Bestselling author Michael Lewis has spent decades practicing the habits of the sharpest business thinkers: questioning assumptions, navigating past blind spots, and revealing why conventional wisdom so often leads smart people astray.

Lewis is the author of a remarkable run of business bestsellers, including Liar's Poker, Moneyball, Flash Boys, The Big Short, Boomerang, The Undoing Project, and Going Infinite. Both Moneyball and The Big Short were made into Oscar Best Picture-nominated films, as was The Blind Side, another of Lewis's non-fiction classics.

In this exclusive episode of Monday Morning Radio, Lewis reflects on why true success derives from taking the long view rather than aiming for quick results, and how doing the hard, unglamorous work others avoid can create an outsized, enduring advantage.

Lewis's conversation with founding Monday Morning Radio host Dean Rotbart was recorded when the author was honored as a Business News Visionary. While the interview dates back several years, in this abridged version of their talk, the insights Lewis shares are strikingly current — offering inspired ideas that apply to entrepreneurs, executives, and business owners navigating uncertainty, disruption, and change today.

[Michael Lewis will be featured in All You Can Eat Business Wisdom: Second Helpings, coming in April 2026. The anthology is the sequel of co-host Maxwell Rotbart's award winning first edition, All You Can Eat Business Wisdom: A Monday Morning Radio Anthology of Actionable Advice.]

Monday Morning Radio is hosted by the father-son duo of Dean and Maxwell Rotbart.

Photo Credit: Tabitha Soren
Posted: January 19, 2026
Monday Morning Run Time: 49:22
Episode: 14.33

The Great Writers Series from Roy H. Williams: YouTube Shorts
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Many entrepreneurs and business owners know how to make money. Far fewer truly understand how to protect it, manage it wisely, and plan for the long arc of life once the hard work of earning is done.

Jeffrey Panik is a U.S. Army veteran and a certified financial planner with more than 25 years of experience helping individuals, families, and business owners clarify complex financial decisions. He is the founder of Balance Wealth Partners and the author of two practical, plain-spoken books, one with a focus on young adults who are just starting out and the other on those individuals who are approaching retirement.

Your Future Is Now: A Guide to Mastering Your Finances and Independence

Your Future Is Now: Your Blueprint for Solving Your Retirement Puzzle

Rather than offering one-size-fits-all prescriptions, Jeff shares his emphasis on individualized planning, long-term thinking, and the importance of communication — between spouses, across generations, and with trusted advisors. Drawing on both professional experience and personal history, he challenges common assumptions about financial planning and retirement readiness.

Jeff's bottom line can be summarized in six words: clarity today can prevent regret tomorrow.

Monday Morning Radio is hosted by the father-son duo of Dean and Maxwell Rotbart.

Photo: Jeffrey Panik, Balance Wealth Partners
Posted: January 12, 2026
Monday Morning Run Time: 39:02
Episode: 14.32

POPULAR EPISODES:

• Sweet Success: How Two First-Timers Revitalized a 110-Year-Old Chocolate Brand

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Monica Ballard knows why so many marketing campaigns fail. It's not for lack of clever slogans, talented spokespeople, or catchy jingles.

Surprisingly, the cause is trying to project "perfection" rather than authenticity, which includes acknowledging the struggles and risks inherent in running a business.

Monica is a veteran marketing strategist, storyteller, and one of the elite Wizard of Ads Partners.

Drawing on her background in theater, radio, and live performance, Monica explains why empathy and emotional honesty create bonds with customers and prospects that no discount or gimmick ever could.

Being real isn't a liability, Monica assures — it's a decisive competitive advantage.

Monday Morning Radio is hosted by the father-son duo of Dean and Maxwell Rotbart.

Photo: Monica Ballard, Wizard of Ads
Posted: January 5, 2026
Monday Morning Run Time: One Hour, Six Minutes
Episode: 14.31

Hear From Other Featured Wizard of Ads Partners:

• How Vi Wickam's Strategic Focus Delivers Extraordinary Results

• Mick Torbay Will Change the Way You Think About Marketing Forever

• Johnny Molson, a Marketing Maestro, on the Two Words That Transform Branding

• Steve Semple: Strategies to Rev Your Advertising and Marketing Campaigns

Ruben Gonzalez, four-time record-holding Olympian, bestselling author, and sought-after keynote speaker, returns to Monday Morning Radio for a wide-ranging, deeply practical conversation about perseverance, belief, and the wisdom of following proven leaders.

Ruben's story is anything but conventional. He didn't begin competing at an elite level until his mid-20s, and has never used his lack of natural athleticism as an excuse for falling short.

His career — on the luge track and beyond — has been built on desire, discipline, and a stubborn refusal to quit. Now in his 60s, he offers practical strategies for building courage through small daily choices, managing risk intelligently rather than avoiding it, and reframing success not as medals or riches, but as significance — the impact you have on others.

As always, this episode draws out insights that go beyond inspiration, focusing on actionable steps every listener can take to compete at their highest level — in sports, business, and life.

[More details on Cafe Olympia Coaching are available here.]

Monday Morning Radio is hosted by the father-son duo of Dean and Maxwell Rotbart.

Photo: Ruben Gonzalez
Posted: December 29, 2025
Monday Morning Run Time: 47:14
Episode: 14.30

RUBEN'S PREVIOUS APPEARANCES:

• Has Anyone Ever Told You That You're Too Old to Chase Your Dream?

• "Iron Sharpens Iron"

• From Benchwarmer to Olympic Record Holder and Business Champion

This week, hosts Dean and Maxwell Rotbart offer their third annual holiday treat for Monday Morning Radio listeners: a reading of the inspirational adult Yuletide tale, A Christmas Day Miracle, by Dean and Talya Rotbart.

Since the book was first published in 2021, it has become a perennial holiday favorite.

A Christmas Day Miracle tells the true story of one man, Riyaz Adat, on death's doorstep, his devoted wife, Margaret, and Riyaz's miraculous survival and recovery. It's a poignant reminder for people of all faiths of the wonder and power of life's unexpected blessings.

This is a once-a-year exclusive presentation you don't want to miss.

A Christmas Day Miracle is available in a keepsake softcover edition on Amazon for only $9.75.

Photo: Riyaz and Margaret Adat
Posted: December 22, 2025
Monday Morning Run Time: 1 Hour 30 Minutes
Episode: 14.29

Other books from TJFR Press:

• But I Said I'm Sorry — A book for children 5-11 years old. Highly recommended by Dr. Laura Schlessinger

• The Boy Who Answered the Call of Kilimanjaro: The Adventures of Riyaz — Based on the true story of a Tanzanian boy who sets out on an adventure, walking with two schoolmates more than 600 miles from Dar es Salaam to Mt. Kilimanjaro. (Also available from Amazon in Spanish and French)

• All You Can Eat Business Wisdom: A Monday Morning Radio Anthology of Actionable Advice — Described by Kirkus Reviews as a well-mounted business self-help book that's actually helpful – and a good read, too.

• Perfectly Ordinary, Yet Extraordinary: Making a Meaningful Difference in the Lives of Others — An inspirational text designed to facilitate the undertaking of homegrown charitable projects.

• September Twelfth: An American Comeback Story — A thrilling and inspiring tale of journalistic dedication — Kirkus Reviews

David Ackert is making a list and checking it twice — but he's no Santa Claus. The gifts he brings are practical, powerful insights for professionals who want to grow their businesses and advance their careers.

As co-founder and CEO of Ackert, Inc. and its subsidiary, PipelinePlus, David challenges the long-held belief that success depends on building a massive network of connections. In his view, quantity is a distraction. What truly matters is cultivating a small, carefully curated list of 9 to 30 "high-value" relationships — the people who have the greatest likelihood of helping you reach your goals. Everyone else? Send them a Christmas card.

David is the author of The Short List: How to Drive Business Development by Focusing on the People Who Matter Most, an Amazon bestseller and Gold Winner of the 2025 Nonfiction Book Awards.

This week on Monday Morning Radio, he explains how to identify and prioritize the relationships that matter most, how to gracefully prune an overgrown network, and how to create meaningful new connections — even with influential strangers.

Monday Morning Radio is hosted by the father-son duo of Dean and Maxwell Rotbart.

Photo: David Ackert, PipelinePlus
Posted: December 15, 2025
Monday Morning Run Time: 46:48
Episode: 14.28

POPULAR EPISODES:

• Mega-Bestselling Author Andrew Matthews Captures the Simple Secrets of Success and Resilience

• From Classroom to Boardroom: How Teacher Maria Fraietta Turned a $50 Investment into a $34 Million Juggernaut

• How Terry Rich Turned Elephant Dung to Gold, and How You Can Also Be a Business Alchemist

Ken Lain's father-in-law, Harold Watters, opened a garden center in semi-arid, mountainous Prescott, Arizona, in 1962.

Six decades later, garden centers aren't exactly giving e-commerce companies and Big Box home improvement centers much in the way of competition, and countless brick-and-mortar retailers have gone out of business. Yet Ken, his wife, Lisa, and their daughter, McKenzie, have continued to make their third-generation family business, Waters Garden Center, bloom.

Now, the Lains stand at the cusp of an ambitious expansion into new markets. This week father and daughter share the nutrient-rich business strategies that every small enterprise can use to grow its own remarkable success story.

[Ken and McKenzie Lain will be featured in All You Can Eat Business Wisdom: Second Helpings, coming in 2026. The anthology is the sequel of co-host Maxwell Rotbart's award winning first edition, All You Can Eat Business Wisdom: A Monday Morning Radio Anthology of Actionable Advice.]

Monday Morning Radio is hosted by the father-son duo of Dean and Maxwell Rotbart.

Photo: Ken and McKenzie Lain, Watters Garden Center
Posted: December 8, 2025
Monday Morning Run Time: 58:42
Episode: 14.27

RELATED EPISODES:

1. Cultivating Big Profits in a Small Market

2. It Was True in 1959, It's Still True Today: An Educated Consumer Is the Best Customer

3. Dean Guida Bootstrapped His Way to Building a Multinational Enterprise Software Company

What animal has nine brains, eight arms, three hearts, adapts rapidly, and possesses exceptional intelligence?

Yes, the description applies to octopuses. But according to Stephen Wunker, managing director of New Markets Advisors, it is also an apt description of business owners and CEOs who harness artificial intelligence to transform their companies into super-high-performing organizations.

Steve and his colleagues advise companies and organizations, including Microsoft, Meta, Nike, and the World Bank, on innovation strategy and capabilities. His latest book, co-authored with futurist Jonathan Brill, is AI and the Octopus Organization: Building the Superintelligent Firm.

Steve, who previously was a guest on this podcast in April 2024, sees the cephalopod's decentralized decision-making, lightning-fast problem-solving, and hyper-responsive behavior as an ideal model for AI-empowered leadership.

As he explains, winning with AI doesn't mean squeezing new tools into old systems. It requires leaders to rethink — even rewire — how their organizations operate so they can swim with the intelligence and adaptability of an octopus.

Monday Morning Radio is hosted by the father-son duo of Dean and Maxwell Rotbart.

Photo: Stephen Wunker, New Markets Advisors
Posted: December 1, 2025
Monday Morning Run Time: 44:44
Episode: 14.26

RELATED EPISODES:

• The Inspiring and Frightening Advance of Artificial Intelligence and What It Portends for Your Business

• Dr. Michael Lenox Explains Why Keeping Up with AI and Other Technologies is a Matter of Business Survival

• Raj Venkatesan is One of the Nation's Most Respected Experts on Using AI to Drive Sales