On the 156th episode of What Is a Good Life?, I’m joined by Alejandra Guzmán González. Alejandra is a Nicaraguan educator, lifelong learner, and mother of two. She describes herself as an artist with a dancer’s feet, the soul of a theatre actress, and the writer’s force within (publishing under the pen name aimé). Her work is rooted in curiosity, reflection, and human connection, and she continues to devote her professional life to education and learning-centred projects.

In this episode, Alejandra shares her journey of discovering how to trust her own voice. She reflects on personal experiences, family, and the process of making her own decisions with confidence while staying connected to the people she loves.

This conversation is for anyone looking to build greater trust in themselves and their own decisions.

For Alejandra's Newsletter: https://aimewrites.substack.com/

For more of my work:
Contact me at [email protected] if you'd like to explore your own good life through:
- 1-on-1 coaching and online group courses: https://www.whatisagood.life/p/individual-coaching
- The podcast's YouTube page: https://www.youtube.com/@whatisagoodlife/videos
- My newsletter: www.whatisagood.life

00:00 - Living the Question
03:18 - Seeking External Answers
07:02 - Teaching and Questioning
10:05 - Parenting and Frustration
13:46 - Building Inner Trust
17:53 - Cocooning and Withdrawal
22:45 - Listening Beyond Answers
30:31 - The Right to Listen
38:10 - A Defining Moment
48:03 - Health as Teacher
56:46 - What Is a Good Life For Alejandra?

On the 155th episode of What Is a Good Life?, I’m joined by Julian Kirchherr. Julian combines a career as a Partner at McKinsey & Company with his role as an Associate Professor at Roskilde University. At McKinsey, he co-leads the firm’s public sector work in Europe, focusing on people and organisational performance, while his academic research centres on the circular economy. He ranks among the most highly cited circular economy scholars worldwide. He earned his PhD from St Antony’s College, University of Oxford, and is the author of The Lean PhD: Radically Improve the Efficiency, Quality and Impact of Your Research.

In this conversation, we explore curiosity, autonomy, and the value of diverse experiences. Julian also discusses caring too much about external demands, and how this can undermine autonomy, meaning, and impact. 

This episode will resonate with anyone carving out their own path and explores what it can take to make your own impact.

For more of Julian's work:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/julian-kirchherr-42a52032/

For more of my work:
Contact me at [email protected] if you'd like to explore your own good life through:
- 1-on-1 coaching and online group courses: https://www.whatisagood.life/p/individual-coaching
- The podcast's YouTube page: https://www.youtube.com/@whatisagoodlife/videos
- My newsletter: https://www.whatisagood.life/p/individual-coaching

00:00 Curiosity Over One Question 

02:35 Bullshit In Academia

07:23 Autonomy And Freedom 

09:01 Disillusion With Academia 

12:18 Early Intellectual Influences 

14:55 Myanmar And Outsized Impact 

19:59 Pre-Academia Model

26:12 Energy From Dual Roles 

30:02 Bias Toward Action 

42:50 Bridging Knowledge And Practice 

46:51 What is a good life for Julian? 

On the 154th episode of What Is a Good Life?, I’m joined by Katie Elliott.

Katie is a facilitator, writer, and programme designer working across community and organisational settings. With a background in jazz and a long-standing fascination with human change and habits, she creates tools, conversations, and projects that explore how people make sense of themselves and one another. Her work includes Amiko® Cards, the Adventures in Behaviour Change podcast, a series of children’s books, and an album of original piano music.

In this conversation, we explore curiosity, bewilderment, and the value of staying with experience rather than rushing to explain or resolve it. We talk about patterns, presence, and how meaning slowly reveals itself in relationships and in life — showing how deeper listening and meaningful conversation can genuinely shift how you see yourself and others.

For more of Katie's work:
Website: https://www.littlechallenges.com/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/katieelliott/

For more of my work:
Contact me at [email protected] if you'd like to explore your own good life through:
- 1-on-1 coaching and online group courses: https://www.whatisagood.life/p/individual-coaching
- The podcast's YouTube page: https://www.youtube.com/@whatisagoodlife/videos
- My newsletter: https://www.whatisagood.life/p/individual-coaching

00:00 — Patterns and Play
04:31 — Bewildered by Humans
07:48 — Not Being Believed
10:21 — Staying Open
13:01 — Kindness Inside
17:17 — Being Human Together
20:56 — Dropping the Mask
23:31 — Jazz and Freedom
31:26 — Creating Human Spaces
40:44 — Making Meaning Together
52:31 — What is a Good Life for Katie?

On the 153rd episode of What Is a Good Life?, I’m joined by Ethan Hsieh for a wide-ranging and deeply human conversation on service, being, and what happens when self-work goes too far.

Ethan is currently undertaking his PhD research integrating performance-training with 4E cognitive science. With an MA in Professional Practice: Theatre and Drama Facilitation, he has designed and delivered transformational community-building programs, retreats, and workshops across Asia and Europe through his organisation 5ToMidnight, where he is Artistic Director. He also serves as Platform Manager for The Lectern and has co-designed select practices with John Vervaeke, including the Socratic Imaginal Self-Reflection and the Socratic Search Space. Ethan maintains a private coaching practice working with corporate leaders, professional athletes, and social organisations.

Together, we explore nihilism, play, embodiment, identity, and the question that now orients Ethan’s life: When does being itself become service?

This episode invites listeners to loosen self-fixation, recover participation, and rediscover what becomes possible when we allow life—and each other—to change us.

For more of Ethan's work:
Website: https://www.5tomidnight.org/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ethan-hsieh-828a63240/

For more of my work:
Contact me at [email protected] if you'd like to explore your own good life through:
- 1-on-1 coaching and online group courses: https://www.whatisagood.life/p/individual-coaching
- The podcast's YouTube page: https://www.youtube.com/@whatisagoodlife/videos
- My newsletter: https://www.whatisagood.life/p/individual-coaching

00:00 A Question of Service

05:40 Self-Work’s Breaking Point 

08:04 From Optimization to Orientation

12:52 Not Knowing Intimately 

16:31 Returning to Play 

26:56 Letting Experience In 

31:31 Contact With Life

36:46 Seeing Others Anew

43:42 Identity Held Loosely

52:19 Embodiment and Coherence 

59:30 What is a good life for Ethan?

On the 152nd episode of What is a Good Life?, I welcome Tim Leberecht, one of the most original and passionate voices on creating a more humane future of business. Tim is a German-American entrepreneur, curator, and author, and the co-founder and co-CEO of the  House of Beautiful Business, a global community for those who seek more from work and from one another. A sought-after keynote speaker, his two TED Talks have been viewed more than 3 million times. He is the author of  The Business Romantic (Harper Business, 2015), translated into ten languages, The End of Winning (Droemer, 2020), and the forthcoming Supercurator (Basic/Hachette, 2027). Tim is also a BMW Foundation Responsible Leader.

In this conversation, Tim reflects on belonging, intimacy, and what it means to live a good life amidst the pressures of performance and an increasingly AI-shaped world. He speaks to the value of sensitivity, connection, and community — and how creating spaces for presence and honest conversation can reshape how we experience ourselves and each other.

This is a conversation for anyone longing for deeper connection — with themselves, with others, and with a world becoming ever more synthetic.

For more of Tim's work:
Website: https://houseofbeautifulbusiness.com/
Books: http://timleberecht.com/books/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tleberecht/
HoBB newsletter: https://houseofbeautifulbusiness.substack.com/

For more of my work:
Contact me at [email protected] if you'd like to explore your own good life through 1-on-1 coaching and group online courses.
- The podcast's YouTube page: https://www.youtube.com/@whatisagoodlife/videos
- My newsletter: https://www.whatisagood.life/p/individual-coaching

00:00 — The question of belonging
04:15 — Morning reconstruction of self
07:42 — Performance and authenticity tension
11:18 — Limits of self-optimisation
15:03 — Beauty and the good life
19:27 — Connection in a synthetic world
23:54 — Silence as shared intimacy
28:31 — Intimacy beyond human relationships
33:45 — AI as conversational partner
38:12 — Being changed by dialogue
44:08 — Sensitivity as core value
51:36 — Conditions for belonging

On the 151st episode of What is a Good Life?, I welcome Olaf Lewitz. Olaf is the Trust Artist, a leadership thinker and coach who’s endlessly curious about our similarities and differences, and how context shapes the quality of attention we give each other. He’s learning how to change systems so that they support life rather than extract or exploit it, sourcing wisdom and insight from unexpected places. He does this through his TrustTemenos Academy and his work with Dark Matter Labs.

In this conversation, we explore the question “What am I missing?” as a way into anger, boundaries, and the stories we tell ourselves – and how much of our “drama” is created by our interpretations rather than reality.

Olaf shares how an unshakeable sense of worth and hope help him live with paradox: enjoying a good life while staying awake to harm, responsibility, and the future of our children – and what that invites us to examine in our own lives.

For more of Olaf's work:
Website: https://www.trusttemenos.com/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/olaflewitz/

Contact me at [email protected] if you'd like to explore your own good life through 1-on-1 coaching and group online courses.
- The podcast's YouTube page: https://www.youtube.com/@whatisagoodlife/videos
- My newsletter: https://www.whatisagood.life/

00:00 — “What Am I Missing?”
06:00 — Discovering Anger & Boundaries
11:20 — How We Create Drama
15:45 — Interpreting vs. Experiencing Reality
20:50 — Laughing at Ourselves
24:45 — Balancing Care and Boundaries
29:35 — Childhood Patterns & Self-Worth
35:55 — Hope Without Optimism
41:50 — Paradox of a Good Life
47:40 — Future, Responsibility & Children
53:50 — What is a good life for Olaf?

On the 150th episode of What is a Good Life?, I welcome Claire Goodey. Claire is an artist, writer, and humanistic psychotherapist. After a decade in private practice—alongside a new autism diagnosis, perimenopause, and a shifting social landscape—she’s returning to her creative roots to cultivate a slower, more analogue way of living. From this liminal space, Claire blends therapeutic insight with artistic expression, offering presence, vulnerability, and play to others feeling the squeeze of modern life.

In this conversation, Claire and I explore what it means to stay part of a world that often feels overwhelming, especially while navigating major life transitions. We discuss the gap between knowing something intellectually and living it, the challenge of discerning fear from genuine bodily wisdom, and the importance of presence, rest, and connection. 

Claire shares her evolving relationship with retreat—what she calls “getting into the slipper”—and how love, openness, and honest self-attunement can shape a more humane way of being.

For more of Claire's work:
Website: https://www.clairegoodey.com/

Contact me at [email protected] if you'd like to explore your own good life through 1-on-1 coaching, group online courses, or to discuss team coaching to stimulate greater trust, communication, and connection, amongst your leadership teams.

- The podcast's YouTube page: https://www.youtube.com/@whatisagoodlife/videos
- My newsletter: https://www.whatisagood.life/
- My LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mark-mccartney-14b0161b4/

00:00 Being a part of the world

05:01 Pendulum of growth

06:45 Late autism diagnosis

11:51 Base needs

12:15 Embodiment vs thinking

17:51 Trust the process

19:30 Fear driving so much of the culture

26:22 Sound sensitivity outside

35:33 “Into the slipper”

39:10 Intentional resting

52:28 What is good life?

On the 149th episode of What is a Good Life?, I welcome Adam Mastroianni. Adam is an experimental psychologist and author of the popular science newsletter Experimental History. His work has been featured in Nature, The New York Times, and Jimmy Kimmel Live. He has escaped from over 170 escape rooms.

In this conversation, Adam discusses the nature of questions and curiosity as driving forces in life. He explores the concept of being possessed by ideas, the role of suffering in personal growth, and the shift from academia to independent thought. 

This episode highlights the impact that finding your unique role—and contributing meaningfully to the world from that place—can have on your life.

For more of Adam's work:
Newsletter: https://www.experimental-history.com/
Website: https://www.adammastroianni.com/

Contact me at [email protected] if you'd like to explore your own good life through 1-on-1 coaching, group online courses, or to discuss team coaching to stimulate greater trust, communication, and connection, amongst your leadership teams.

- The podcast's YouTube page: https://www.youtube.com/@whatisagoodlife/videos
- My newsletter: https://www.whatisagood.life/
- My LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mark-mccartney-14b0161b4/

00:00 – Possessed By Big Questions

04:06 – Enjoying The Friction

07:48 – Why Toilets Took Millennia

13:13 – First Day Being Curious

18:16 – Internet Praise Vs Real Life

23:51 – Freedom Without A Boss

28:07 – Choosing Productive Fear

31:07 – Leaving A “Good” Career

36:52 – What’s Worth Suffering For

45:46 – The Cost Of Pretending

48:00 – The Ideas Graveyard

52:15 – What Is A Good Life?

On the 148th episode of What is a Good Life?, I welcome Leigh Marz, a collaboration and leadership coach for major universities, corporations, and federal agencies. She has led training programs to promote an experimental mindset among teams at NASA and a decade-long cross-sector collaboration to reduce toxic chemicals in products, in partnership with Green Science Policy Institute, Harvard University, IKEA, Google, and Kaiser Permanente. Leigh coauthored Golden: The Power of Silence in a World of Noise and cofounded Astrea Strategies, helping leaders bridge contemplation and action. 

In this conversation we explore silence as a living presence—how inquiry, pauses, and shared quiet unlock better thinking, connection, and wellbeing. We cover mapping noise (auditory, informational, internal), flow states, and why slowing down in groups (even at work) sparks novel solutions. 

This episode invites listeners to rediscover silence as a living teacher — one that reveals what truly matters when we’re quiet enough to hear it.

For more of Leigh's work:
Link to the book: Golden: The Power of Silence in a World of Noise
Astrea Strategies: https://astreastrategies.com/
Her website: https://leighmarz.com/

Contact me at [email protected] if you'd like to explore your own lines of self-inquiry through 1-on-1 coaching, my 5-week group courses, or to discuss team coaching to stimulate greater trust, communication, and connection, amongst your leadership teams.

- For the What is a Good Life? podcast's YouTube page: https://www.youtube.com/@whatisagoodlife/videos
- My newsletter: https://www.whatisagood.life/
- My LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mark-mccartney-14b0161b4/

00:03 – Intro & why start with questions

04:03 – Origins of the silence inquiry & HBR article

09:00 – “What’s the deepest silence you’ve known?” 

12:41 – Freedom moment: “Silence teems with life” 

16:41 – Quiet together: practices beyond meditation

24:44 – Mapping noise: auditory, informational, internal

29:33 – Antidote: signals you need silence & “positive distractions”

35:00 – Designing retreats for novel thinking 

38:21 – “Slow down, there isn’t much time.”

46:13 – Silence & the nervous system
52:00 - How the inquiry into silence has shaped Leigh

58:12 – Leigh’s response to “What is a good life?”

On the 147th episode of What is a Good Life?, I’m delighted to welcome Karimu Samuels. Karimu is a movement expert whose journey from exhaustion to ease led him to discover the power of moving through life with flow. With years of studying body functionality and coaching athletes worldwide, he teaches holistic movement that unites body, mind, and emotion — guiding others toward balance and the joy of movement. He embodies the belief that through movement, we can master not only our bodies but also ourselves.

In this conversation, Karimu invites us to explore what happens when we stop striving and start listening — to our bodies, our intuition, and the quieter signals of life. From learning to move through the world with less control and more awareness, to discovering movement as a mirror for self-understanding, he shares how trust, honesty, and softness became the foundation of his work and his peace.

This episode invites you to slow down, listen deeply, and tune into what your body is trying to tell you.

For more of Karimu's work:
https://www.instagram.com/karimu_samuels/
www.karimusamuels.com
[email protected]

Contact me at [email protected] if you'd like to explore your own lines of self-inquiry through 1-on-1 coaching, my 5-week group courses, or to discuss team coaching to stimulate greater trust, communication, and connection, amongst your leadership teams.

- For the What is a Good Life? podcast's YouTube page: https://www.youtube.com/@whatisagoodlife/videos
- My newsletter: https://www.whatisagood.life/
- My LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mark-mccartney-14b0161b4/

00:00–03:09 — “Who am I?” as the guiding question

03:09–04:48 — Movement as universal; finding your gift

04:48–07:40 — From ego goals to service; discovering movement

07:50–12:36 — “Arriving / home” = inner peace

12:36–15:17 — Trust → authenticity; speak your own reality

16:10–18:40 — Radical honesty

18:40–24:48 — Listening to the body: asthma & throat story

24:48–28:03 — Practice and mastering mindset

28:03–32:41 — Shaped by experience; learning to show up

32:41–38:59 — Movement is a mirror; five components

38:59–42:58 — Broken wrist; adapting without compensating

42:58–47:33 — Softening: control vs. letting go
47:33–52:05 — Love as a tool; co-creating safe space

52:05–56:36 — “What is a good life?” Three pillars