The Meaning of Your Life with Dr. Arthur C. Brooks
Maxwell Leadership Podcast
John Maxwell
4.7 • 2.4K Ratings
🗓️ 20 March 2026
⏱️ 40 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Are you striving for success, yet finding yourself wondering if your achievements really matter? The answer to a fulfilled life may lie in asking deeper questions, not just chasing accomplishments. In this bonus episode of the Maxwell Leadership Podcast, Mark Cole and Jared Cagle are joined by author and professor Arthur C. Brooks to discuss the pillars of a meaningful life (especially in an age of emptiness).
Key takeaways:
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Meaning in life isn't just about setting goals; it's about asking "why" and finding deeper significance in what you do.
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Serving others shifts the focus away from chasing success for its own sake and unlocks fulfillment through impact and connection.
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Every leader's journey is marked by both triumphs and setbacks—true growth comes from learning to find purpose in both.
References:
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Welcome to the Maxwell Leadership Podcast. |
| 0:10.6 | Our podcast is committed really to you. |
| 0:12.9 | We want to add value to you as a leader so that you will multiply value to others. |
| 0:18.6 | I'm Mark Cole, and today I am incredibly excited, not only because |
| 0:23.0 | Jared Kegels beside me. Dude, it is so good to have you in studio with me. But you now know |
| 0:28.7 | this. When I bring Jared in as our EVP of content, our executive vice president of publishing, |
| 0:35.4 | you know something good is about to happen. And I promise |
| 0:39.0 | you, hang with me just for another two minutes. And then you'll be hooked because today I bring to you |
| 0:45.6 | Dr. Arthur Brooks. Now, some of you know him with his books. You know him because of his book |
| 0:51.7 | from strength to strength. Some of you know him because he's a |
| 0:54.7 | professor at Harvard Business School. He's a number one times, our New York Times bestselling author. |
| 1:00.0 | That's John's heartbeat right there. But he's an expert on happiness. He spends his life |
| 1:06.2 | helping you find the happiness within and spread the happiness around. His research has transformed not |
| 1:13.2 | only his life, but the lives of his students, and like you and I, countless individuals |
| 1:18.8 | who get the chance to learn from him through books and podcasts just like this one. Now, I'm super |
| 1:24.5 | excited. I'm holding up a book that you can't have yet. |
| 1:35.3 | On March the 31st, 26, Dr. Brooks is releasing his latest book, The Meaning of Your Life, |
| 1:42.3 | Finding Purpose in an Age of Emptiness. More on how to get that later, we're going to tell that. |
| 2:01.9 | We're going to post that in the show notes. But Dr. Brooks, I really have to tell you from mutual friends, from people that I've heard, and from your own work impacting my life. Thank you for joining us today on the podcast. Thank you, Mark. Thank you, Jared. What an honor it is to be here. I've been following what you've been doing and the Maxwell method that's been lifting people up and bonds of happiness and love around leadership ideas for a long, long time. |
| 2:06.0 | So I feel like I've been on the road to talking to you finally about our issues together |
| 2:10.6 | for years. |
| 2:12.1 | What a delight it is to be here. |
... |
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