Welcome to The LifeLong Leap

How can we future-proof college students when careers are changing faster than anyone can predict? And this isn’t just about college students; it’s about all of us. AI is changing how people find jobs, how employers hire, and what the first rung of a career looks like. Meanwhile, universities are under pressure to prove their worth in job offers and salaries. So what is a university for now, and how should it prepare students for a future without a map? I sat down with Dr. Andy Rich, president of Franklin & Marshall College, who is reshaping what a liberal arts education looks like. We talk about why Andy believes developing the next generation of leaders is “the most consequential work a person can do,” why preparing good citizens matters as much as preparing for careers, and why he thinks liberal arts institutions are made for this moment. Andy shares how F&M’s new Mehlman Leadership and Performance Institute puts leadership, an entrepreneurial mindset, and civic engagement at the center of the student experience, and why everyone benefits from learning to think like an entrepreneur. He also explains why asking new students what career they want makes them tense up, while asking what they’re curious about opens them up. We also explore which human capabilities matter more as AI advances, what universities should teach that AI can’t, and how colleges have reinvented themselves before. And for anyone still figuring out what comes next, at any age, Andy shares what he tells every graduating class. I came away convinced that the capabilities we once called soft are the ones we can least afford to leave to chance. Chapters 00:00 — What is a university really for? 02:15 — Why young people can see further than the rest of us 05:30 — Have we forgotten that colleges train citizens? 09:10 — Why liberal arts institutions are made for this moment 14:12 — Drawing new maps: leadership and an entrepreneurial mindset 17:28 — Ask students what they’re curious about, not what job they want 23:14 — If AI has the answers, what should universities teach? 29:05 — Why aren’t we using AI to solve our biggest problems? 35:37 — Universities have reinvented themselves before 41:00 — Success is never linear: Advice for every graduating class About Andy Rich Dr. Andy Rich is the 17th president of Franklin & Marshall College and a strong advocate for the liberal arts. He previously served as dean of the Colin Powell School at the City College of New York, CEO of the Harry S. Truman Scholarship Foundation, and president and CEO of the Roosevelt Institute. A Truman Scholar himself, he holds a Ph.D. in political science from Yale. Links & resources https://www.fandm.edu/ https://www.fandm.edu/centers-institutes-and-initiatives/mehlman-leadership-and-performance-institute/ https://www.linkedin.com/in/andrew-rich/ Credits Hosted by Janine Mathó. Produced by Janine Mathó and Richard Lewis. Please listen, follow, rate, and review The LifeLong Leap on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen to podcasts. Follow @janinematho on social media. Visit janinematho.com and send your questions or guest pitches to [email protected].

Have you ever felt like the life you're living isn't quite the life you want? This is the first episode of Living the Leap, a special series featuring people in the middle of change, before they know exactly how their story turns out. Faith Lyons and her husband had built a good life in London: a thriving career, friends, family nearby, and two young children. But when they sat down together and compared the values they wanted their family life to reflect with how they were actually living, "zero percent matched." So they decided to change it. In 2024, Faith, her Finnish-American husband, and their two children left London for rural Finland. Nearly two years later, they're building a house on family land, raising their children in a language Faith is still learning, and figuring out who they are in the life they chose. Faith is the founder of The Nugget App and spent nearly 20 years living and working in cities around the world. We talk about how she and her husband knew something needed to change, how they made the decision together, and what the move has changed about motherhood, marriage, work, identity, and her definition of success. I loved meeting Faith in the middle of her story, while the answers are still unfolding. Chapters 00:15 — What if the life you built no longer fits? 03:49 — Do your values match the life you’re actually living? 10:06 — How do you make a life-changing decision together? 12:56 — The move was only the first hard decision 16:22 — She didn’t realize how fast she was going until she stopped 21:33 — “I still don’t know who Faith is in Finland” 29:32 — When changing your life changes your definition of success 36:20 — Staying can be a decision too 42:50 — Learning to trust the big decisions About Faith Lyons Faith Lyons has traveled to 64 countries and called six home. She spent nearly 20 years living and working in global cities from Guatemala to Miami, DC, Port-au-Prince, Singapore, NYC, and London, managing multi-million-dollar humanitarian responses and global partnerships. After becoming a mom and experiencing how isolating parenthood can be without welcoming places for families, she founded The Nugget App to help families find places they can enjoy together, from baby to grandparent. In 2024, Faith and her Finnish-American husband packed up their two young children and traded London for rural Finland, moving to the forest for more time together and a slower pace of life. Faith is a huge proponent of living a life of many chapters and knowing when to slow down to enjoy the current one. Links & resources Join us! The Nugget App https://www.thenugget.app/ Instagram: @thenugget.app LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/falyons/ Book a call: https://gumdrop.ai/faith/ Credits: Hosted by Janine Mathó. Produced by Janine Mathó and Richard Lewis.

Have you ever found yourself carrying more and more simply because you can? So many of us feel that the only way to keep up with the pace of life is to take on more and move faster. But what if becoming more capable doesn't mean pushing yourself harder? Psychologist Dr. Dan Peters and I talk about the surprising difference between competence and capacity, why highly capable people are often so good at overriding the signals that tell them to slow down, and how to notice what your body is telling you before you've pushed yourself too far. We also explore a question that's getting harder to ignore: if AI allows us to do more and move faster, does that mean we should? Dan shares what technology can genuinely help us with, where human connection still matters, and why understanding ourselves doesn't always lead to real change. And after nearly three decades of working with people, Dan shares something he wishes he'd understood much earlier about becoming who we really are, rather than who we think we're supposed to be. This conversation made me rethink what it actually means to become more capable in a world that keeps asking more of us. Chapters 00:14 — Becoming more capable of meeting change 04:06 — When your usual strengths stop working 07:05 — Are we taking in more than we can hold? 10:55 — High performers are very good at overriding the signals 15:44 — If AI lets us do more, should we do more? 19:00 — We confuse competence with capacity 25:30 — When people no longer fit the systems we built 34:12 — Understanding yourself isn’t the same as changing 40:26 — How much of who we are have we learned to hide? About Dr. Dan Peters Dr. Dan Peters, Ph.D., is a licensed psychologist, author, speaker, coach, and host of Make It a Great One with Dr. Dan. For more than 30 years, he has helped people reconnect with themselves so they can live with greater presence, authenticity, and purpose. As Co-Founder and Executive Director of Summit Center, he brings together decades of clinical psychology, coaching, and leadership experience to help people become more fully themselves. Links & resources Dr. Dan Peters: https://www.drdanpeters.com/ Make It a Great One with Dr. Dan Peters: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/make-it-a-great-one-with-dr-dan-1-podcast-for/id1157097748 Credits: Hosted by Janine Mathó. Produced by Janine Mathó and Richard Lewis.

Have you ever sat down to do something that really needed your attention and a few minutes later realized your mind was everywhere except where you wanted it to be? I do it too. And all those little moments add up to something bigger. Because attention isn’t only about getting our work done; we need it to read, learn, think something through, notice what’s happening around us, and really listen to another person. So what happens when we live in an environment that is constantly pulling our attention somewhere else? And can we learn to take it back? Our guest is cognitive psychologist and bestselling author Mark Tigchelaar, named by The Times as “the world’s leading expert in focus.” He has spent more than two decades studying attention, focus and sustainable performance. But Mark doesn't only study how our brains perform. He's climbed Mont Blanc, completed a 72-hour Hell Week with the Dutch Navy SEALs, and learned to skydive, putting his knowledge of focus to some pretty extreme tests. We talk about why we get distracted even when we've put our phones away; what happens in our brains every time we're interrupted; why scrolling isn't actually giving us a break; and why Mark believes we need to create more “islands of attention in a world full of noise.” And we take the conversation beyond individual habits. What happens when our workplaces make it almost impossible to focus? What does sustainable high performance actually require? And what should we be teaching children about attention and learning in a world of AI? This conversation made me think differently about something most of us give away hundreds of times a day without really noticing: our attention. Chapters 00:14 — Can we learn to take our attention back? 02:11 — What jumping out of a plane taught Mark about attention 07:09 — Create islands of attention in a world full of noise 14:57 — The hidden cost of every interruption 24:06 — Your mind may be more distracting than your phone 35:05 — Scrolling isn’t relaxation. It’s sedation. 40:51 — What does sustainable high performance really require? 50:17 — What are we teaching children about attention? 56:08 — What do we need to protect in ourselves? About Mark Tigchelaar Mark Tigchelaar is a cognitive psychologist and bestselling author named by The Times as “the world’s leading expert in focus.” His six books on focus and attention have been translated into more than 20 languages. He has trained over 100,000 people across 1,600+ keynotes on how to work with — instead of against — a distracted brain. Diagnosed with severe dyslexia only after secondary school, he turned his own struggle with attention into his life's work. His mission is simple: help people stop scrolling their lives away. Links & resources Mark Tigchelaar: https://marktigchelaar.com/ Focus On/Off: https://marktigchelaar.com/author/ Mark Tigchelaar on LinkedIn:https://www.linkedin.com/in/mark-tigchelaar-focus/ Credits: Hosted by Janine Mathó. Produced by Janine Mathó and Richard Lewis.

How Do We Thrive in a World That Never Stops Changing?