What is a Good Life? #173 - The Place Of Multiple Belongings with Dave Snowden

In this episode of What is a Good Life?, Mark McCartney sits down with Dave Snowden - Founder and Chief Scientific Officer of The Cynefin Co., creator of the Cynefin Framework, and one of the most original thinkers working at the intersection of complexity science, organisational design, and human decision-making.

The conversation moves through substrate theory, complexity science, psychological safety, the dangers of homogenisation, coherent heterogeneity, Celtic identity, indigenous rights, conflict resolution in Northern Ireland, and what a good life really comes down to.

It is a beautiful mixture of thought provoking ideas and powerful lived experiences.

For more from Dave Snowden:
Website: https://thecynefin.co/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dave-snowden-2a93b/

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/ ⁨@whatisagoodlife3875⁩  

00:00  Substrate and What Emerges
02:37  Fed Up With Management Fads
05:54  When Ideas Come Together
07:25  Celtic Presence and Attention
10:20  The Reformation's Long Shadow
13:28  The Problem With Safety
16:38  Phase Shifts and Flipping
21:17  Changing the Granularity
24:48  Witnessing Violence
29:12  Identity as Flow
37:43  Metaphor as Intelligence
51:57  What Is a Good Life?

What is What is a Good Life??

A project exploring the big questions around how we live, who we are and what actually matters. Over the past four years, I’ve sat with more than 300 people — artists, parents, executives, wanderers, therapists, and strangers and invited them into a simple but profound inquiry, "What is a good life for you?"
The conversations explore presence, paradox, uncertainty, and the moments that shape a life - love and loss, trust and fear, clarity and not knowing. It’s an invitations to slow down, to listen deeply, and to bring you into conversation with your own life. There are new episodes every Tuesday.