Kindness over greatness: Bradshaw, Brolin, Mel Robbins and a ten-year-old on treating people well
Terry Bradshaw explains why kindness is what moves him after three divorces and depression, ten-year-old Elton puts kindness and friendship first, Mel Robbins makes don't be a jerk one of her lessons for people in their 20s, and Josh Brolin talks about money, gratitude and treating people well. Coming from a champion, a child, a coach and an actor, the same priority offers a counterweight to measuring a life only by achievement.
How you treat people counts for more than how high you climb. That is where four very different conversations land: Terry Bradshaw's talk with Lewis Howes, a ten-year-old named Elton on Mel Robbins's show, Robbins's own advice for people in their 20s, and Josh Brolin's conversation with Joe Rogan.
Terry Bradshaw, who won four Super Bowls, pushes back on the very idea of greatness. America, he says, is always looking for who is number one, and the word is overused. When Howes offers his own definition, Bradshaw answers that "the greatest impact you can have on people is being nice to them." His view grows out of hard experience: a mother who told him at about eight that he would never amount to anything, a pro coach who never gave him confidence, three divorces and depression. He says love and kindness are what move him, that with a fortune he would feed the hungry and shelter the homeless rather than build monuments to himself, and that a warm personality is good business.
Elton gives the most direct answer. Asked what matters most in life, he says being kind, because it usually determines whether people want to be your friend. He explains kindness as something like karma, and asks what you have really accomplished if you spend your life being a jerk. He also offers tools: treat others how they want to be treated, and steer a group chat away from gossip by changing the subject, for instance by asking where everyone is going for pizza tomorrow.
Mel Robbins turns the idea into daily habits. Stop gossiping about friends and leaving dirty dishes for roommates; start sincerely thanking the person who hands you your coffee, holding doors gladly and smiling at people. If you were once the bully or the toxic friend, she says, it is never too late to apologize, and in her experience people forgive about 95% of the time. Titles and salaries matter less in the long run than your connections, because opportunities come from people, and she urges celebrating friends' wins instead of feeling robbed.
Josh Brolin and Joe Rogan make the point from the other side. Money and fame become dangerous when they make people treat others as beneath them, snapping at service workers. Rogan describes jiu-jitsu as a place to kill your ego so you can be kind outside the gym.
The four differ in where kindness comes from. For Bradshaw it was learned the hard way; for Elton it is a first principle; for Robbins it is a set of habits; for Brolin and Rogan it shows up mainly as a warning about money and ego. They also differ on kindness toward yourself: Elton and Robbins extend it inward, while Bradshaw's inward work is a brutally honest look in the mirror. None of them treats kindness as tolerating everything: Bradshaw can't stand famous people who are not nice, and Robbins tells listeners to choose people who are kind to them.
Kindness is not a cure on its own, either. Bradshaw credits counseling, medication, faith and his wife with helping him, and Elton goes to therapy. Anyone struggling with depression or similar problems should seek a qualified professional's advice.
What to do with it: ask yourself Elton's question about your own life, thank the people who serve you, talk to one new person a day, apologize for old unkindness, take an honest look at yourself, celebrate other people's wins, and don't let money change how you treat people.