Secret Service Agent: How to Get Anyone to Tell You the Truth | Brad Beeler

Lewis Howes (0:02)

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It's not about asking the right questions.

It's creating the environment where the truth doesn't hurt, where they can feel comfortable making that disclosure.

That's a quote from our guest today, Brad Beeler. And if you've ever struggled to get someone to actually open up with you, whether it be your kid, your partner, someone on your team, and you keep wondering why they shut down or why they hold back, then this episode is going to change how you see every conversation you have in your life moving forward. Maybe you've been taught the way to get the truth out of someone is to push harder, ask smarter questions, catch people in something. This former Secret Service agent proves the opposite, that people tell you the truth when they feel safe, not when they feel cornered. And that applies just as much to your marriage and your kids, your coworkers and your peers as it does in a federal interrogation room. In this episode, you're going to learn how to read body language like a trained investigator, why a single facial expression can shut someone down instantly, how to build instant trust and rapport with anyone you meet, and why chasing being interesting will always lose to being genuinely interested. Brad Beeler spent 25 years as a US. Secret Service agent, protecting presidents, interviewing thousands of people, and becoming one of the agency's top polygraph examiners and behavioral experts. My name is Lewis Howes. Welcome to The School of Greatness, and let's go ahead and dive in. You've been around some of the most powerful and influential people in the world, and some of the most, I guess, disgusting people in the world are people who have done disgusting acts. How many people have you interviewed over your years?

Brad Beeler (2:34)

Probably a couple thousand.

Lewis Howes (2:35)

Couple thousand. These are people who have done crimes or potentially done crimes, right?

Brad Beeler (2:39)

Not all of them. Alleged to have committed crimes. A lot of people I did talk to, we cleared. They didn't commit those acts. Really?

Lewis Howes (2:46)

Man, that's tough. It's got to be tough when you have to clear them. We're like, okay, they didn't commit it too, right?

Brad Beeler (2:50)

Sometimes, that's the greatest day you have, is that you come into a situation. I remember one, an individual was accused of domestic terrorism. He was actually convicted of material support of domestic terrorism post 9-11.

Post 9-11, we had a fervor in the United States about certain activities, and this individual was accused of that, was convicted of that. Some information came up that maybe wasn't the case. This individual was offered a global plea agreement by the Department of Justice, where if he passed this polygraph, he would be given this amount of years versus if he didn't, he'd be given this amount of years. And so, this was an individual I shared nothing in common with. This individual did not like America, but yet he, it turned out, did not do the thing that he was accused of. Really? Honestly, it was probably the most proud interview that I ever did, because I was able to try to hold back my personal views of him personally, and focus on the job at hand, and get him in the right headspace to prove that he was innocent.

Lewis Howes (3:49)

So he didn't like America, but he didn't commit the crime that he was accused of.

Brad Beeler (3:54)

Correct.

Lewis Howes (3:55)

So did he still go to prison?

Brad Beeler (3:56)

He went to prison for some financial crimes, stuff that he did. Other stuff. Yeah, that we were investigating, but he didn't do the major deed that he was accused of. Interesting.

Lewis Howes (4:06)

So how do you remove your personal feelings of like this guy's still a bad guy, right? He did something wrong over here, let's get him for this other thing too. How do you remove that personal feeling, and really try to just get the right information to serve him, even though you know he's supposed to go to jail anyways?