Live With Les Brown, Rex Sikes and Danny Walsh

Foreign. Hi, everybody, and welcome. Welcome to another episode of create your best life with Rex. And I'm Rex Sykes and I'm your host. And I gotta tell you, you're going, whoa, this is. This is different. It's not the regular day. We. We record. We go live every Wednesday at a certain time, and this is not that day, but we have a very, very special guest. So this is a very, very special show. And what you should know is it's also available in replay. So when this is done, you want to share it out to your friends and your family, your co workers or wherever, please go ahead and share the show. If you got questions or comments, you can put them in the chat room with us live or in replay. So let me tell you a little bit about my guest. He is incredible. He is invincible. He is invaluable, and he is inimitable. He is the one and only, a learner, a laugher, a lover of life, Mr. Les Brown. And so I'm welcoming. Rest to the rec. Sorry, welcoming Les to the show now. And. And you get to meet him, if you don't already know him. He's an author and a speaker and a transformer and a change agent. And I'm waiting for them to bring you up. Les, there you are. Hi, sir.

How are you?

I am fantastic. Now, the people should know that you and I spent this morning doing another show like this for the Los Angeles Tribune Leadership Week, because you are a very important part of that program because you are a leader, you're an inspiration to so many people and you have a reach all around the world. So if people don't know that that event starts the 1st of May and goes to the 7th, and you're going to be part of that, they can watch that discussion with us because it'll be a different discussion and they're certainly going to want to see that. What say you, sir?

Well, I'm excited about that. And I'm particularly excited about our conversation today on what does it take in order to make it today, given all the stuff that's going on, the noisiness, all of the distractions, the disruptions of artificial intelligence replacing over 325 million jobs with people trying to decide, what am I going to do next? The foreclosures, they're high. Domestic violence, the violence with young people. When I was a kid, we went to the funerals of old people. Now we're going to the funerals of young people. I talked to a minister and she said that she buried 49 young men. And so when we think about where we are in this climate and all the stuff that's happening politically and internationally, it has a trickled out effect that's affecting a lot of people who are snapping, who feel like we're on a constant alert. We don't know what's going to happen next. And so to be anchored mentally and emotionally and spiritually, I think it's very important today.

Oh, that's incredible. You know, and it is true. I mean, it's a sad fact that the landscape has changed, the world has changed, and that people are confronting some things that they've never ever had to experience before. And that sadly, you know, statistics are that the young people are not outliving their parents today, that they are financially worse off and that their life expectancy is less than their parents. I mean, that's truly a sad statistic. But before we get into this really important topic, I want to bring my co host on Mr. Danny Walsh, because we have. You have a connection with Danny, too?

Oh, yeah. Danny is my brother from another mother. We have history together. Come on, Danny.

It's been a while.

Yes.

Rex Sykes, Friday. Oh, man, this is going to be a lot of fun.

Yes, it is. Friday. Yes.

Oh, man, Les, it's been a while.

I'm telling you, man, but you're looking good and I'm working to catch up with you. I love your beard.

Thanks so much. Loving you. And you just seem to, like, every time I see you, you get like younger. I don't know how you do it. What's the secret?

But, well, I, I say to people that when we're born, we look like our parents, but as we get older, we look like the life that we're living. And I'm a happy camper.

Of course. And I think that leads us into the topic nicely, though. That's right. Because, oh, man, you just, you've just met some real talk, right there's. We're burying young people and I was talking the other day with Rex, you could probably say 30, 40 of the, the kids from my school class, and I'm like in my 40s. They're either dead or in jail. And that's, you know, from a little town in England. And this is, man, a big thing. How do we make it today?

Well, one of the most important things and, and one of the books that I love very much and probably read around 12 times is man's Search for Meaning by Victor Frankl. And he talk about the fact that the Jews that were able to survive the inexpressible cruelties of Nazism had three things going for them. Either they had some loved ones that they were determined to see or some spiritual commitment that gave them the mental and emotional wherewithal to handle what they were going through, or they had some cause that they believed in that was bigger than themselves. And to me, when we look at what we're going through right now, life is cyclic. You know, it's a roller coaster. I've learned this in my 79 years on the planet. I used to think people in their 40s who are old, but now that I'm 79, I served at the Lord's supper, but I got a lot of good tips. But life is like a roller coaster. Sometimes you're up, sometimes you're down. Sometimes things go well, and sometimes they don't go well. I was talking to a young man today, and I said, I want you to think about having a must have list for yourself. And he said, what do you mean by that? I believe that the people who are going to make it now, the people who have some goals and dreams, that they say it's a must have. I was born in an abandoned building on the floor in a poor section of Miami, Florida, called Liberty City. And I made up my mind at age 5. Mama, what is it, Leslie? My mother used to clean the homes of wealthy families on Miami Beach. And I said, when I become a man, I'm about you. A big, beautiful home just like this. And she said, leslie, you don't have to do that. I said, no, I know, but I want to. Mama. My twin brother and I, we were foster kids. And Mama, ultimately, when we were in our teens, she adopted us. But that was a dream. And then one of the things that we know, that when you're young, the things that we experience between zero and seven. And Martin Siloman, who wrote the book called Learned Optimism, he said, we receive downloads from our environment, from the people around us, the conversations we hear, the things that we see, the feedback from the circumstances that we're in that follow us for the rest of our lives. And I was a dreamer as a young kid. I didn't have enough sense to know that we were poor. We were poor, but I didn't know it. And so I had this dream of buying Mama a home, and I promised her she would not go into a nursing home. And I kept that promise. I bought her four different homes before she passed. And I resigned from the Ohio legislature. I was once a state legislator in Columbus, Ohio, and I resigned after My third term. Went back to Miami to take care of Mama. And I knocked on the door, and a friend of hers named Miss Mildred answered the door, and she looked and said, oh, my God, Mamie, Leslie is here. And I heard my mother say, I knew he would come. I knew he would come. My sister had called me and said mama had breast cancer. And she said, but you don't have to come, Leslie. There are nice nursing homes in Dade County. I said, listen to me. We will take care of her. How can one woman raise seven children that she didn't give birth to? But seven grown people can't take care of one woman? No, we got this. And so a new sheriff is in town. I'm a mama's boy. And we took care of Mama. And she was so glad to see me. She said, I knew my boy would come. And I'm asking people who are listening, is there someone that you know, someone that's been there for you, someone who took care of you when you couldn't take care of yourself, that you made a commitment? If you ever need me, you can count on me. I'll be there. Think about that as we continue this conversation. Yes, Rex.

Well, that's just very beautiful, the idea of assisting, helping another, uplifting someone, and. And. And being committed to something. What you said about Viktor Frankl, you know, and the title, I think, says it all. You know, a man's search for meaning, that so often people look at their circumstances and they assign a particular meaning to it, a definition to it, and they live out of that label, that judgment, that definition. They. They let that be their prison. Not unlike what. And. And very unlike what Franco went through and what he was telling us is that essentially, if you find meaning and. And I would argue it doesn't matter whether the meaning is real or not real. In other words, whether it's God or a universe or an inner meaning or a reframe that you do, but that if you assign a meaning to something that is positive and powerful and helpful for you to move forward, you begin to create more of your own life instead of being a victim of the circumstances around you. And you exemplify that in so many ways.

Thank you. But one of the things that I'd like to say to people and warn them is that a lot of people, when they ask me, how did you get here? And how did you go from being labeled educable, mental, retarded, born in an abandoned building on the floor with a twin brother, and going into foster care, then ultimately being adopted in no college training. And one of the things that I encourage people to do, because I could have been doing this longer for 14 years, I didn't do it because I say when there's an argument between your mind and your heart, follow your heart. I used to go see Zig Ziglar and Tony Robbins and Dr. Norman Vincent Peale and Jim Rowan and my heart would say I can do that, but that my mind, we've been conditioned to be practical and logical and realistic. And my mind would say, you can't do that. You don't have a college education, you were labeled educable mentally, you don't even know who your parents are. You've never worked for a major corporation. And so psychologists say that our self explanatory style, that when most of us, because of our mental conditioning, think about doing something that we want to do that's outside of our comfort zone, 87% of people convince themselves that they can't do it. Now if you have someone in your environment that say, hey look, Danny, you can't do that, MIT did a study and the study indicated if someone says, Danny, you can't do that, someone else has to come along and say, danny, you can do it, don't listen to Rex, you can't do it. Don't listen to less, you can do it 17 times to neutralize that one time. So it's very important that we look at our environment and the people around us and ask the question, what are these relationships doing to me? Am I growing mentally and emotionally and spiritually and financially? And when you have goals and dreams, there's something that Dr. Howard Thurman said, who was a mentor of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. And Albert Schweitzer and Mahatma Gandhi. He said the two primary questions that one must ask oneself in life is, number one, where am I going? And number two, who's going with me? And he said, if you ever ask those questions in the wrong order, you'll be in serious trouble. And that's real. I got married to someone because I love them, but they ended up going in one direction and I was going in another direction and we grew apart. I think that's why the divorce rate is like 50 to 55%, because people never take the time to get to know who they are and where they're going in their lives.

Well, that's a powerful statement because if you don't know yourself and love yourself and accept yourself, very difficult to do that with another person and have the kind of relationship that will last a Long time.

Yes.

Before I, I pass the mic to Danny, I would like to know. Aristotle said, you know, show me the seven year and I'll show you the adult. You know, people are patterned, you know, very early and they live from that. And you made the point, you know, about people saying, you know, when attempting to get out of their comfort zone or when challenged in some way, they oftentimes think that they can't. And of course, Henry Ford is famous for saying, if you think you can't or you think you can, you are correct. But my favorite quote from Henry Ford was the one that he said, I never let what I cannot do prevent me from doing what I can. And yeah, it's really powerful. And what you're saying is so important is that it is up to us to make the choice to move forward. But also who we surround ourselves with and who we listen to may be very vital in terms of whether we actually move forward or not. Because the Wright brothers continued to fly even though their parents said, you guys are idiots, give it up. Nobody's paying attention to you. Because they didn't listen to them. But they kept experimenting until they were able to fly. And they didn't know how to fly until they flew.

Right. And the first experiment, experiment was the plane was off the ground for just six seconds, but that was enough. They knew, hey, we can do this. And I'm saying to people, become a risk taker. Take a chance on you. What if things don't work out? It's okay. Nine times out of ten they will not work out. However, you will fail your way to success. Make your move before you are ready. Take advantage of the opportunities that are before you. People say that opportunity knocks on every door. I believe that opportunity stands by silently waiting for us to recognize it, to take advantage of the opportunity, the lifetime of the opportunity.

Well, and I'm going to pass it to Danny, but I, I, I always, I mean, I agree with you, you know, but I, I think of people as infinite possibilities, infinite resources, and infinite opportunity, but it's all there. But whether they decide, discover it and decide to utilize it is up to that individual.

So this is true? Yes. We have to make the decision that we want more and that we have had it with the life that we're now living. Josh, I mean, Danny, I want you to know that it's good to see you again. What would you like to ask me, sir?

Oh, man. You talked about the impact of what people might say to an individual. And some people say you can't do It. Some people say you can do it. It takes more people to say you can do it to reset that. Right, but what about the things we're telling myself, Les, that's.

That's a very good question. And. And what we have to do is we have to take charge of that narrative that we. When we talk to ourselves, we've got to understand and face the reality. We are the thinker that's thinking the thoughts. So we're the director. We are calling the shots. And many times we allow our mental conditioning to call the shots for us. Things that we. That we do out of habit. Dennis Waitley said we create habits, and habits create futures. So we have to examine our habits. We have to do an assessment about what's working in my life. I had a friend named Porky, and I used to go to him, we're very close friends, and tell him problems that I was going through. And he asked me a key question. He asked, are you learning anything? I said, what? Are you learning anything? Come on, man. Insanity is doing the same thing in the same way, expecting a different outcome. Are you surprised as to where you are? And please don't be offended less. Things aren't going to change in your life until you change. Things are not going to get better for you until you get better. That's all I'm saying. And walked away from me. And I said, damn. And that was real. Ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall set you free. And I appreciated that. He was telling me to own my stuff. And I did.

Well, you know, and Danny, you know, Napoleon Bonaparte said, you know, circumstances. Damn the circumstances. I make the circumstances. And I think what you just said, you know, is so important. So many people are distracted by shiny objects. And not the shiny objects, the horrible objects. They're distracted by the news, by the, you know, the AI, the media, the, you know, everything. The social media, the technology. They want what that person has. They want to do this, they want to do that. They've got all these choices, and they're overwhelmed. And instead of being focused on transforming themselves, because I'm convinced that I think you can change your circumstances. But even if you couldn't, if you transform yourself, you navigate the circumstances differently so that everything is different. Once you make that change, how you go through it is how you go through it. And if you either go through it wonderfully or. Or not so wonderfully that that is a choice. So. So as we. As we're discussing this, Danny hit on it. You hit on it. You know, it has to Be the person. And they have to be able to begin to believe that they can do something to make what's going on in their life significantly different. But it first begins with making themselves different.

It does begin there. But here's something that we know.

Yeah.

The road to life is straight and narrow. And few there be that find it. Right now, you and I, we're talking to the few. The masses are focused on entertainment.

Yes.

You are focused on education. The masses are looking to elected officials and religious leaders to give them answers for their lives. But you and I and Danny, we're saying you have the power to live life on your terms. And so the Jewish carpenter said, all powers in my hands. Oh, by the way, the poor will always be among you. I read this book called Change or Die by David Doucheman. And he said, and it was proven that 9 out of 10 people will die before they change, will die. They, they will not do the things that's necessary that will save their life. They did this in a, in a group of people who had had recurring heart attacks. And this cardiology, this area. They, they put together a group of these patients and, and they said, if you come to the meetings and have positive social connections, if you manage the stress in your life, if you have a plant based diet, and if you are working on something that gives your life a sense of meaning and purpose, you will minimize the possibility of your having a recurring heart attack. And former Vice President Cheney was a part of the group. Within 90 days, all of them, including Cheney, went back to what they were doing and had a heart attack. He was the only one that survived. So most people, we got to be clear, they're not going to change. And when we spend time and effort to help them, you remember that, that movie Help Me to help you, Jerry Maguire, that most people will pull you down before you can pull them up. And so what we have to do is do what we can with what we have, where we are. Set a good example. And I say to a person, if you see a lot of people in a hole, look around and see, can you see a tree? And get a rope and tie it around the tree and throw that rope in the hole. And the ones who want to get out, they'll pull out. But the ones who don't have that kind of initiative to lift a finger to help change their situation, they're going to stay there. And that's where most people are. And that's okay if that's the journey that they've decided to have with their Lives. I've got my brothers and sisters. Never been to any of my workshops and seminars. I've been speaking for 52 years. And it's okay. I live a different kind of life. They look at me like an alien.

And you are, I mean you are, you are one of the rare few who breathe the air where there's no air, you know, because, because, you know, like they say, it's lonely at the top because there's so much room, because few will go there. Less than.

Yeah, I say it's lonely at the top, but you eat better.

In. Indeed, indeed. And, and as you mentioned, folks are consuming, you know, the, the entertainment. Folks are looking for entertainment and I'd like to get into that a little bit more. Are people happy to. You know what we call the tell Live vision. The turn on the tell Live vision. They consume a bunch of stuff. What, what's the, what's the thoughts around this? What we're consuming and we, we shouldn't be surprised.

Just think about this. We spend 12 years in public schools and there's never a class on self esteem. There's never a class on how to build strategic, collaborative, achievement driven relationships that can add value to your life. There's no classes teaching you how to become a critical thinker. And, and your intelligence is measured based upon your ability to memorize. There are no classes on entrepreneurship for 12 years. And we're in a country that prides itself in being a free enterprise country. So we have been programmed and we're in a culture that is designed to keep the masses consuming entertainment and living a small life and feeling hopeless and powerless and looking to elected officials or going to heaven after they die to enjoy life after they die. And I say, okay, if that works for you, go for it.

I mean, it is, it is a valid point. I mean, the, the idea is if you distract the worker bee and keep them occupied, they will never rise to the, to, to the entrepreneur. You know, and this country, oddly enough, they, they celebrate. They embrace the one or two or three people who break through, whether it's in the arts or in sports or in finance or whatever, as if, wow, look at. Somehow they did it. I wish I could do that. But most people wish and want and notice the gap between where they are and where they could be and are so focused on the gap or the entertainment that distracts them from where they could be that they never bothered to get there.

Well, but if you think about it just like the book that you have, live life on your terms. Dr. Carter G Woodson said if you could determine what a man shall think, you never have to concern yourself with what he will do. He said if you can make a man feel inferior, you never have to compel him to seek an inferior status or he will seek it himself. And if you can make a man feel justly an outcast, you never have to order him to go to the back door. He'll go without being told. And if there's no door, his very nature will demand one. We have a society now that's been infected by a virus of hiv, hood infected virus, aids, addiction to incarceration and death syndrome. And when we look at the reality that we're going to funerals of young people more than we are senior citizens, that something has happened. But cultures are created by people and they can be changed by people. And the secret is to maintain commitment through all the frustrations, through all the disappointments, through all the setbacks that we're going to encounter in changing the way that we function. Evil prevails when good men and women do nothing. Amen to that.

So powerful and, and folks listening. We may not be getting the comments coming through, but we are getting them in some of the groups. Allison is here, Pam is here, Julie is here, Catherine Davis is here. There's a big bunch of folks who are agreeing, who are getting excited by this, and we do invite people. If you do have questions in the groups, I can see certainly one feed. Please drop the comments and please share. And please let people know that we are live. There will be a replay as well. How do we make it in this world of consumption and the wrong content and the media and the, the pressures put on us, all of these things. It's a big topic and we're talking about people.

We never should ask the question how nothing ever gets done. When people stand around asking how the times that we accomplish incredible things is when we make the commitment. Former President John F. Kennedy called a meeting. And when I was a kid, to illustrate that something was impossible, we would say, you have as much chance of doing that as the man going to the moon. John F. Kennedy called a meeting and the meeting was set up to say that we're going to beat the Russians to the moon. And the question was asked how we're going to do it. And he looked at Werner van Braun, he was a very brilliant scientist from Germany. And everybody was set to hear a long lecture of budget and, and the. The whole mechanics of what it's going to take. And he spoke these words, the will to do it. Just five words. How are we going to go to the moon? The will to do it. And Kennedy looked at him. He dropped his pen. They adjourned the meeting and the next morning he called a news conference and said, we're going to go to the moon within 10 years. And they did it in eight. How do we change our culture? How do we begin to reduce the violence and the proliferation of guns in the hands of people every day? The will to do it. How do we restructure our educational system and don't measure people's ability to just memorize, but preparing a curriculum of critical thinkers and, and, and training our children to become world class citizens. The will to do it. That's how we get there. And that will never change once we make the commitment we have figured out.

Well, you know, there is that saying. It's been bandied about, but it's, it's so underappreciated. Where there's a will, there's a way.

Yes, I believe that and I live by that. I remember when I decided to become a speaker. I didn't have the money to fly to the first seminar that was taking place in Dallas, Texas. Guy named Ed Foreman, executive development. I lived in Miami. And he, he said, are you coming to the seminar? And I said, man, I don't have the money. He said, don't focus on how much it costs. He says, think about what will it cost you if you don't come. Let me tell you. I got the money to catch a Greyhound bus from Miami, Florida to Dallas, Texas. Took around three days. My mother fixed me a pot of marinated frog legs. They called me frogman on the bus. And I was trading pork chop sandwiches and collard green and cabbage and hot water, cornbread and catfish on the bus. We would trade food back and forth. And here's what I got out of that experience. When you want something bad enough, you'll find a way to do it. And we all have within us our potential to do more. But we have been trained not to fail. We've been trained to play it safe. This God said, if you're not willing to risk, you cannot grow. And if you cannot grow, you cannot become your best. And if you can't become your best, you can't be happy. And if you can't be happy, then what else is there? I like what Helen Keller said. She said life is short and unpredictable. Eat the dessert first. Yes.

You know, wow. I, I think that they're, you know, not only is, you know, entertainment and the media responsible for People missing out so much. But a lot of the people who share stages that we might even share stages with emphasize the wrong things. They go, you know, if you want to be rich and famous and have the house and the car and the jet and the yacht and you want to have all these things, then you have to work really hard, you have to sweat really hard, and you have to struggle really hard and you have to sacrifice really hard. You got to give up all your sleep and all your energy and everything else so that you can be happy and successful and rich and famous eventually. When in fact, if you're rich and famous in your own mind, in your own heart, if you feel abundant, you will naturally do the things that are important to do in order to have what you want to have. So instead of it being, you know, do to have to be, it's be to do to have. And so many people got it backwards. You know, Gandhi said, you can take away everything from me, you can beat me, but you can't take away what's between my ears and, and my heart to do it. And was able to, you know, help mobilize an entire nation of people to with, with withstand, you know, the British occupation and to do it peacefully, you know, and to, and to be the change that you want to see in the world. But that's, that's the key right there is be the change you want to see in the world. And so many people are waiting and they're wanting and they're seeing what they don't have and they, they get into that gap where they've got one foot on the boat and one foot on the, on the dock and they never actually move one way or the other. So they're not making the choice because they're conditioned out of making choices, you.

Know, each other's throats and arguing about who should be in the White House. I say focus on who's going to be in your house.

I love that. That's that.

No, I'm not concerned about who's going to be in the White House. And I believe in voter registration and getting out to vote. I'm focused on me. I'm not determined that going to determine the quality of my life based upon who's elected or based upon the economy. I impact the economy. The economy is not going to impact me. And so when we look at ourselves, Elsie Robinson said, things may happen around you and things may happen to you, but the only things that really count are the things that happen in you. And there's an African proverb that I believe in strongly. It says if there's no enemy within, the enemy outside can do us no harm. And so spending time getting still, listening to the still small voice in your heart and deciding to live a heart driven life where your heart is there, your treasure is also.

Oh, beautiful.

I want, I want to, I want to say I love that and I love you for that. And I also love Danny for that. Because Danny's one of these people who's got the mindset, the heart set and the action set to do what he wants to do and make the world the kind of place that he wants. And he's out there helping people day and night all the time. He's here today helping us. I mean, you know, not help you. He's partnered with us. But the point is, is that he also helps, but he has that ability, you know, to, to, to help transform things. And, and he, he, he goes for it.

He's the example of what we all must do, and that is be a perpetual learner. Danny is not intimidated by artificial intelligence or technology. He said, hey, we can learn. Most people are not willing to learn. And Einstein said, I'm not all that smart. He said, I just have more patience than most people. Most people want it right now. One of my nephews, I gave him some of my material to listen to and, and he said to me, hey, uncle, yes, I've been listening for three weeks and nothing has happened. I said, you know what? Bye. See, you would want to be you. And I hung up. Because I'm not going to waste any conversation with someone who think, who stand in front of a microwave and pat their feet that success can happen just like that. It takes patience. It takes perseverance. It takes being resourceful, unstoppable, relentless. Being willing to persevere. Are you kidding me? Three weeks and you're talking about nothing has happened.

Well, they grew up on I Dream of Genie where you are bewitched, where you blink your own eyes or wiggle your nose and then suddenly everything's transformed.

Yes. Or look at television, complicated plots and within 45 minutes to an hour, they got a solution. Life is not like that. No, it's going to take a minute and, and things are going to happen to you that you don't see coming. I had no idea that someone would look at me 39 years ago and said, hey, you have fourth stage prostate cancer. I had no idea that I would have to have 238 radiation seed implants in my body because of the side of the tumor. I had no idea of how I was going to navigate that. Just the words. You have cancer. Cancer is the most feared words in seven different languages. And when Dr. Goldson, my oncologist, he said this around cancer's metastasized seven areas of your body. I said, is that right? He said, yes. He said, why are you smiling? I said, man, seven is my lucky number. I was born February 17th. Joshua marched around the walls of Jericho seven times. Naaman dipped himself in the River Jordan. Seven times seven is my lucky number. I said, is there anything else? He said, yes. I said, what? He said, and you're ugly too. Serious. He said, but listen to me. I never tell my patients they're terminally ill. What I say is that my knowledge, my abilities, and my skills have terminated. I determine the diagnosis, you, and God determines the prognosis. That's 39 years ago. I'm a cancer conqueror. I kick cancer's butt so badly, the cancer rate in my neighborhood dropped by 93%. Don't come for me. I didn't call an Uber who.

Wow. I love that you say conqueror because so many people use the word survivor, and I don't like the word because kind of mentally puts us back in a situation where, you know, things aren't right. But if you're a conqueror, you've. You've triumphed, you've succeeded, it's done. You know, you, you've. You've. You, you, you're. You're liberated.

In other words, above it, stick a force, talk in it. I've got stuff to do. I don't have time to die right now.

I want to pass the mic to Danny, but I want to share something because it's. It one of the stories of your life experience that I truly adore and love because it demonstrates so many of the principles, embodies so many of the principles that you. You share with other people, and it embodies the truth of how we actually change. Is your story, your journey from, you know, being the. The dumb twin to a radio dj, and how you made that, that break from rehearsing in your. Your bedroom with a hairbrush to doing it live on the air and how that all transpired because you saw. And I don't want to spoil your ability to tell, but you saw an opportunity that wouldn't have existed.

Be prepared for an opportunity.

Yes.

And not have one. Than have an opportunity and not be prepared. I'd gone to this station several times, and they told me no, and I kept coming back. And finally the. The program Director just was frustrated. He said, go get me some coffee. And I said, yes, sir. You know, I. I believe the greatest among you will be your servant. And I used to drive the entertainers around town who came to town in Miami and the big long Cadillacs of the disc jockeys. I didn't have any driver's license, but I was driving like I had, so. And then one day, one of the disc jockeys Rock and Roger was drinking while he was on the air. He began to slur his words. It was obvious he could not complete his show. And the general manager called and said, Mr. Brown? I said, yes, sir. He said, rock can't complete the show. I said, I know he's slurring his words. I said, yes, he's been drinking. I said, yes. I was looking at him saying, drink, Rock, drink. I was the only one. Saturday afternoon at the radio station. He said, would you call one of the other DJs in? I said, yes, sir. I hung the phone up and said, now he must be think I'm crazy, Daddy? I called my mom and my girlfriend Cassandra. I said, y', all turn up the radio. I'm about to come on the air. I called Mr. Clyde back. I said, Mr. Clyde, I can't find nobody. He said, do you know how to work the controls? I said, yes, sir. He said, you go in there, but don't you say nothing here. I said, yes, sir. Stevie Wonder, he was 12 years old. He had a song called Fingertips. And I put that on. I said, look out, you, this is me, LB Triple P, Les Brown, your platter playing. Papa, there were none before me and there will be none after me. Therefore that makes me the one and only Young and single and love to mingle. Certified bonafide and dubiously qualified to bring you satisfaction and a whole lot of action. Look out, baby, I'm your love man. I was hungry. People that are hungry are willing to do the things that they others won't do in order to have the things tomorrow others won't have. People that are hungry. Believe always strive to get on top in life. Because it's the bottom that's overcrowded. You want to make it today, you've got to be hungry.

Les the story. The story is amazing. I've heard it a couple of times. And to see, or rather hear that as it unfolded, I think if there was ever a recording of that, I'd want to hear that, right? That's like the most amazing thing ever. I think we're talking here, people, don't we? I Mentioned this last night on another show. You've got to give time, time. What's your thoughts on that? Because they just want to condense the time. You want to get the win. You want the million dollars.

People say that time is money. No, time is life. It's life. And. And the reason that most people, Danny, are failing. Augmentino in the book called the University of Success, he said the majority of people fail because they get sidetracked by secondary activity, doing other people's stuff. Every time you say yes to something that's not on your priority list, you're saying no to something that's of value in your life as a kid. Life is lived going forward, but we learn from it. Looking back, and I could not understand why. My adopted mother had a sign on her mirror. And we moved a lot, but wherever we moved, she put this sign on her mirror. And the sign read, oh, Lord, help me keep my long nose out of other people's business. And when you think about this, I started thinking about all the stuff that I'd taken on for my children, for my friends, for my grandchildren. I sent out a text message, I resign as Mr. ATM. They rejected my resignation, but I didn't care. And I ghost them and I start focusing on me. I'm encouraging people focus on you. You only get one life. Life has no duplicate focus on you. Because when something happens to you, nobody's coming. Brene Brown talks about that. You've got to be willing to prepare for whatever the things that are going to happen in life. When life snatched the rug out from under you, things going to happen to you and the people that you care about. And Victor Frankl said it best. He said, in life, you either in a problem or you just left one or you headed toward one. And a guy named Dimples had a song years ago that said, if it ain't one thing, it's another. Yes, yes, yes.

Well, you know, I often say this. You know, when I was a young man living in. Alone in an apartment, Los Angeles, I would make myself tea. And I had a tea kettle and the whistle was broken, so I'd go put it on in the kitchen on a gas flame. And. And I go back in the living room and I hear this noisy water, you know, and I'd run in and pour my tea and it hadn't boiled yet. And it took me. It took me about a year of making tea before I realized that at 2000 or 209, 10, 11 degrees, the atoms, the molecules are getting activated by the heat the energy is increasing, so it gets really, really noisy. But at 212, Steam is released, it transforms, and so it quiets down into a rolling boil. And so you don't hear it. So I learned after a long time of not knowing and running in there and all this kind of stuff, to wait until it got quiet again to go in and make my tea. So I liken that to what goes on in the world where it gets really, really, really noisy. But what it tells us is that that's preceding a transformation. And today, where all the hardship and the death and the suffering and the political unrest and everything all around the world, it's like all the noise is going, you know, and the energy is being put into the trouble and the problems. But there comes a point where it can transform and. And settle down. But it's the personal transformation that creates the, you know, the global transformation for all of us. It's lighting one candle at a time off of a lit candle that. That we can light the world. So we shouldn't let our problems hold us back from. Like Ford said, don't let what we cannot do prevent us from doing what we can.

A friend of mine used to do a talk show, and people call in and. And talk about their problems, and he would listen very intensely, and then he would ask a question. What are you going to do about it? What are you going to do about it? Dr. King, when he gave this speech, I have a Dream, there was a rabbi who gave a speech that I thought was more powerful than I have a Dream. And this rabbi said, when something happens, there's the perpetrator, there's the victim, and they are the witnesses. He said, which is the worst? And most people say the perpetrator. He said, no, the witnesses. He said, lord, I hope we don't become a country of witnesses. George Floyd died right because of witnesses. Men who were sworn with guns to serve the public, to provide safety. They were witnesses. And so when we look at what's happening with our children, the shootings that are taking place in schools, the public events that are taking place, and people don't feel safe here. A popping sound and people start running. And this has been created by us, and we have the power to change it. Every society is created by people, and it can be changed by people. And we must be willing to commit ourselves to do whatever is required to change the way we function and interact with each other. Have a mindset of turning to each other rather than turning against each other, and be focused on building and creating a Different world that we're going to pass on to our children. Legacy building.

Well, the famous line from Patty Chayefsky of Howard Beal saying, I'm mad as hell and I'm not going to take it anymore in the movie network is the point at which, you know, we've talked about this before, but see, never again, I'm done. You know that, that's it period where it gets bad enough that people say, okay, I'm done. But instead of becoming violent, which is what happens in so many cases, you know, we're, we're looking to have people make positive transformation within themselves and to spread that throughout the world so that we uplift and edify the world and collaborate and cooperate instead of hating and hurting and harming and, and all of that.

Yes. Danny, you're thinking, I can hear your thoughts.

I'm thinking the big shift sometimes might come when people stop looking at money and self gain and start looking at things through the eyes of others. And that's always a turning point. That certainly redefined my path of my life. And I think we've got a lot of folks looking for the money, looking for the gains, but they're not looking for the what can I do now to help or what can I do now to provide or what can I do now to serve? And there's a message in that somewhere. Right. But it's up to us who understand, yes.

That the greatest among you will be your servant. I say to people, you are the money. Don't chase it. Find something that you love. To me speaking, I'm training speakers now and people say, why? You're 79. You don't have to speak. No, I don't. I, I have walk away money. I, I can walk away from any offering that that's presented to me because I've created non performance income. I built a legacy for my children and my children's children. But the reason that I'm doing this, Dr. Howard Thurman said, deep is the hunger that we must have and changing the world that we're now in, is it going to be easy? No, he said, easy is not an option. But we can and we must for future generations. And so I'm listening to people who say to me, how can I tell my story? And why should I? Because your story makes a difference. You've gone through some stuff, you've crossed some red seas. That story you're sitting on, somebody's waiting on Maya. Angelou said, there's nothing as painful as an untold story buried in Your soul. And so people are listening to us now who would like to be a part of the solution and not the problem. And you got a story you want to share? I will be your coach. Go to les brownmasterclass.com and I can share with you how to create an experience with your story that will transform an audience, individually and collectively, and give them the courage, ignite the hunger for them to become a pencil in the hand of God and start writing new chapters in their lives.

God, I'm so glad you brought that up, because that was the very next thing I was going to ask you about. You changed the world in so many ways. You speak around the world. You've been impactful in all these different things, and now you're helping individuals. You're actually passing the baton, passing the torch, sharing with them what they can do to continue to do what you have so successfully done throughout your lifetime and to help empower and encourage them to do the same. So they. I, I heartily agree, Les. BrownMasterClass.com is the way that they can get in touch with you and, and they ought to. And if you're watching this right now and that's what you want to do and you don't reach out to us, Brown, you. You are missing a great opportunity. And remember what, what, what Les said earlier. How do you, how do you get to the moon? The will to do it to the.

Moon, even if you miss your line among the stars, the will to do it. Yes.

Well, look, let's tackle the. The elephant in the room, right? Folks will be sat there now going, but, Les, my story is not worthy. My story's not good enough. My story is not like your story.

What.

How do we tackle that one straight away?

You don't know enough about your story to say that. Stay in your lane. I told a friend of mine, she was in the doctor's office, and he and her doctor told her that she was terminally ill, that she, she had a double mastectomy and she had a reoccurrence of the cancer and that she should get her fears in order. And so I said to her, when she told me that and she was crying, I said, listen to me. Tell him. He determines the diagnosis. God determines the prognosis. Stay in his lane. He doesn't know. I'm saying to you, don't give up, baby. That's his opinion. But you, you play a role in this, and there must be a change in your behavior, but most of all, a mindset to be defiant. I'm telling you what? I know. And, and, and when we look at people who overcome the prognosis of someone who, who's been in hospice and I've had at least six people that left hospice, they were making them comfortable. They were talking to me about providing palatable of care for me. And I said, what is palatable? And they said, oh, make you comfortable? I said, oh, hell no. Life is a fight for territory. And once you start fighting for what you want, what you don't want will automatically take over. I'm not looking to be comfortable. I'm in a fight. I've got work that I have to do. My best work has not been done yet. No, I'm out of here. Wow.

That's why attitude is the number one predictor for success in all areas. You're like, you have that attitude, but here's something else that, that the viewer or people listening to this should know, and that is you go to a coach, you go to somebody who's an authority like Les and what he's done in his life to get a different perspective on you and your own talents. Because if, if, if somebody says you can't do it, Les is the one who can say no. But you have a seat in you and can do it. And so you want to, you want to benefit from the expertise of others who can look at you and assess you in a way that we never do for ourselves because we don't see what other people can see in us or, or about us. We see what we see in the mirror and we've got a story about that, which is so I less is invaluable when it comes to coaching you and helping you break through limits and to skyrocket your talents and abilities and move forward with what you want to do in life and make that life the life you want to live. And so I truly appreciate that. Now I also want to say this again and remind people the Los Angeles Tribune Leadership Week at LA Leadership. I'm gonna get that wrong. Ganny, if we can put that up. LA, I think it's.com.com is coming up and you're gonna want to watch Les again. You're going to want to see him there. There's all sorts of other speakers. Danny is there, I'm there. And a whole host of incredible people. So you go check that out at that website. But check out les brown masterclass.com and it's been, you know, such a marvelous day. I started my day with Les Brown. My day's not over yet, but closer to the end of the day than it was the beginning. And I get to finish my day with Les Brown and with Danny Walker.

I mean, how.

How incredible is that?

Yes, that is. And Danny, so good to see you to get again. Mr. D. We got to get together. It's been too long.

Okay, 100. 100.

And.

And long may it continue. I'm literally on the. The amazing website that you've put together now, Les, and if it's all right with you, just to share this on the screen for folks to just get a flavor for what's on offer@les brownmasterclass.com you can see the site over here. And it's about becoming a legendary speaker, which indeed you are. But if you can unlock this in one more person, you're a happy man, right?

Yes. Without any question. I believe that this is my time to work with those. See, the industry has been hijacked where people are speaking to sell. Yeah, I speak to serve. I'm looking for people who want to serve, and I'll teach you how. I've earned millions of dollars doing this, earn a million dollars within three years. But today, with all the technology that's available, you can do that in a weekend, in a day. So. But we need voices of hope, of harmony, of peace, and of love. What the world needs now is love, sweet love. It's the only thing that there's just too little of. Don't make me sing for you because you can't handle my John Legend voice. Yes.

Wow. Well, Les, we're gonna. We're gonna close out the show. You have been, again, just such a welcome, heartwarming guest. I, I can't tell you how delighted Danny and I are. Are for having you here and sharing with our audience. And certainly we encourage others. You know, we record a live stream every Wednesday and at the same time. And this is a very special show because we had the opportunity of having Mr. Les Brown today, and, and so we wanted to do that. So it's out of sequence, but if you're watching the show or listening to the show, you share it out and, and, and get it spread far and wide so people could benefit from what Les has brought to us today, what Danny brings to us, and, and then just keep sharing and commenting and asking questions, and we'll all be in touch.

Listen, thank you so much. Bye, Danny. Bye, Rex.

Thank you. Hang in the green room for just a few seconds so that we can come back and have a. A nice goodbye in. In person in a few moments. And, and, and we'll go from there. But thank you so much, sir. It's an honor. Privilege. Thank you for what you mean to me in my life and. And to all those who you have served so well.

Thank you so much.

Thank you. Right, let's wrap this one up because Haman, we're an hour in, people are going crazy in the chat. Catherine's there, Julie's there. So much appreciation for Les, for yourself, Rex as well. A big thank you to you pulling all these things together, working so hard to bring these messages to people. Allison's there, Pam's there. We've had a following all along in the group, so we're going to share these replays. Get this out of here. We've got a message to share, man. It's been a show. Les, a pleasure as always.

Yes, thank you so much. Look forward to seeing you, Rex. Take care, my brother.

Welcome. We're out of here. Bye, everybody.

See you in a minute.

Yes.