Ep. 88 The Unforgettable Les Brown

Hey, Darren. Very, very few times in my life I meet speakers who are truly legendary, who transformed me. And I had a chance to meet one of the best speakers in the world at an NSA convention several years ago and he bought me dinner. I've been one of his fans forever and I think you know who I'm talking about.

Dude, we're on with a legend. Are you kidding me? Here's a guy who made all of us want to be speakers. Just this is the reason we're in this industry. Self development, self help. Les Brown. And you hear his stories over and over again and he never gets old. I love it. I want to ask him about how do you do that again and again, those same stories and just make them unforgettable?

Darren, let's do it. Let's meet the incomparable Les Brown.

Anyone can give a presentation. Few deliver unforgettable presentations. What's the difference? You're about to find out. Welcome to the unforgettable presentations podcast with your hosts, world champion speakers and coaches, Mark Brown.

Mark Brown, your life tells a story and there's someone out there who needs to hear it.

And Darren Lacroix.

And Darren Lacroix, stage time, stage time, Stage time.

Ready for some powerful presentation? Ahas. Let's dive right in.

Darren Lacroix, you have absolutely, positively no idea how flat excited I am today. Because in the house we have a man I've admired for decades and for some reason, he knows my phone number. Darren, we have with us the inimitable, the legendary, the one and only leader of leaders, speaker of speakers, the man, the myth, the real life legend, Les Brown is in the house. Hello, Les.

Hello, how are you? I'm so glad to be here. It's a plum pleasing pleasure as well as a privilege.

Oh, man, I have heard, Listen, I've heard those words so many times over the decades. I first got my hand on live your dreams and I kept saying, you gotta be hungry, you gotta be hungry. And I was saying that for years, man, it is so great actually sit down with you today and hopefully bless our listeners, drop some knowledge on us and inspire us as you've been doing for so many years all over the world. Welcome, Les Brown. Darren Lacroix, your words for Les Brown.

I have been a fan since I started in the mid-90s, going to Amway conventions and conferences. Les Brown, NSA. Mark, I think I might be more excited than you, but I don't know.

Anyway, all right, thank you so much, both of you gentlemen. Want to thank you for the Work that you do for the voice of inspiration and hope that you provide for the planet and making the world better than what it is.

Well, Les, we thank you, because what you have shown us as professional speakers is not just that you can excel at your craft, but you can do so with a heart that loves and cares for the people who are in your audiences. I want to bring to mind two experiences that. That I had with you that will prove my point. I know Darren has questions, but I got to tell this first story. I remember a buddy of mine in South Africa, a speaker, and you were going to South Africa. I said, hey, Les, would you mind hooking up with Douglas Krueger, a speaker toastmaster in Africa? And you didn't even think twice. You said yes, and you got together with Douglas in South Africa. You did some work over there. You served the people there. And I'm saying, here is a man who is a legend. People wait hours for your autograph, and you just said yes for a chance to serve. And that's very instructive for us as speakers as we grow, as we excel, to remember the role we play. And in your words, Les, what is the one lesson that story tells that you want to pass on to our emerging speakers and pro speakers who are hearing us right now?

I remember when I was just getting into the business, and I was thinking about it, really, and I saw this speaker that I admired for years, and I approached him after the event, and I say, could I have just a moment with you? I'd just like to ask you one question. And he looked at me with such dismissive contempt. He didn't say anything. He just walked away like you, nobody. And there's a saying that you can tell a lot about a person's character, how they treat someone that they consider insignificant.

That's powerful.

And so when he walked away, I looked at him and I said to myself, when I become successful, I'll never treat anybody like that. Like, when you call me, I call you back, Mark, I call you back. And I'm glad to hear from you, too. So it's very important how we conduct ourselves when we're off the stage and don't have the microphone speaks louder than when we are on the stage and have the microphone. So I think we should hold ourselves to a higher standard when we're not on stage, because people are watching us. From the time when they come and pick you up at the airport and baggage claim, and when you're in the car and they're driving you to the hotel, and when they let you out of that car, they get a phone call. What was he like? What was he like? They listen to your telephone conversations and they're not deaf. And all the things that you do and say that all the ugly stuff and the arguments, they get all that. So I thought he was positive. So I'm a happy guy. They get a good report on me. He's a happy guy. Happy. Laughing all the way from the airport.

That is wonderful, Les. Thank you so much, Darren.

So how did you get started in speaking? I'm sure people who just know you have been a legend forever. How did Les Brown get started?

I started speaking on a volunteer basis because I had a high school teacher who made a dramatic impact on my life. He was the head of Speech and Drama at Booker T. Washington High School in Miami, Florida. And my friend who's a great orator to this day, the best speaker I've ever seen that I admired, he was in that class. And I went to see him and this instructor said, look, young man, go to the front of the room and work this problem out for me. I said, oh, sir, I can't do that. I'm just here to see MacArthur Stevens. He says, no, do what I'm asking you to do anyhow. And I said, I can't, sir. And the other students started laughing, saying, he's Leslie. He's got a twin brother, Wesley. Wesley is smart. He's dt. And he asked, what's dt? He's the dumb twin. And they all erupted in laughter. And he came from behind his desk. And as he looked at me, I said, I am, sir. He said, don't you ever say that again. Someone's opinion of you does not have to become your reality. Do you hear me? I said, yes, sir. Yes, sir. And what we know is just like this program that you have, how people live their lives as a result of the story that they believe about themselves. When you have this program, you invite people on. What you do is distract them from their story. Distract and the execution of the interview or people sharing experiences that they've gone through, you dismantle their current belief system. Distract, dispute and inspire. And you inspire them to make different decisions about their lives. Because now, as a result of hearing you, they see their lives differently. And when we make decisions, our decisions make us. And now because of your inspiration, because of your motivation, and because of the insight that allows them to look at their lives differently, they're what psychologists call self explanatory style. They make some decisions that serves them.

And One teacher told you to change the way you see yourself. And you weren't going to be an orator or a dramatist or a thespian, but somehow you end up speaking. What was the bridge from being told, don't believe that, to eventually going out and inspiring the world? I mean, that first free gig, what was that like? How did you even get there?

Well, first of all, I enjoyed watching him. He was a speaker. And then when I saw Malcolm X and Dr. Martin Luther King come to town and they had such great oratorical skills, I said, I'd like to do that. And I believe that speaking is a calling. A calling is something you love so much, you do it for nothing, but you do it so well that people will pay you to do it. And so I started volunteer to speak for kids in elementary school, in kindergarten, and they would bring me back again and again. And I finally asked one of the instructors, why do y' all bring me back? He said, because kids like your laugh. We like the man with the funny. The reason I. I spoke to them is that I knew they didn't know enough to know whether or not I knew what I was talking about. I built my confidence on them. The little teeny weenies. Yeah. And so. And I got a love offering for $50. I remember. Never forget that. He said, we love you, but God loves you best. They gave me a love offering for $50, and I said, thank you. And I had only spoke for an hour. I wasn't making $50 an hour on my job. I said, this looks good. That's a lot of love. People say money won't make you happy, but everybody want to fight out for themselves. And I started getting referrals from my Vaul volunteer speeches I share with people. There's a lot of talk about branding. If you're a decent speaker and you create an experience with the audience and help them to feel better about themselves and use your stories strategically to transform that audience individually and collectively. When they leave there, they're going to talk about you, they're going to spread the word about you, and as a result, you're going to get a lot of requests. I was looking at the statistics. The average speaker, according to National Speakers association, get around 28, 30 calls a year. I get over 3,000. What made that possible? The speaking industry has been governed by the Dale Carnegie course, which is a very good course. Tell them what you're going to tell them. Tell them, and then tell them what you told them. My mentor, Mike Williams, who wrote the book the road to your best stuff, he said. And I'm sure that this gave me a competitive advantage. He said, brownie, never let what you want to say get in the way of what your audience wants to hear. And all thy getting get understanding. Find out what their sweet spot is, what language they speak, what metaphors would be appropriate, what stories that you can incorporate that will expand their vision of themselves, touch their heart and release their greatness. You want to do your homework. You want to pay more attention to the listening than to the speaking. Due diligence on that audience. And as a result, I get 97% of my speaking engagements are repeat business and referral business. I remember one time, century 21, they invited me three years in a row at their international convention and they were going to do it a fourth year, and the new president says, no, no. They say, but he's so good. When you hold yourself to a higher standard and you do your research and custom design your story, and that's something else that's very important. The way you create a demand for yourself as a paid speaker is to use your story to impact people so that you are able to answer three questions. When you speak, they're asking, who are you? What do you have? And why should I care? That's what they're asking. That's the unspoken. The unspoken questions that's going on in their mind. So at the top, you want to tell them who you are and what you have and what you experience and that sometimes you have to go through something to go to something, share with them how to get there, and that will create a demand for you and they will pay for it.

Question for you. This is unforgettable presentations, and you definitely were one of those unforgettable presentations I could listen to again and again and never, ever gets old. How do you bring your Les Brown life, your inspiration, your unbelievable enthusiasm, how do you bring that back again and again? Because I know a lot of professionals.

Tell the same story. That's a very good question. Because many speakers, they get tired of their story and they just run through it. There are members, that audience are hearing it for the first time, and there's some who've heard it several times, and they want to hear it the same way they heard it the first time. When I buy music, I don't want you to improvise because you've been singing it every night. No, I want what I purchased. All right? And so you have to go there. You have to keep it fresh. For instance, I have a new story My initial story has been, ladies and gentlemen, I want you to think about your goals and dreams. And as you think about them, think about them in three categories. Your personal goals, your career goals or financial goals, Your financial freedom number, and your social contribution. I was born in an abandoned building on a floor in a poor section of Miami, Florida, and I was a foster kid and adopted. I don't know my parents. I've never seen their faces before. If they came in now and said, hello, son, I'm so glad to see you, I would not know them. But, ladies and gentlemen, that changed. This past weekend, for the first time, I saw a picture of my mother. I did not know how I was going to feel. And of my father. I just looked. I was shocked. I had not been aware that my oldest son did a search to find them. He knew that that was important to me. And as I looked at her picture, I discovered my mother was a speaker. I always wondered where I got this voice from. What's in you? They said, there's nurture and there's nature. What's in you? And then further, I found out that my mother's mother, my grandmother, Beulah Rucker, she was a motivational speaker and traveled all over the country speaking and raising funds for her educational center that they've converted it into a museum. Ladies and gentlemen, I want to ask you a question. What mark do you want to make with your life? Live like a legend if you want to be a legend. My grandmother. She lived like a legend. My grandmother. They said she was hungry to learn. Hungry to learn. Can you imagine that? My book now is called you gotta be hungry. The article said, you gotta be hungry to love and to learn. Mmm. And she was so hungry to learn, she taught herself how to read looking at newspaper that was used for insulation to pack the walls of the cabin where she slept to keep the cold winter air out. She taught herself the alphabets and how to read. And she went to Savannah State College. And the professor said, where's your money? You have to register here. And she held her hands out and said, these two hands can work. These two hands can work. And he asked her to get out of the line. And she came back again and said, these two hands can work. As you look at yourself and look at your goals and dreams, here's what I know, just based on my grandmother, that nothing works until you do. You can talk about the secret all you want. They never mention work in the secret. My favorite book says, commit thy works unto the Lord. Thy thoughts shall be established. In all thy ways, acknowledge him, and he shall direct your path. So I have a new story now. I found my mother. What she did my father, they said he was a storyteller, had a gregarious personality. He dressed real slick, and he was a ladies man. I looked at all my children back there. I wonder where I got this from. The Lord said, be fruitful and multiplied. I took him seriously. Seriously. Hello. Oh, boy. This thing called life. Forrest Gump said. And he was right. Life is like a box of chocolates. You never know what you're gonna get. And that's all I got to say about that.

You know, Les, you just told us you got a new story. You brought out this. And there's this one thing I admire about you is that with your legendary status, you have enough stories from your life to go back to and recall and to reuse. But I remember that you've always said, mark, I'm working on some new stuff. I'm like, you're Les Brown. What do you need new stuff for? But the mindset you. You showed me was, there's always something more you can deliver. And I remember sitting one one afternoon at an NSA convention in the dining hall with you with Otis Williams Jr. The Toastmasters, 1993 world champion, one of your proteges. And he was working on a new story. And what blew me away was the collaborative effort. I'm saying, new world champion to Otis, previous world champion. And I got Les Brown, and I had a seat at the table. You welcomed me in, but you also gave me a look at the process. Even an experienced and legendary speaker goes through to make sure their story works, to get it right, to present the audience something that valuable, that'll peak their emotions, draw them in, connect them, and ultimately change their lives. What is your advice to the speaker out there who is experienced, who has this wealth of stories, who figures, I know I can make this work for the next 20 years? How would you advise them in terms of new stories, new ways to help the audience and help other speakers as well?

What's very important is that if you're decent, there are places they're going to ask you to come back. And you can't come back with that same story.

You got to change it up.

I was invited to a place in Warren, Michigan, to speak 52 times. I never used the same story quotes. 52 times. All right, and so what we have to do, one, we're sharing with people. You got to expand your mind. Well, we don't want to just be the messenger. We Want to be that message. So I have a ritual that I go through that's designed to fortify my mind so that I can have mental resiliency that can handle the stuff that's thrown at me and the people that I'm speaking to in the audience who have broken hearts, empty pockets, and a life full of failure and disappointment, you do have to be stronger than they are. All right? Next thing is when they know as much as you know, you're in trouble. And so we have to learn continuously. I read two to three books a month. I read 20 to 30 pages a day. I will do that today. And so that way you're able to collect new material and new examples. Ladies and gentlemen, we are in a very special place. I want to talk to you about what you need to do today in and out of the pandemic. So guess what? That creates a committed listening. People don't want just to hear a story. In fact, what they want is some methods on how I can handle and deal with this. Now, most speakers just give information. If information could change people, everybody would be skinny, rich and happy. When you just provide information that only impacts two areas of the brain. But when you tell a story, I tell a story about my mother. I tell a story about speaking for 29 years straight dealing with fourth stage cancer. I tell a story right now about finding my birth parents and my grandmother. Now, when you tell a story that impacts five areas of the brain, including the area of the brain that ignites a chemistry that we experience when we are in love. That's the power of story. Steve Jobs said the storyteller is the most powerful person in the world. Why? Because the storyteller sets the agenda. The storyteller help people to get an expanded vision of themselves. The storyteller can change the culture. I mean, we watch with our own eyes. I say to people, what you listen to, you turn into. We saw that with our children listening to rap music, and they turned into aliens. Who's this? I didn't bring this home from the hospital. Who's listening to this kind of stuff. So we have to create a different kind of narrative. We're going through a reckoning in America. This is major place where we are, you know who going to bring us out? You people like the two of you because you give people a perpetual sense of optimism in the midst of the storm. You help people to keep their head up. You help them to embrace what Elsie Robinson, who said that things may happen around you and things happen to you, but the only things that really count are the things that happen in you. You help people to realize the value of ongoing learning. So they have to throw their net on the other side. They have to reexamine, rethink their lives. Because we're in a new landscape now and we have to create collaborative, achievement driven, supportive relationships. We can't make it by ourselves today. We're going from brick and mortar to click in order. This is a brand new day.

Question for you. What does Les Brown believe makes an unforgettable story? Because a lot of people tell stories. But what separates you because you are unforgettable. What separates a regular story from an unforgettable story?

When you realize the story is not for you and it's not about you, it's for the audience. So you tell the story and you position it where the audience is the hero. You create openings in your story so that they come into the story and go forward into their imagination with you. Ladies and gentlemen, in that moment, when I looked at the picture of my mother, all of us had moments in our lives when we had this anticipation of something dramatic was going to happen. But it didn't happen. When I looked at the face that looked like me, I broke down and I cried. I wondered, what did she have to go through and what did she say to herself? What was happening in her life at that moment? I wondered, what was it that went on that she had to make a tough decision to give my brothers and I to someone knowing that she would never see us again. And then I had to rethink that and realize she didn't give us away. We were chosen with love. Change the way you look at things and the things you look at will change. We were chosen with love. We were chosen out of 400 million sperm. We were chosen. God took us out of our biological mother's womb and placed us in the heart of our adopted mother. What a mighty God we serve. You see? Can you feel the brother up in here? Up in here.

Amen.

We want to create a journey and an experience. Oliver Winder Holmes said that once a man or woman's mind is expanded with an idea, concept or experience that will make that presentation unforgettable. Because now they have a vision of themselves beyond the adversities that they are facing. When you say to them, if there's a giant in front of you, a Goliath, there's a David inside of you, you're going to win this fight. So you use Info bites. The best speakers make the fewest words go the farthest when things go wrong, don't go with them. Easy to get into, but hard to get out of.

And Les, you've been on the stage with some other great speakers and some maybe not so great. What are some of the mistakes? Because I know you also have a program where you coach people and help people. What are some of the common mistakes you see great speakers make that just make their stories average or boring or. What mistakes do you see?

They speak to impress as opposed to speaking to connect. Einstein said, genius is the capacity to make the complicated simple. And so many speakers I see, they want the audience to know how smart they are. They're speaking for themselves. There are some speakers who love to hear themselves talk. It's not about the audience. I got something to say to you whether you want to hear it or not. And so the best speakers I have a needs assessment that I give to the person who invited me. What are five takeaways that you want this audience to walk away with? What is it that you want them to sink their teeth into? What is it that I can incorporate in my presentation that will make you look good and that you'd be glad that you brought me here and that you wrote this big check you about to give me? And so when you gather information and you go out in the audience and talk to people in the audience, if you were in my position, I'm speaking today, just off the record, what three things you feel this audience needs to hear? They're going to tell you what they want to hear now, talked around five people. And there are going to be certain themes that show up and I'll get some stories out of the audience. And so I will marry those because. Because those stories will be different than the person who brought you in to write the check and to validate third party validation for something that they can't say, but you can say it and make them look good. And so when you marry those two things around your story, custom design it and create a significant emotional event. That's what makes speech unforgettable. When you create a significant emotional event for that audience. Information can't do that. Information you speak in from the head. But when you are telling a story, a heart centered story, you speak from your heart. Words spoken from the heart, enter the heart. That what makes an audience respond to you and your presentation unforgettable. When people go on YouTube even today and see Les Brown speaking in the Georgia Dome had to command an audience of 80,000 people. Everybody can't do that. And I didn't Know I can do it. Sometimes you got to be intelligently ignorant. I was scared out of my wits. I ran to the bathroom. I looked out and saw how big that audience was. I took off. I said, where you going? I said, to the bathroom. I got to go to the bathroom. I said, but it's not. It's number one. It's not number two. They said, get his mentor, Mike Williams, came Browning. They're stalling. They're stalling. Brownie. Mike, I can't hear the voices. Brownie, can you hear me? Yes. Listen to me. Okay? They came to see you. You didn't come to see them, Brownie. Yes. You can do this. I can. Yes, but I can't hear the voices right now. I'm so nervous, I got to dry heaves. He said, listen to me. Make your mother proud, Mike. Don't use my mother against me. Please. Make your mother proud, Brownie. Come out. Unlock the door and come out now. I'll walk up with you. Okay? You really believe I can do it? Yes. We started walking toward the stage. I said, will y' all pray for me? They said, yes. They surrounded me. I dropped down on my knees. Then I grabbed the hands and put it on top of my head. And then they prayed for me. And then I went up the steps and he looked at me. He said, you got this, Brownie. I said, thank you, Mike. Sometimes you have to believe in somebody's belief in you until your belief kicks in. Nice. Nice. Wow. He looked at me and said, you got this, Brownie. I said, thank you, Mike. Thank you. And I turned and the guy gave me the microphone, said, Good luck, Mr. Brown. And I went out on stage and I don't remember anything else. I don't remember giving this speech. I've only seen about 10 minutes of it, but I was so frightened, I just said, I've got this. He said, I've got this. And when I looked off right stage, he was there. And he kept patting his chest like this. Speak from your heart. Speak from your heart. He was saying, speak from your heart. Speak from your heart. I said, okay, okay. And that's how I did the speech. It's not over until you win.

Man, that is so revelatory. I would never have dreamed that the legend Les Brown was that scared to go on stage. And it kind of gives me comfort, in a sense, because so many people get nervous. You know, we have toastmasters who are in contest. They get nervous. But to harness that and to have someone believe in you and encourage you is just so Powerful. Not all of us list are at a level where we feel accomplished. What nugget of wisdom do you provide to the young Les Brown who wanted to ask one question to that great speaker who was just starting out.

Lives in the moment. Don't put it off. I didn't speak for 14 years because I was labeled educable, mentally retarded in school and put back from the fifth grade to the fourth grade and I failed again in the eighth grade. I'm very fortunate to speak to you now. I was waiting for Miles Monroe in South Africa to have breakfast. I wrote the foreword for his book called Personal Potential. And the lady said, oh, you can't see him now, he'll see you tomorrow morning. She said, I'll set up breakfast for you. I went down an hour early. And then she came in with a disappointed expression on her face and said, I made a mistake. You have to see him when he gets back to the States. Two weeks later, he was killed in a plane crash. I agreed to do a PBS special for public television with Wayne Dyer. We'd been going back and forth, passing each other like two ships in the night. And then I got a phone call after Wayne had called me and said, let's sign the contract. And I said, I'm ready, man. I'm all in. And then somebody called me a few days later and said, wayne is gone. I said, gone where? He's out of here. He died. He had a heart attack in his sleep. You gotta be kidding me. Wayne swims every day, didn't have an ounce of fat on him. A vegetarian, eat all organic food. Are you kidding me? He's gone. Wow. Michael Jackson said, this is it, but it's not the it that he was talking about. So February 17, I turned 76 and I would say to that Les Brown something I heard Frank Sinatra say. I was in Vegas at Caesar's palace and Gladys Knight and I were married at the time who recorded Midnight Train to Georgia. And he said to a young man, live each day as if it were your last, because one day it will be. And so the way that I live my life now, I saw this quote that I love put off for tomorrow. The things that you don't mind dying in you today. Wow.

Unless we know that you need to get going, you have another appointment. We thank you for spending some time with us. Mark keeps a list of keepers as he gets those together. Les Brown, if somebody wants to learn more from you, get coached by you. I know you and Craig Valentine also just came out with A legendary storytelling course. How can people reach out to you?

They can reach out to me. Les Browngrytospeak.com Les Brown@HungryToSpeak.com and if they. We have a training that we do and it's called Hungry to speak home and get the orange package. And Craig Valentine and I, we created a course. It's a home study course. And Craig is a giant. He's a beast when it comes to organizing curriculums. I mean, I admire him. You're never too old to learn and you're never too young to teach, and I admire him. And we got together to create this legendary home study course. The best on the planet. It's not true because I said it, but I said it because it is true.

Nice. Mark Brown, what do we have for keepers?

Wow. Our keepers are nuggets that our guests give to us. I have so many. I'm going to go through these really quickly. You want us to distract, dispute and inspire the audience and dismantle their negative belief system. I love that. Speaking is a calling to do it for free and do it so well. Somebody will pay you to do it. I love that. For your audience, create an experience to transform them and they will spread the word about you. Never let what you want to say get in the way of what your audience needs to hear. Boom.

Fire.

And how we act off the stage without the microphone is more important than how we act on the stage with the mic. Don't speak to impress. Speak to connect. And hold yourself to a higher standard. Use your story to impact your audience. An old favorite. Nothing works until you do. And be a continuous learner. Be a storyteller, because storytellers can change the culture. And remember, your story is for your audience. Create a significant emotional effect. And if you want to be unforgettable, learn continuously and continue to fortify your mind. Because remember, your story is for your audience. Les Brown, I can't thank you enough, brother. For your.

I want to drop one more on you.

I'm here.

Good becomes so good that you can't be ignored. Bam, mic drop and pick it up.

Oh, man, Les, I can't thank you enough. It was incredible. So much wisdom, so much knowledge. And I know that because of what you share with us today, our audience will be truly unforgettable.

Darren, join us next week.

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