisagood.life/Website: https://www.mmcleadership.com/LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mark-mccartney-14b0161b4/YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@whatisagoodlifeInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/markcmccartney 00:00  Why Aren't We Happy?05:30  Finding a Practice at Seventeen11:45  Wisdom in Himalayan Culture17:20  Life's Purpose from Tragedy24:30  Meeting Bodhisattva Charles31:15  Our Innate Human Goodness37:40  The Difficulty of Being Human43:10  Forced Surrender and Self-Compassion48:25  Transformation in Corporate Spaces52:15  Multiple Lives, Less Pressure54:30  What is a Good Life for Rasmus? Keywords: Meaning of Life Interviews | meaning of life conversations | exploring life | big life questions | meaning of life discussions | creating a meaningful life​

    53 min
  7. What is a Good Life? #160 - The Art Of Living With Coherence with João Sevilhano

    FEB 3

    What is a Good Life? #160 - The Art Of Living With Coherence with João Sevilhano

    What does it really mean to live a coherent life? In this episode of What Is a Good Life, Mark McCartney is joined by João Sevilhano for a deep, reflective conversation on coherence, something that goes beyond rigid moral ideals and is more a lived, imperfect practice. João is a psychologist and learning experience designer. Co-CEO of Way Beyond, where he works on human development and organisational transformation. His background is in clinical psychology and psychoanalysis. He collaborates with Porto Business School and NOVA Doctoral School, and he tends to think meaningful conversation is underrated as a tool for change. Together, they explore: What coherence feels like in everyday lifeThe tension between values, actions, and changing our mindsWhy coherence is different from authenticity or consistencyParenting, work, and small decisions as tests of alignment“Slow activism” and the impact of how we show up with othersRather than offering quick answers or formulas, this conversation sits with uncertainty, contradiction, and the discipline of paying attention - particularly when no one is watching. This episode is for anyone feeling the pull between who they are, how they live, and what the world is asking of them right now. For more of João's work:Newsletter: https://useful-uselessness.com/Way Beyond Website: https://www.waybeyond.pt/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/joaosevilhano/ For more from Mark McCartney:Newsletter: https://www.whatisagood.life/Website: https://www.mmcleadership.com/LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mark-mccartney-14b0161b4/YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@whatisagoodlifeInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/markcmccartney 00:00  Questions as Companions 07:00  Spirituality in Everyday Life 13:00  Coherence as Purpose 16:30  Flexibility and Awareness 22:30  Discipline and Practice30:00  Helping Without Imposing 36:00  Slow Activism and Stubbornness 42:00  Living With Contradiction 49:00  Reflection on Sacrifice 54:00  Not Knowing as a Practice Keywords: Meaning of Life Interviews | meaning of life conversations | exploring life | big life questions | meaning of life discussions | creating a meaningful life​

    56 min
  8. What is a Good Life? #159 - Cultivating Interconnected Harmony with Cindy Forde

    JAN 27

    What is a Good Life? #159 - Cultivating Interconnected Harmony with Cindy Forde

    How do we live in harmony with each other and the natural world? Cindy Forde is a thought leader and acclaimed author with over 25 years dedicated to systems change. In 2023, she won the Change Champion Award alongside leaders such as David Attenborough and Malala Yusafzai for her children's book 'Bright New World,' which was adopted by the Australian National Curriculum. She founded Planetari, pioneering Earth-led education, earning a Climate Positive Award at UN COP28. Previously MD of Blue Marine Foundation and CEO of Cambridge Science Centre, she is an Associate Fellow of University of Cambridge Homerton College where she is currently co-founding the Centre for Systemic Change. She is a trained yoga teacher and sound healing practitioner. In this profound conversation, we explore the role of spiritual practice in sustaining changemakers, the paradox of living in systems misaligned with our values, and why "cosmic time" might offer a more realistic perspective on transformation than human urgency. Cindy shares why we need the courage to build entirely new models rather than fixing broken systems, and how current education systems crush the natural interconnectedness that children understand. For more of Cindy's work:Website: https://cindyforde.world/Planetari: https://planetari.world/LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/cindy-forde-10668911/ For more from Mark McCartney:Newsletter: https://www.whatisagood.life/Website: https://www.mmcleadership.com/LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mark-mccartney-14b0161b4/YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@whatisagoodlifeInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/markcmccartney 00:00 - The Guiding Question of Harmony 05:45 - Growing Up Between Two Worlds 12:30 - Discovering Spiritual Practice 18:45 - Inner and Outer Coherence 25:15 - The Corporate Paradox 30:00 - Understanding Cosmic Time 35:30 - Urgency and Thinking Differently 40:30 - Single Issues to Systems 44:00 - Courage to Call Out 47:30 - Crushing Natural Interconnectedness 50:00 - What Is a Good Life Keywords: Meaning of Life Interviews | meaning of life conversations | exploring life | big life questions | meaning of life discussions | creating a meaningful life​

    51 min
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5
out of 5
6 Ratings

About

A project exploring the big questions around how we live, who we are and what actually matters. Over the past four years, I’ve sat with more than 300 people — artists, parents, executives, wanderers, therapists, and strangers and invited them into a simple but profound inquiry, "What is a good life for you?" The conversations explore presence, paradox, uncertainty, and the moments that shape a life - love and loss, trust and fear, clarity and not knowing. It’s an invitations to slow down, to listen deeply, and to bring you into conversation with your own life. There are new episodes every Tuesday.

Information

  • Creator
    Mark McCartney
  • Years Active
    2023 - 2026
  • Episodes
    166
  • Rating
    Explicit
  • Copyright
    © Mark McCartney
  • Show Website
    What is a Good Life?

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