What is a Good Life?

Mark McCartney
  • 5.0 (6)
  • Self-Improvement
  • Updated Weekly

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? #177 - Complicated Locks, Simple Keys with Sam Smith

    4d ago

    What is a Good Life? #177 - Complicated Locks, Simple Keys with Sam Smith

    This week Mark McCartney sits down with Sam Smith. Sam sees life as a big old experiment. He used to play professional rugby, before starting a few businesses. Now he spends his time speaking to people, writing and loving his family. Last year he wrote his first book, The Door Was Never Locked. His latest project with his friend Garth, Conscious Soup launches soon, it's a Living Experiment. They aren't sure what that means yet. In this conversation, Sam opens up about the moment he retired from rugby at 26 and collapsed on a bathroom floor crying, escaping this transition with work and alcohol, and how a simple repeated gesture from a coach changed the entire direction of his life. We explore identity, the stories we carry without questioning, what it really means to lead as a human, and why a good life for him is wanting all of it - even the hard parts. If you are navigating any big life transitions right now, this conversation may be particularly helpful. For more from Sam Smith: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/conscious-soup-studio/You can grab a copy of his book: https://amzn.eu/d/07QwCqFQ And he'd love to hear from you: sam@thisisthechangingroom.comCheck out Sam’s next project with Conscious Soup here: www.conscioussoup.com For more from Mark McCartney: Newsletter: https://www.whatisagoodlife.com/ Website: https://www.mmcleadership.com/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mark-mccartney-14b0161b4/ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@whatisagoodlife3875

    56 min
  2. What is a Good Life? #176 - What Is It About Dogs? with Doug Skoke

    May 26

    What is a Good Life? #176 - What Is It About Dogs? with Doug Skoke

    What is it about dogs? It's the question Doug Skoke has been sitting with and it turns out, trying to understand what makes his golden doodle Harley tick has become one of his most impactful explorations of how to actually live well. Doug is the Founder & CEO of LFG NOW!, a boutique executive search firm, and a Gallup-certified CliftonStrengths Coach - but what defines him more than any title is a lifelong obsession with people, energy, and what it means to show up fully in your own life. A daily meditator and firm believer in the Platinum Rule - treat others as they prefer to be treated - Doug has spent over a decade exploring practical and spiritual approaches to growth, resilience, and presence. What begins as a question about why dogs are so emotionally regulating opens into one covering grief, crisis, dialectical behavioural therapy, the self-love pendulum, radical acceptance, and what it actually means to lift others up. Whether you're drawn to mindfulness, emotional intelligence, personal growth, or just an honest human conversation - this episode is for you. For more from Doug Skoke:LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dougskoke/ 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/ ⁨@whatisagoodlife3875⁩   00:00  Five Years In The Making01:15  What Is It About Dogs?03:30  The Thought Bubble Cartoon06:00  What Dogs Know About Presence09:09  When His Brother Died11:14  Alma's Unwavering Welcome13:20  Angels In Disguise18:50  Unconditional, Every Single Moment24:20  The Dog He Almost Gave Away30:53  Learning To Regulate40:15  The Self-Love Pendulum1:01:08  What Is A Good Life for Doug?

    1h 5m
  3. What is a Good Life? #175 - Closing the Gap Between Values & Life with Jennifer Garvey Berger

    May 19

    What is a Good Life? #175 - Closing the Gap Between Values & Life with Jennifer Garvey Berger

    In this episode of What is a Good Life?, Mark McCartney sits down with Jennifer Garvey Berger - author, global leadership coach, and co-founder and CEO of Cultivating Leadership - to explore one of the most honest questions a person can ask: am I actually living in alignment with what I say matters most? Jennifer has spent decades helping leaders untangle big questions and find more courageous, compassionate ways to lead. All four of her books are Stanford University Press top sellers of the last decade. But here, she turns that same rigorous curiosity on herself. She shares the moment she realised her deepest values - generosity and curiosity - have their own shadows. She unpacks the concept of values as polarities, why rigid adherence to a single value leaves the whole system weak, and how she learned to hold temporary certainty without pretending to have all the answers. If you're interested in personal growth, leadership, values, conscious living, philosophy of life, intentional community, or a good life, this episode is for you. For more from Jennifer Garvey Berger:Company Website: www.cultivatingleadership.comBooks: Unleash Your Complexity Genius: https://www.sup.org/books/business/unleash-your-complexity-geniusChanging on the Job: https://www.sup.org/books/business/changing-job-second-editionLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jennifer-garvey-berger-7b4a264/ 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/ ⁨@whatisagoodlife3875⁩   00:02  A Question Worth Following01:31  Closing the Values Gap04:01  When Values Cast Shadows08:53  Generosity and Curiosity's Dark Side13:02  Shame and the Human Condition16:29  Learning to Take Stands18:49  Standing for Love23:19  Certainty at Sea26:21  Time, Physics and Reality33:39  Rising to Love38:05  The Intentional Community50:28  What Is A Good Life for Jennifer?

    59 min
  4. What is a Good Life? #174 - Being In The Pulse Of Life with Laura Beckingham

    May 12

    What is a Good Life? #174 - Being In The Pulse Of Life with Laura Beckingham

    In this episode of What is a Good Life?, Mark McCartney sits down with Laura Beckingham - a modern mystic for turbulent times. It's a conversation that remains as grounded in the bread and butter of life as it ascends into the spiritual. We move from asking what existence is all about through radical inclusion, Family Constellations, ancestral wisdom, the right size in relationships, grief and death, the energy of birth - and why a good life for Laura is about staying in contact with the pulse of life. It will leave you with plenty to sit with. Laura works one-to-one with senior execs who are dismantling the system from the inside, and with people practitioners and creatives who are doing something of the same in their own way. You can also join her in community online, for ritual and reflective practice in The Sanctum, and at The Loom. For more from Laura Beckingham:Website: https://spacewith-in.com/ The Sanctum: https://spacewith-in.com/category/the-sanctum/The Loom: https://spacewith-in.com/the-loom-2026/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/laura-beckingham-109bb625/ 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/ ⁨@whatisagoodlife3875⁩   00:00  What Is All of This?02:15  Born Curious07:10  Knowing and Not Knowing10:25  Old Wisdom, New Ways14:50  Radical Inclusion18:30  Do No Harm20:45  The Right Size25:10  Life as Attunement28:30  Opening and Closing34:00  In Motion and Still40:40  The Witch and the Field55:35  Grief, death, birth1:01:00 What Is a Good Life?

    1h 6m
  5. What is a Good Life? #173 - The Place Of Multiple Belongings with Dave Snowden

    May 5

    What is a Good Life? #173 - The Place Of Multiple Belongings with Dave Snowden

    In this episode of What is a Good Life?, Mark McCartney sits down with Dave Snowden - Founder and Chief Scientific Officer of The Cynefin Co., creator of the Cynefin Framework, and one of the most original thinkers working at the intersection of complexity science, organisational design, and human decision-making. The conversation moves through substrate theory, complexity science, psychological safety, the dangers of homogenisation, coherent heterogeneity, Celtic identity, indigenous rights, conflict resolution in Northern Ireland, and what a good life really comes down to. It is a beautiful mixture of thought provoking ideas and powerful lived experiences. For more from Dave Snowden:Website: https://thecynefin.co/LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dave-snowden-2a93b/ 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/ ⁨@whatisagoodlife3875⁩   00:00  Substrate and What Emerges02:37  Fed Up With Management Fads05:54  When Ideas Come Together07:25  Celtic Presence and Attention10:20  The Reformation's Long Shadow13:28  The Problem With Safety16:38  Phase Shifts and Flipping21:17  Changing the Granularity24:48  Witnessing Violence29:12  Identity as Flow37:43  Metaphor as Intelligence51:57  What Is a Good Life?

    52 min
  6. What is a Good Life? #172 - What If It Were Easy? with Dr Myriam Hadnes

    Apr 28

    What is a Good Life? #172 - What If It Were Easy? with Dr Myriam Hadnes

    What if it were easy? What would you do if you weren't afraid? This week I am joined by Dr Myriam Hadnes who shares with us two questions that have really influenced her life. We explore how passion can grow through doing rather than preceding it, why conflict in relationships can be a form of intimacy rather than a threat to it, and what it really means to act in integrity even when the cost is potentially high. It is a beautiful conversation about communication, courage, and what it means to feel truly accepted. Dr Myriam Hadnes is a behavioural economist, facilitator, and host of the Unprofessionalism podcast, exploring what gets lost when professionalism becomes performance. Her agency workshops.work partners with global organisations to build the conditions where people think together, speak up, and do honest work. For more from Dr Myriam Hadnes:Website: workshops.work LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/myriam-hadnes/ 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/@whatisagoodlife 00:00 Two Life-Changing Questions04:09 What If It Were Easy?07:08 When Easy Gets Scary09:31 Finding Meaning in Work13:24 Teaching What You Live19:00 Conflict Doesn't Mean Unlove23:01 Sisyphus and the Paradox25:30 The Radical Honesty Moment30:35 Lessons From A Client Conflict 38:31 Walking Away With Integrity44:55 Easy Love, Redefined52:30 What Makes a Good Life

    53 min
  7. What is a Good Life? #171 - What Must My Life Be About with Robert J. Anderson

    Apr 21

    What is a Good Life? #171 - What Must My Life Be About with Robert J. Anderson

    Robert J. Anderson joins the show for a wide-ranging conversation about purpose, intuition, shadow work, and the question that has guided his life. He talks beautifully about doubt and fear alongside grace and synchronicity, and what it takes to keep saying yes when you can't see where it's going. Robert J. Anderson has been a pace setter in the field of Leadership Development for over 30 years. He is the Founder and Chief Knowledge Officer of Leadership Circle, and the co-author of Scaling Leadership and Mastering Leadership. Bob created the Leadership Circle Profile, a 360° assessment used by organisations worldwide to measure the effectiveness of their leaders (individually and collectively), chart a pathway for their development, and assess their progress as they develop. In 2005, the Stayer Center for Executive Education at the University of Notre Dame Mendoza College of Business awarded Bob the Partner in Innovation Award. The MEECO Leadership Institute awarded him the International Thought Leader of Distinction in 2018. If you sense you are still not fully committing to the path you are already on, this will offer plenty of inspiration. For more of Robert J. Anderson's work:LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/robert-j-anderson/Company Website: https://leadershipcircle.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  The Guiding Question03:30  Becoming Who I Am07:00  Writing the Musts11:30  Learning to Trust Intuition16:00  Around the World Experiment22:00  The Brennan School Years28:00  Leadership Circle is Born34:00  What Is Wanted Now40:00  Unity as Foundation47:00  The Soldier and the White Light54:00  The Divine Elephant1:03:00  Joy at the Bottom1:10:00  What is a good life for Robert? Podcast Keywords: Meaning of Life Interviews | meaning of life conversations | exploring life | big life questions | meaning of life discussions | creating a meaningful life​

    1h 15m
  8. What is a Good Life? #170 - Recovering Right Relationship with Ally Kingston

    Apr 14

    What is a Good Life? #170 - Recovering Right Relationship with Ally Kingston

    What does a truly good life look like - and how do we find our way back to it? In this episode of What is a Good Life?, Mark McCartney speaks with Ally Kingston about recovering the capacity for "right relationship": with ourselves, with nature, with community, and with something greater. Ally is a creative strategist and facilitator, and strategy lead at non-profit Purpose Disruptors and Agency for Nature. She designs interventions to galvanise public imagination and redirect our creative skills to work in harmony with the natural world. Also passionate about holding space for grief and loss in our changing times, she has also trained as a death doula and rites of passage holder. Once an advertising and sustainability leader, and one of Forbes’ 43 People Changing Advertising for the Climate, she writes & lectures on storytelling, imagination and new conceptions of the good life.    They explore: - What "right relationship" actually means — and why we've lost it- Sobriety as a gateway to a fuller life- The Artist's Way and morning pages as a daily return to self- What four days alone in a forest teaches you about civilisation- The imagination crisis - why our vision of the future is shrinking- Death, grief, and why learning to let things end well matters now more than ever If you're searching for meaning beyond consumption, or asking what it means to live well in uncertain times, this conversation is for you. 🎙️ What is a Good Life? - conversations that go to the heart of what matters.Subscribe for new episodes every Tuesday. Leave a review if this episode resonated with you. For more from Ally's work:Purpose Disruptors: https://www.purposedisruptors.org/ally-kingstonLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ally-kingston-75922025/ 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 to be in right relationship?03:45  Two Tomatoes and an Epiphany08:25  The Word Recovery09:45  Sobriety and the Paradigm Shift17:02  Threads Pulling Together21:24  Morning Pages and the Artist's Way25:29  Four Days in the Forest33:24  How Do I Help Things Die?38:12  Accompanying Her Grandmother48:30  The Shrinking Imagination53:04  What is a Good Life? Tags: good life, meaning, right relationship, sobriety, nature connection, death doula, climate, imagination, morning pages, the artist's way, wilderness, grief, belonging, mindfulness, purpose Podcast Keywords: Meaning of Life Interviews | meaning of life conversations | exploring life | big life questions | meaning of life discussions | creating a meaningful life​

    55 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
    177
  • Rating
    Explicit
  • Copyright
    © Mark McCartney
  • Show Website
    What is a Good Life?

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