What is a Good Life?

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.com
Matrix 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/@whatisagoodlife
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/markcmccartney
00:00 – What is it to be fully human?
01:59 – Throwing the baby out with the bath water
06:32 – Theatre, emptiness & direct experience
10:17 – Resting as a radical act
17:35 – When word and energy align
23:57 – Transmission in corporate spaces
32:28 – We're already in collapse
38:00 – Being recoded right now
42:10 – Somebody before nobody
48:11 – Feeling alive vs. feeling small
55:53 – What is a good life?

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/@whatisagoodlife
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/markcmccartney

00:00 – Introduction
02:06 – Why the Heart Doesn't Lie
07:07 – The Rhythm of Your Heart
10:46 – Learning to Meditate Deeply
15:02 – Meditators Beneath the Diplomats
21:04 – Inner Intelligence in Others
27:51 – Who Am I, Really?
33:45 – Nourishing a Hurting Heart
42:52 – The Mighty Heart Program
46:39 – What Is a Good Life?

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/@whatisagoodlife
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/markcmccartney
0:00 – Jasper's evolving life question
02:30 – The high performance Kool-Aid
06:00 – Curiosity beyond performance
10:33 – Letting go of identity
15:04 – "So, who are you?"
19:30 – Dropping the filtered answers
23:00 – The couch breakthrough moment
28:30 – How "wonder" emerged
36:30 – Visualising five years ahead
45:44 – What self-respect looks like
58:55 – What is a good life?

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 work
The cultural wisdom Rasmus found in Nepal that the West is missing
How his brother's death inspired his life's purpose
A profound encounter with an unknown monk that transmitted unconditional love
The difficulty of being human, even with deep practice and good intentions
The 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/@whatisagoodlife
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/markcmccartney
00:00  Why Aren't We Happy?
05:30  Finding a Practice at Seventeen
11:45  Wisdom in Himalayan Culture
17:20  Life's Purpose from Tragedy
24:30  Meeting Bodhisattva Charles
31:15  Our Innate Human Goodness
37:40  The Difficulty of Being Human
43:10  Forced Surrender and Self-Compassion
48:25  Transformation in Corporate Spaces
52:15  Multiple Lives, Less Pressure
54:30  What is a Good Life for Rasmus?

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 life
The tension between values, actions, and changing our minds
Why coherence is different from authenticity or consistency
Parenting, work, and small decisions as tests of alignment
“Slow activism” and the impact of how we show up with others
Rather 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/@whatisagoodlife
Instagram: 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 Practice
30:00  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