Muhammad Lila spent years as a TV war correspondent. Now, he's focused on sharing positive news as the CEO of his own media companySupplied
Muhammad Lila spent years as a war correspondent, leading coverage for ABC and CNN in conflict zones from Afghanistan to Iraq to Ukraine. But after a particularly intense year where he took more than 100 flights to dangerous locales, a question arose in his mind: Why is it we only see negative things on the news?
So, he quit CNN, moved back to Toronto, and began sharing good news stories on his Twitter (X) account. His social media following grew to a million impressions in three months, leading him to create Goodable, a good news app and platform that reaches over 40 million people across the world each month.
In this series, Reimagining Wealth, we explore the evolving definition of wealth in today’s world. Mr. Lila spoke about his passion for putting upbeat news out into the world and its positive effect on mental health.
Can you tell me your journey to becoming a foreign war correspondent?
I was born and raised in Toronto and growing up the only thing I wanted to be was a journalist. I grew up watching CBC, where on The National, [the reporters had] a bunch of funny-sounding names. I had a funny-sounding name growing up, and I would think, ‘If they have a funny-sounding name and can report from around the world, so can I.’
I got my first break on the air as a local reporter at CP24 and then I went to CBC, ABC News and CNN. At my peak at both ABC and CNN, I was covering the world’s biggest and most complicated stories, more often than not from the front lines.
Did you find covering war was hard on your mental health?
Almost every international correspondent I know is carrying some sort of trauma. It can manifest in really unhealthy ways like alcoholism, drug abuse, promiscuity, all that stuff. I’m lucky I had an anchor to keep me grounded, mental health-wise.
I used to come home from long, dangerous assignments and anchor myself in boring, everyday things that most of us take for granted, like playing Scrabble with my family or reading philosophy. It’s amazing how ordinary, run-of-the-mill things can keep you grounded and give you a reason to not be reckless.
Was there a turning point for you where you had to do something else?
I remember an instance at CNN, where I went from covering an assassination to a terror attack to an explosion.
I was interviewing a protester in Afghanistan on street corner. When we finished the interview, he said, ‘Don’t you see where we are right now?’ and I said, ‘What do you mean?’ He said, ‘Look down,’ and I looked down at the sidewalk and it was stained in blood. I looked at my shoes and they were starting to look a little bit red [because] I’d been standing there for so long. I remember going to back to our safe house that evening and frantically trying to clean the blood off my shoes. I think that’s when I realized that there was more to life than covering war zones.
How did you get the idea to develop Goodable?
The idea for [the app] actually came to me while I was being held at gunpoint [in Ukraine]. But it really crystallized during my time at CNN, when I looked at the list of all the places I’d been flying to and every single one of them was because something negative had happened. A plane crash or a famine or a terror attack. I became obsessed with this idea that we only see negative things on the news. I could understand why [that was], but why weren’t we showing positive things as well?
Our vision for Goodable isn’t rocket science. It’s actually the most obvious thing in the world. If the content we consume on our screens is making us miserable, then why don’t we just change the content?
Were you nervous about this career change from journalist to founder?
Yes. Even though I think a lot of the skills are transferable from being in hostile environments to building a startup, I still didn’t know how to raise money. I didn’t know how to hire people, I didn’t know about incorporating.
I remember in the earliest days I was running out of money and worried about my next mortgage payment. I had a conversation with a small angel investor, and she had said she’d be happy to invest in us. Then I met with every VC in Toronto that I could. They all said, ‘Hey, interesting idea. Call us back when you are making money.’ So I texted [the angel investor] and asked, ‘Would you be comfortable being the first money in?’ She said, ‘I would be honoured.’
She wired me a single $10,000 cheque. After that, when I met investors, I [was able to] hand them my phone and say, ‘Here is what we built.’ Suddenly we had a product that they could see and feel. That’s when investors started realizing that when I say I’m going to do something, I do it.
As a busy entrepreneur, what do you do to unwind?
Here’s what keeps me grounded: a warm cup of tea [or other warm drink].
When I was covering war zones, I went to Afghanistan a lot. There are few direct flights, so you usually have to transfer through Dubai. I would always give myself a minimum four-hour stopover in Dubai, just enough time to go to the Dubai Mall. They had a chocolate café there next to the skating rink. I would have this very intense experience in Afghanistan, and eight hours later I would be sitting in the Dubail Mall drinking a chocolate latte, watching kids learn how to skate.
It just felt like when I had that warm cup in my hand, the world was going to be okay.