Bountifull Podcast

What can a lifetime spent protecting some of the world’s most extraordinary places teach us about how to live?
In part two of my conversation with Lou Sanson, we travel from Antarctica to the highest levels of New Zealand’s conservation system — and into the lessons Lou gathered through a life of ambition, responsibility and service.
Lou describes Antarctica as New Zealand’s landscape “on steroids”: a place so still you can hear your ears ringing and see for hundreds of kilometres. After first travelling there as a field assistant, he returned to lead Antarctica New Zealand, overseeing Scott Base, supporting scientific research and representing New Zealand within a treaty system involving countries with vastly different interests and ideologies.
Antarctica taught him that influence does not always come from size, money or authority. It often begins with relationships: listening to people, earning their trust and finding enough common ground to move forward together. Some of Lou’s most consequential work began not in formal meetings, but around his family dinner table.
We then follow him into the role he had imagined since childhood: Director-General of the Department of Conservation. He inherited an exhausted organisation facing limited funding and an almost limitless task. Rather than imposing another restructure, Lou chose incremental change, stronger partnerships, visible leadership and a more hopeful story about what conservation could achieve.
He shares the courage required to make unpopular decisions, the importance of standing behind your people and why playing the long game means staying committed even when progress is slow, opposition is fierce and the result may not arrive during your tenure.
Yet after all the scale, ambition and responsibility, Lou’s philosophy of a bountiful life is wonderfully immediate: find one “ten out of ten” moment every day. A sunset, a bike ride, a good meal or the call of a native bird at night.
His life reminds us that fulfilment does not come from achievement alone. It comes from meaningful work, deep relationships, service to something beyond ourselves and retaining the ability to be delighted by the world directly in front of us.

Chapters
00:00 Antarctica, conservation and the lessons of a lifetime01:00 More than 50 trips to Antarctica05:18 Why Antarctica matters to all of us07:20 The power of relationships and the family dinner table15:07 From track cutter to Director-General17:42 Leading DOC through incremental change20:17 Storytelling, partnerships and making conservation matter27:30 Public opposition, visibility and social licence33:12 Courage, decisiveness and protecting your people38:54 Playing the long game48:10 Finding a ten-out-of-ten moment every day

Guest Bio 
Lou Sanson QSO, NZAM is one of New Zealand’s most experienced conservation leaders. His career began as a track cutter in South Westland and went on to include senior leadership across Fiordland, Stewart Island and the subantarctic islands. He served as Chief Executive of Antarctica New Zealand from 2002 to 2013 and as Director-General of the Department of Conservation from 2013 to 2021. Today, he continues to contribute to conservation as a trustee of the New Zealand Nature Fund and WWF-New Zealand.

About the Bountifull Podcast 

The Bountifull Podcast explores what it means to live a rich, meaningful and fulfilling life. Hosted by Sian Simpson, each episode brings together thoughtful conversations across psychology, science, relationships, health, work, creativity, culture and society — uncovering the stories, ideas and experiences that shape how we live.

www.bountifullworld.com/

What if the way you show up in every moment, at work, at home, with strangers, is shaping not just your life, but the lives of hundreds of people you'll never meet? In this episode of the Bountifull Podcast, Sian sits down with bestselling author, 2x TEDx speaker and researcher Marcy Axelrod to unpack her life's work: understanding what it truly means to show up.
Marcy introduces her three-level framework for showing up, from barely there, to just showing up, to truly showing up, and explains the three roles we all inhabit at every moment: self, situation member, and society member. She challenges the idea that we are isolated selves operating from the inside out, drawing on neuroscience, evolutionary biology, and interpersonal neurobiology to show that we are deeply interconnected, right down to the synchronisation of our brainwaves when we look into another person's eyes.
This is a conversation about slowing down, choosing presence over performance, and recognising that how we show up to the world is exactly how the world will show up for us.

Key Highlights
The three roles we inhabit every moment. Self, situation member, and society member, and why understanding all three is the key to moving beyond disconnection and loneliness.

The show up continuum. What separates "barely there" from "just showing up" from "truly showing up," and why most of us spend 80% of our time at level two.

Choice vs. decision. Why decisions narrow your options while choices are expansive, ongoing, and available in every moment.

Showing up "with" and "for" vs. "to". How the language of connection shapes the chemistry of the people around you, from cortisol to oxytocin.

The ripple effect. Research showing that your behaviour influences not just the 20 people closest to you, but their networks too, reaching people you will never meet.

Why busyness keeps us stuck. How a culture of doing prevents us from accessing the broader, more open mode of attention we need to truly be present.

The three practices for presence. A meditative practice, a reflective practice (journaling), and a physical practice as the ecology of habits that support truly showing up.

Authenticity over performance. Why performative living erodes trust and why deathbed research consistently reveals regret over unlived, inauthentic lives.

Alltelligence. Marcy's coined term meaning "connectedness with intent to serve," the skill for our societal role that draws on the idea that intelligence is neither solely internal nor external.

Chapters
00:00 Introduction and welcome

01:24 Marcy's origin story: stuttering, observation, and the search for a blueprint

04:42 What does "showing up" actually mean?

06:34 Choosing how you show up: presence meets perspective

07:31 The two hemispheres of attention

09:42 The three roles: self, situation member, society member

17:30 The three levels of showing up

21:32 Practical exercises: the ecology of practices

23:16 The "Chuck" story: the show up continuum in real time

30:42 The three skills: groundedness, readiness, and alltelligence

37:39 Wisdom is not optional

42:54 What keeps us stuck in "just showing up" mode

46:08 Deathbed wishes and the cost of an inauthentic life

50:46 From performative living to true presence

54:24 Quick-fire round

57:28 Purpose, significance, meaning, and mattering

Guest Bio
Marcy Axelrod is the architect of the Show Up System, a bestselling author, keynote and two-time TEDx speaker, and management consultant. After beginning her career on Wall Street, she spent more than 20 years in KPMG Consulting’s high-tech strategy practice, working with global companies and leadership teams. Her latest book, How We Choose to Show Up, brings together research from neuroscience, psychology and behavioural economics to explore how we work, relate and live.

Bountifull is a personal growth and wellbeing podcast that explores how to live a richer, more meaningful life through conversations on joy, purpose, resilience, creativity and connection.

What happens when a childhood spent exploring wild places becomes the work of an entire life?
In part one of this two-part conversation, I’m joined by Lou Sanson, one of New Zealand’s most influential conservation leaders. Lou grew up on the West Coast of New Zealand, learning to cross rivers, climb mountains, cook over fires and navigate the backcountry. At 13, he encountered two forestry workers in a remote hut and decided he wanted a life spent working in nature. Over the next five decades, he would turn that early instinct into a life of extraordinary purpose and service.
We follow Lou from his first job cutting tracks through South Westland to becoming responsible for Fiordland, Stewart Island and New Zealand’s subantarctic islands. He shares the work behind Rakiura National Park, marine protection in Fiordland and one of the world’s most ambitious predator-eradication projects, while reflecting on the experiences that shaped his understanding of leadership, safety, accountability and lasting change.
At its heart, this is a conversation about what can happen when you recognise what makes you feel most alive and build your life around it. Nature became Lou’s education, his source of courage, his place of renewal and the larger purpose against which he measured his decisions. His story offers a richer way to think about a bountiful life: one grounded in belonging, contribution and responsibility, and in leaving the places entrusted to us better than we found them.

Key Episode Highlights
How growing up on the West Coast of New Zealand shaped Lou’s courage, independence and connection to nature
The backcountry encounter at 13 that gave him a direction for life
Why nature became Lou’s education, purpose and place of renewal
The leadership lesson that taught him good intentions are not enough without strong systems and accountability
How Rakiura National Park, Fiordland’s marine protection and Campbell Island were brought to life
Why meaningful change requires catching the wave of public feeling rather than pushing against it
The importance of building trust and working closely with Ngāi Tahu
The Māori philosophy that people belong within nature rather than stand apart from it

Chapters
00:00 Finding a ten-out-of-ten moment
02:56 A bountiful life shaped by the West Coast
08:22 The backcountry encounter that shaped his future
10:33 How New Zealand’s conservation system works
14:20 Building a career from the ground up
15:21 The leadership lesson that changed everything
22:32 Rakiura, Fiordland and Campbell Island
26:23 How lasting change really happens
30:59 Learning that we belong to nature
35:53 Why New Zealand’s native species matter

Guest Bio 
Lou Sanson QSO, NZAM is one of New Zealand’s most experienced conservation leaders. His career began as a track cutter in South Westland and went on to include senior leadership across Fiordland, Stewart Island and the subantarctic islands. He served as Chief Executive of Antarctica New Zealand from 2002 to 2013 and as Director-General of the Department of Conservation from 2013 to 2021. Today, he continues to contribute to conservation as a trustee of the New Zealand Nature Fund and WWF-New Zealand.

About the Bountifull Podcast 
The Bountifull Podcast explores how to live a richer, healthier and more meaningful life through conversations about psychology, relationships, health, work, culture, science and society. Hosted by Sian Simpson, each episode shares powerful stories and practical ideas to help us live with more joy, purpose, curiosity and connection.

www.bountifullworld.com/

What happens when the life you worked so hard to build no longer fits?
In this episode, I’m joined by Andy Johns for a deep and honest conversation about the valley between two mountains — the liminal space between who you were and who you are yet to become.
Andy spent 17 years in Silicon Valley climbing the first mountain of life: career, achievement, status, success, and external validation. But this conversation is less about the climb, and more about what happens after you step away. Because leaving an old life is not as simple as choosing a new one. Often, there is a long and disorienting middle — a space where the old identity has dissolved, but the next version of you has not yet fully arrived.
Together, we explore what it means to sit in that unknown. The grief of losing the person you thought you were. The fear of no longer being valued in the same way. The body’s withdrawal from stress, momentum and constant stimulation. The temptation to rush into the next thing just to escape the discomfort of not knowing.
Andy shares with rare honesty what it took to stop performing, stop achieving, and begin listening to what his body, spirit and life were trying to tell him. We talk about perfectionism, burnout, addiction, faith, rest, service, money, and the strange freedom that can come when you stop trying to force a new mountain into view.
This is a conversation for anyone who has ever found themselves between lives. For anyone who has left something behind, or knows they need to, but has no idea what comes next.
The valley can feel like failure. But maybe it is also where we begin to become more fully ourselves.

In this episode, we explore
What Andy calls the first mountain of life

Why success can stop feeling like success

The valley between who you were and who you are becoming

Why leaving an old identity can feel like grief

The body’s withdrawal from stress, adrenaline and achievement

Work, status and external validation as forms of addiction

The difference between failure and misalignment

What relationships reveal when your identity changes

The fear and freedom of saying, “I don’t know what’s next”

Rebuilding self-worth through service, meaning and truth

Why rest is not laziness, but part of the healing

How to sit in the unknown without rushing into the next mountain

Chapters
00:00 Introduction
02:00 The space between who you were and who you are becoming
09:00 When success stops fitting
18:25 The first mountain and the valley
26:10 Leaving an identity behind
31:20 Losing your sense of value and purpose
40:40 What happens to the body in the valley
50:30 Shame, addiction and survival patterns
57:00 Faith, spirituality and transformation
1:10:30 Rebuilding self-worth through service
1:20:00 Money, uncertainty and enough
1:27:30 The question everyone asks: what’s next?
1:36:00 Rest, change and becoming
1:39:00 Closing thoughts

Guest Bio 
Andy Johns is a writer, former Silicon Valley executive, advisor and investor whose work now explores identity, healing, transformation and purpose. In his earlier career, Andy worked across some of Silicon Valley’s most recognisable companies, including Facebook, Twitter, Quora and Wealthfront, where he served as President. After stepping away from a 17-year career built around achievement, status and external validation, Andy now writes and speaks about the inner work of leaving an old identity behind and navigating the uncertain space between who you were and who you are becoming.

https://cluesdotlife.substack.com/

About the Bountifull Podcast 

The Bountifull Podcast explores what it means to live a bountiful life through stories of creativity, connection, curiosity and resilience. With conversations spanning personal growth, mental health, mindfulness, emotional resilience and wellbeing, each episode offers honest stories and practical ideas to help us live with more joy, meaning and depth.

https://bountifullworld.com/

Most of us are building lives we are not fully present for. We optimise, produce, tick things off and tell ourselves we will get to the good stuff once things calm down. But things rarely calm down. They speed up. And one day you look around and realise your kids have stopped coming to you, your relationships are running on autopilot, and the life you worked so hard to build is one you are barely in. That was the realisation Harvard Professor Dr Jeff Karp had during Covid. The skill that had helped him survive school, build a world-leading lab and found 13 companies had also made him very good at moving through life without stopping to notice it.
What makes Jeff’s response interesting is that he did not begin with a retreat, a reinvention or some huge life overhaul. He started interrupting patterns. Change the question you ask your kid at dinner and see what happens. Take a different route. Drink tea instead of coffee. Blow bubbles at strangers in traffic and watch people put their phones down and smile. His argument is that changing one small thing can make you aware of all the other things you have been doing without ever really choosing them.
We also talk about anti-convenience, why Jeff sometimes washes dishes by hand, and why I can happily spend an hour making gluten-free ravioli from scratch. Not because doing things the long way is always better, but because efficiency is not always the point. Jeff has spent decades inventing technologies that save lives. Turns out one of the most important experiments he ever ran was learning how to be present in his own.

Key episode highlights
Why the skill that helped Jeff survive school later began costing him in adult life
How changing one small pattern can reveal the rest of your operating system
The question: when did you decide to do the same things every day?
Why bubbles in traffic became Jeff’s favourite form of pattern interruption
How anti-convenience can create presence without turning your life upside down
Why our brains default to familiar, low-energy behaviours
What happens when you ask your children a better question than “how was your day?”
How silliness can shift the energy of a room and give other people permission to join in

Chapters
00:00 Bubbles, productivity and disconnection02:43 The skill that saved Jeff as a child06:18 When he realised his children had stopped coming to him07:22 How our attention gets hijacked13:57 Why exhaustion can become addictive17:42 The hidden cost of constant productivity21:11 Why the brain defaults to low-energy patterns25:24 The patterns running our lives28:33 How pattern interruption works35:22 Which patterns should we keep?42:46 Why a Harvard professor blows bubbles in traffic48:53 Anti-convenience and doing things the long way52:05 What a bountiful life means to Jeff57:13 The most important experiment he has run on himself

Guest Bio
Dr Jeff Karp is a biomedical engineer and professor of anaesthesia at Harvard Medical School and Brigham and Women’s Hospital. His laboratory develops bio-inspired medical technologies, including tissue adhesives, targeted therapies and medical devices. He has co-founded numerous biotechnology companies and is the author of LIT: Life Ignition Tools, which draws on the strategies he developed while growing up with ADHD and learning differences.
https://www.jeffkarp.com/

About Bountifull Podcast
The Bountifull Podcast explores what it means to live a bountiful life through honest conversations with fascinating people from around the world.
Hosted by Sian Simpson, each episode brings together stories, ideas and experiences from science, psychology, relationships, creativity, culture, work and everyday life. From wellbeing and personal growth to resilience, connection, purpose and joy, Bountifull offers practical insight and fresh perspectives to help you build a richer, more meaningful life.
New episodes weekly.
https://www.bountifullworld.com/