The School of Greatness

A marriage can end over a bag of granola, a full year before anyone says the word divorce.
James Sexton, a divorce lawyer for over two decades, sat down with Lewis and told the story of a client whose husband always quietly restocked her favorite granola. One day the bag ran out and he never noticed. She knew right then that it was over.
He calls marriage a technology that fails about 53% of the time, and says most couples put more thought into the wedding cake than into what they are signing. In his book If You're in My Office, It's Already Too Late: A Divorce Lawyer's Guide to Staying Together, he shares what works: send the hard email while the hurt is still small, and get a prenup even when you feel certain. He also explains why infidelity usually starts with lost connection long before anyone cheats.
The line I keep repeating to people: the opposite of love is indifference. And he still believes in marriage. He compares it to the lottery, where the prize is so good that it is worth buying a ticket.
You will finish this one wanting to do some small, kind thing for your partner tonight without asking for credit. If you care about relationships and honest communication, you will probably start a conversation you have been putting off.
How to Stay in Love
If You're In My Office, It's Already Too Late: A Divorce Lawyer's Guide to Staying Together
James on Instagram
James on YouTube
Better Call Sexton Podcast
In this episode, you’ll:
Rethink the prenup as a conversation about caring for each other, not a bet against your marriage
Understand the Go Without or Go Elsewhere dynamic behind infidelity, and why sharing desires openly protects your connection
Discover why James Sexton treats marriage as a technology, with trade-offs to understand before you sign up
Learn the Hit Send Now habit for voicing what bothers you while it's still small enough to fix
See how small, unaddressed disconnections erode a relationship long before anyone calls a divorce lawyer
Get the Yours, Mine and Ours approach to money, so financial stress stops turning into resentment
For more information go to https://lewishowes.com/1991
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People tell you the truth when they feel safe, and one raised eyebrow can shut them down.
Brad Beeler, who spent 25 years as a US Secret Service agent and polygraph examiner, sat down with Lewis and explained how he got a couple thousand people to open up about the worst things they had ever done. His rule is simple: never punish the disclosure. He once watched a suspect go silent the second a flash of contempt crossed his face.
You will hear why a neutral face reads as a threat in first impressions and why lie detection is close to a coin flip, with people getting it right only 54% of the time. Brad watches your feet to see how comfortable you are, and he treats every cue as a check engine light to follow up on later. He also shares the cases he got wrong, including the day he fixated on a 6 foot 4 biker while the quiet man in front of him kept saying “that's not it.”
His book, Tell Me Everything, grew out of those mistakes, and the lessons carry straight into your relationships and your parenting. Swap “why did you do that” for “help me understand” and give the other person an off ramp to save face. Lewis admits how hard that is when someone has hurt you, and Brad admits he lost his cool with his own son's coach.
After this one, you will catch your own face in the next hard conversation. And you will probably ask one more question before you say “me too.”
Tell Me Everything: A Secret Service Agent's Proven Strategies for Earning Trust, Revealing the Truth, and Communicating with Anyone
Brad's Website
Brad's Instagram
In this episode you will:
Discover why a Secret Service polygraph expert says spotting lies from body language barely beats a coin flip
Create the judgment free environment that makes people feel safe telling you the truth
Learn the Buddy framework for giving someone an off-ramp to confess without excusing what they did
Build instant rapport with Brad Beeler's FEEL method: family, education, employment, leisure
Treat first impressions as a hypothesis so horns and halos stop steering you wrong
Protect your face from flashing contempt and shutting down a hard disclosure
For more information go to https://lewishowes.com/1990
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You can win four Super Bowls and still spend every game afraid of losing.
Terry Bradshaw, a Pro Football Hall of Famer and longtime host of Fox NFL Sunday, sat down with Lewis and admitted he was never confident as an NFL quarterback. Fear cost him his throwing motion, and he completed just 51.9% of his passes. Underneath it all were his mother’s words when he was eight: you’ll never amount to anything.
He talks openly about depression and ADHD, which he didn’t learn about until after football. He also talks about three divorces, and the moment it hit him that the common factor was him. Three years of counseling and a hard look in the mirror later, he married his best friend, a woman who makes him talk about what he’d rather bury.
In his memoir Looking for Terry, and in this conversation, he explains why he sobbed over his dog but not his mother, and how his wife taught him to say no. He also shares how his faith held through cancer twice in one year, and why he cares more about kindness than greatness.
You’ll come away gentler with your own fear, and maybe ready to ask for the help you’ve been putting off.
Looking for Terry: A Memoir
The Bradshaw Family Cookbook: Our Favorite Recipes for Game Days, Weekdays, and Any Day
Keep It Simple
It's Only a Game
Terry on Instagram
Terry on Facebook
In this episode you will:
Discover how Terry Bradshaw turned childhood criticism and harsh coaching into fuel instead of letting it define him
Break the relationship pattern that repeats when you finally admit the common factor is you
Practice mirror evaluation, the self-honesty exercise Terry uses to see himself clearly without inflating or tearing himself down
Recognize depression and ADD as manageable conditions by talking them out rather than hiding them
Build a marriage grounded in friendship, where saying no is allowed and hard conversations happen
Redefine greatness around kindness and hope rather than trophies or money
For more information go to https://lewishowes.com/1989
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Four out of ten people can't put their hands on $400 in an emergency, and almost none of them know why.
David Bach, who spent nine years at Morgan Stanley and co-founded an advisory firm with more than $7 billion on its platform, sat down with Lewis and made the case that budgets fail everyone while automation quietly works. His book The Latte Factor tells the story through a broke travel editor in Brooklyn who works 70 hours a week and never goes anywhere. He also explains the Rule of 72, why a new car payment eats three months of your year, and how selling a home you live in can hand you a quarter million dollars the government never touches.
The part that will stay with you has nothing to do with money. His grandmother was broke at 30, saved 50 cents a week in a coffee can, and helped him buy his first share of McDonald's stock when he was seven. On her deathbed at 86, he asked her about regrets. Every single one was a fork in the road where she chose the safe path.
Then Lewis puts his own finances on the table and gets told what he's still missing. David talks about sitting in a hospital waiting room days before this conversation, sure his wife was having a stroke, and what that did to his sense of what actually matters. His last piece of advice is about forgiving someone you stopped speaking to.
You will pull out your phone and look at your subscriptions. You may also call someone you've been avoiding for years.
The Automatic Millionaire, 20th Anniversary Edition: A Powerful One-Step Plan to Live and Finish Rich
The Latte Factor: Why You Don't Have to Be Rich to Live Rich
Debt Free for Life: The Finish Rich Plan for Financial Freedom
David's Website
David's Instagram
In this episode you will:
Automate your wealth so money grows while you sleep, instead of relying on a budget you will abandon within a month
Discover the Latte Factor with David Bach and see how small daily spending quietly costs you a million dollars
Apply the Rule of 72 to know exactly how long your money takes to double
Escape the paycheck to paycheck trap that traps seven out of ten Americans who cannot find four hundred dollars in an emergency
Reject get rich quick thinking and build real wealth over decades by owning quality assets you never touch
Forgive the people you resent before that stored pain turns into the regret you carry to the end
For more information go to https://lewishowes.com/1988
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The questions you ask on autopilot might be the reason you feel lonely in a room full of people.
Vanessa Van Edwards, a behavioral researcher who has studied master conversationalists for two decades, sat down with Lewis to talk about why so much of our talking leaves us empty. One in six people worldwide are affected by loneliness, and she believes the way we talk to AI is quietly changing the way we talk to each other.
In her book Conversation, she lays out three levels of connection, from basic facts all the way up to the private story you tell yourself about yourself. She explains why “Been busy?” is the single worst question in small talk, and why asking for stories beats asking for facts every time.
The most honest moment comes when Lewis asks what she still struggles with. Her answer is charging for her own work, a belief she traces back to her early twenties, and you get to hear a level three conversation happen live.
You will walk into your next dinner or team call ready to say “tell me more” and actually mean it. Pick one person you love and ask them a better question tonight. You might be surprised how deep your relationships can go.
Pre-Order: Conversation: How to Connect with Anyone & Make Every Interaction Count
Cues: Master the Secret Language of Charismatic Communication
Captivate: The Science of Succeeding with People
Vanessa on Instagram
Vanessa on YouTube
Vanessa's Website
In this episode you will:
Replace dead end small talk like “Been busy?” with questions that invite stories instead of facts
Discover Dr. Dan McAdams’ three levels of connection to move any conversation past surface chatter
Become a dream builder who adds energy to other people’s ideas instead of poking holes in them
Signal warmth and competence through your body language and voice so people believe what you bring
Rewrite the self narrative holding you back by shifting from contamination stories to redemption stories
Break the loneliness cycle by practicing real conversation skills that AI can never replace
For more information go to https://lewishowes.com/1987
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