Have you ever met someone whose life reads like an adventure novel, yet every chapter carries a lesson you can actually use?
That is exactly the kind of conversation waiting for you in this episode of The Happiness Hour. Your host, Ashu Khanna, a leadership coach and spiritual guide based in India, with Con Conlon, a serial entrepreneur, technology leader and genuine adventurer who has spent over three decades stepping boldly into the unknown.
Con is the founder and director of Merit Data and Technology, a leading provider of data and AI solutions. He has spent over two decades as a tech entrepreneur in Chennai, building, scaling, and exiting businesses across Europe and India. What truly sets Con apart is not just his business track record. It is his willingness to keep showing up, whether in a boardroom or in the middle of the Sahara Desert.
Recently, Con completed the Marathon des Sables in Morocco, widely regarded as one of the toughest endurance races in the world, covering 270 kilometres on foot across the Sahara Desert over seven gruelling days. Just reading about it gives you goosebumps. Hearing him talk about it will change how you think about resilience, mental strength, and how to harness your spiritual power, when you need to push through.
This is not your typical business podcast episode. Yes, there are real lessons about entrepreneurship, leadership mindset, and building companies. But this conversation goes much deeper than that.
At its heart, this episode is about one question: “How do you keep going when everything feels hard?”
Whether you are navigating a difficult phase in your business, questioning your direction, or simply trying to find steadiness in uncertain times, Con's story will speak directly to you. He talks about the serial entrepreneur journey with refreshing honesty - the wins, the failures, the moments of doubt, and the small daily choices that ultimately determine how far you go.
Con started his first business as a university student with little more than a good idea and a lot of grit. What followed was over thirty years of founding, scaling, and exiting technology businesses across two continents. His story reminds us that the path of entrepreneurship is rarely easy or predictable, and that is precisely what makes it worth walking.
One of the most honest parts of this conversation is about exiting businesses. Con talks about how leaders get emotionally attached to what they build and why developing the startup mindset to step back and assess things objectively is one of the hardest and most important skills a leader can develop.
Con did not show up at the start line of the Marathon des Sables by accident. He ran nearly 5,000 kilometres in preparation. More than the physical training, though, it was the mental training that made the difference. He made a commitment to stop complaining for nine months before the race. He pushed himself out of bed on the hardest mornings. He built his mental strength through thousands of small, unglamorous choices. Sound familiar? It should — because this is exactly how resilience is built in business too.
When Con was 70 kilometres into a 100-kilometre desert run, exhausted and struggling, he did not think about the finish line. He thought about the next water checkpoint. Then the one after that. This is the entrepreneur mindset in its purest form - take your big, overwhelming challenge, break it into manageable parts, and just keep moving. As Con puts it simply and brilliantly: “crack on”.
This is where the conversation takes a beautifully human turn. Con and Ashu explore what it really means to be happy as a leader. Not the surface-level kind of happiness that comes from hitting a target or impressing someone else but the deep, steady kind that grows when you stop looking outside yourself for validation and start listening to your inner voice instead. Happiness for leaders is not a reward you receive. It is a leadership mindset you practice every single day.
Con speaks candidly about the role of exercise and movement in keeping him grounded through the pressures of entrepreneurship. For anyone leading a business, well-being is not optional. It is the engine that keeps everything else running.
As businesses grow and challenges multiply, the leaders who stand out are not the ones who never struggle; they are the ones who face difficulty with calm, clarity, and authenticity in leadership. Con's journey from impetuous young founder to grounded, self-aware leader is a masterclass in what transformational leadership actually looks like in real life.
This conversation is warm, honest, and completely free of corporate jargon. Con Conlon is the kind of guest who makes you feel like you are sitting across from a wise friend who has lived a full, rich life and is genuinely happy to share what he has learned.
You will hear real stories from the chaos of landing in Chennai with no preparation, to digging deep at kilometre 70 of a desert ultramarathon, to the quiet but powerful lesson that contentment and self awareness are the real foundations of a life well lived.
This episode is for you if:
You are an entrepreneur navigating uncertainty and looking for a grounded perspective
You are working on your leadership mindset and want honest, lived-in wisdom
You believe that happiness for leaders starts from the inside out
You are curious about what extreme endurance teaches us about everyday resilience
You want to feel genuinely inspired without being sold to
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