What Is A Good Life? #148 - Finding Silence In A World Full Of Noise with Leigh Marz

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 NoiseAstrea Strategies: https://astreastrategies.com/Her website: https://leighmarz.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/markcmccartney00:03 – Intro & why start with questions04:03 – Origins of the silence inquiry & HBR article09:00 – “What’s the deepest silence you’ve known?” 12:41 – Freedom moment: “Silence teems with life” 16:41 – Quiet together: practices beyond meditation24:44 – Mapping noise: auditory, informational, internal29:33 – 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 system52:00 - How the inquiry into silence has shaped Leigh58:12 – Leigh’s response to “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​