What is a Good Life? #120
Finding Meaning In Our Work with Mike James Ross
On the 120th episode of the What is a Good Life? podcast, I’m delighted to welcome Mike James Ross. Mike has been a CHRO, author, consultant, investor, lawyer, manager of a peace negotiations project, and a whole host of other things. He is currently advising individuals, teams, and organisations, with a focus on meaningful work. The book he co-authored, Intention, is a practical guide to unsticking yourself and infusing purpose, engagement, and fulfilment into your life.
In this insightful conversation, Mike shares his explorations and research into finding meaning in work, the importance of connection with others, and the societal implications of disengagement in the workforce. He also emphasises the role of love and intention in living a fulfilling life.
This conversation is a wonderful invitation to contemplate the idea of a good life and what is meaningful from the perspective of the collective, beyond simply our own individual perspectives.
The weekly clip from the podcast (4 mins), my weekly reflection (3 mins), the full podcast (72 mins), and the weekly questions all follow below.
1. Weekly Clip from the Podcast
2. My weekly reflection
Given the theme of this week's conversation, I find myself wondering: how did meaning in work become so important to me? What freed me to pursue what truly matters? And I sense I didn’t really have a choice.
Two moments come to mind.
The first was almost ten years ago.
I’m in a meeting room at a big bank; just four of us — myself, a very supportive director from my company, and two women from the bank. It had all been rather jovial up to this point. Then it was my turn to speak about the ideas we had for a leadership programme — a new role, in a new industry, that I worked in for about a year — and something hit me.
I described it to my therapist later as a bolt of electricity shooting from my toes to the crown of my head. I had never felt anything like it. If I hadn’t been in the middle of speaking, I might have oddly enjoyed it.
But back in the room, I couldn’t continue. It happened mid-sentence. I choked on my words.
And it wasn’t one of those moments where you wonder if anyone noticed — they did. One of the women offered me a glass of water, and the director I was with kindly picked up the conversation.
Afterward, over coffee, we talked about it. She knew I had started therapy that year, and meditation too. We even talked about an experience I’d had with ayahuasca. She was fascinated by what I was exploring, but I remember feeling mortified — and confused.
Speaking and presenting had usually come easily to me. In that job, though, I had a handful of experiences where my voice caught — often in simple meetings — despite having spoken comfortably at larger gatherings and conferences before and since.
The second moment came 2.5 years later.
I was in my apartment in Vancouver, about to start a new job that offered a 40% pay increase.
After my time in London, I had taken a sabbatical to India, met my now German wife, and we had moved to Canada.
Eighteen months earlier, toward the end of my sabbatical — with funds running low — I was offered unexpectedly good terms for a job. I told my wife it wasn’t for me, but I’d take it temporarily as a "mercenary," and then we’d get back on the road.
Eighteen months later, that plan had worked well. It was time to move on — but then this new offer arrived. I went back and forth. I knew it wasn’t right for me, but I told myself: just a couple of years, then I’ll really be set.
That weekend, lying on the bed midday, I did a body scan. Out of nowhere, another surge of energy rattled through me — so much so that I picked up the phone to my wife and said, "I can't do this." She agreed without hesitation.
That Monday, instead of starting the new job, I handed in my notice.
Reflecting on why these two moments stand out, the word that comes to mind is liberation.
The first experience contributed to me underperforming in a job for the first time in my life. But the liberation came in realising I was still me afterward — whatever I am at my core remained untouched by success or failure.
I knew then that the way that company saw human change wasn’t how I saw it and it mattered to me. I also took a sabbatical to India because I wanted — and needed — the space to fall further apart if necessary. My inquiries into feeling and paying attention made it clear: I wanted the freedom to say I felt like crap if that was the truth that day.
The closer I got to simply being and expressing myself, the closer I came to what was meaningful to me. The closer I came to feeling what this body was actually experiencing, the less I needed to rely on mental explanations.
In my last year working in finance, unexpected successes arrived — and I earned more than I ever had before. But I noticed: it didn’t really change my day-to-day experience of being.
Since leaving finance, and earning less than at any other time in my career, I’ve noticed something similar: it hasn't really affected my sense of being either.
Don’t get me wrong — I still have moments of stress and fear about finances and responsibilities. But they tend to stay in those moments, without colouring my whole day.
There’s something profoundly freeing about earning both the most and the least within a few short years — and seeing, firsthand, what is absolutely necessary and important to me.
If the high didn’t magically fix everything, then the low doesn’t have the power to break everything.
And that knowledge continues to free me — to follow what feels meaningful — where I still suspect, in the long run, that meaning and material support will find a way to meet.
To explore one-on-one coaching with me
3. Full Episode - Finding Meaning In Our Work with Mike James Ross - What is a Good Life? #120
4. This week’s Questions
What is most meaningful to you about your work?
How often do you reflect on what is most meaningful about your life? Has that changed and evolved much through the years?
About Me
I am a coach, podcast host, and writer, based in Berlin, via Dublin, Ireland. I started this project in 2021, for which I’ve now interviewed over 250 people. I’m not looking to prescribe universal answers, more that the guests’ lines of inquiry, musings, experiences, and curiosities spark your own inquiry into what the question means to you. I am also trying to share more genuine expressions of the human experience and more meaningful conversations.
If you’re interested in exploring your own self-inquiry through one-on-one coaching, joining my 5-week Silent Conversations group courses, or fostering greater trust, communication, and connection within your leadership teams, or simply reaching out, feel free to contact me via email or LinkedIn.