Dr. Danny Brassell: America’s Leading Reading Ambassador | The Business Blast Podcast #784

Welcome to the Business Blast Podcast. I'm your host, Tyler Wagner. This episode is brought to you by Authors Unite. Authors Unite provides you with the support you need to finish your book. Best part is, after you finish your book, they take care of the entire publishing and marketing process 100% for you. So if you want to become a successful author, make sure to check out authorsunite.com. Now let's jump into the episode.

Alright everyone, welcome back to another episode of the Business Blast Podcast. I'm your host Tyler Wagner. Today's guest is known as Jim Carrey with a PhD, Dr. Danny Bercel. He is America's leading reading ambassador dedicated to help people read more, read better, and love reading. So welcome to the show, man.

Thanks so much for having me, Tyler. I feel like we're Jenny and Forrest from Forrest Gump. We're two peas in a pod. We both are avid readers and writers.

Yes. Oh my gosh. My Audible account looks like a crazy person. I have many, many books. So awesome, brother. I'm excited to have you here. So let's dive into the first one. The first one I got for you is what is the best story from your life that has an underlying valuable message?

Well, Tyler, I have lots of stories. My wife says I never met a microphone I don't love, but let me give you one from my childhood. My mom and I, when I was young, used to read a storybook that began, "Once upon a time," which sounds fairly straightforward, but I didn't see the "O" in "once" because the "O" was in a gold box. It was a weird shape and it was surrounded by vines. And so my mom would say, "Okay, Danny," read to me and I'd go, "Once upon a time." She's like, "No, Danny, that word says once. Say once." I'm like, "Once." She's like, "Again." So I'd look at it and I'd go, "Once upon a time." She said, "No, Danny, that word says once. Say once, twice." I'm like, "Once, once." She's like, "Again." And I got a little bit nervous and started shaking and looking around and I'd go, "Once upon a time." And she'd be like, "Gosh, you never learn anything. That's why they're gonna put you in special ed someday." She always got me crying before I went to bed. Well, one day, Tyler Wagner Wagner came to my house to play, and for some reason I took out this book, I guess I wanted to impress him with my reading skills, and I go, "Once upon a time." He says, "Hey, nincompoop, you see that gold box with the weird shape with the vines around it? That's an O, silly, that word says once." And I looked at it, and then I said, "Once upon a time." And the reason I always share that story with people is, especially with teachers and parents, I'll say, you know, sometimes we try, 38 strategies with a kid, and we're ignoring one of the single greatest resources at our disposal, other kids. You know, kids and adults think differently. I've known this ever since I was a kid. When I was in kindergarten, Sister Rosanna asked us one day if we all wanted to go to heaven, and all of us raised our hands except for Hector. And she looked down, she's like, you don't want to go to heaven, Hector? He said, oh, I thought you were talking about today. And so I guess the underlying valuable message is that all of us look at different things from different points of view. And so we should always try to be cognizant of different points of view.

Hmm, dude, thank you for sharing that with us. Absolutely. So I'm excited for your answer on this next one too. So what is the most valuable piece of information we should know that's within your expertise or industry?

So reading is my specialty, Tyler. And so I actually just got back from India. I spoke to about 25,000 students in India trying to get them pumped up. And I gave them what I call the 3 secrets to reading. And so the 3 secrets to reading, and these would be applicable to everybody, listening to your podcast. The first secret is this: reading should always be fun. The second one, this is especially important, is it doesn't matter what you read. What matters is how much you read. I'm on airplanes at least once a week, and I can't remember the last time I sat next to somebody who was enjoying Dostoevsky or Molière or Maya Angelou. But I sit next to plenty of people reading People magazine, USA Today, and Fifty Shades of Grey. We know that people who read more read better. It doesn't matter if you're reading James Joyce or James and the Giant Peach. And then finally, the third, and this is also very important, especially, but I'm probably preaching to the choir with this audience, is you are what you read, so read good stuff. So if you really wanna be positive, you should really feed your mind with lots of positive things to read. And I'm pretty sure your audience is doing that.

Absolutely. And then what is your best piece of overall business advice? So not necessarily industry-specific.

Yeah, that's fine. UCLA, even though I'm a proud USC Trojan, UCLA basketball coach John Wooden, had a lot of wisdom. His book, "They Call Me Coach," is phenomenal. But one of my favorite quotes he offered is, "It's what you learn after you know it all that counts." And so I think Steve Jobs talked about that when he gave his commencement address at Stanford years ago. He said, "Stay hungry and stay curious." And that's what all of us have to do in businesses, constantly learn.

And if you could give your younger self one piece of advice, what would that be?

I would eat fewer carbs.

And then, kind of going down a little different path, in your opinion, what is the key to happiness?

I think too many of us seek happiness and what we should be seeking is usefulness. So, I guess my key to happiness is being useful and being part of the solution.

And, oh, perfect question for you. What is the best book that you've read? This has got to be tough, I would think. And what is the number one thing you learned from it?

And so, so Tyler, uh, I want to— I have one of the top online book clubs, uh, it's called LazyReaders.com. And so every, every month the rest of your life, I offer, I offer, uh, free subscriptions to subscribers. I always give them 10 book recommendations: 3 or 4 adult level, 3 or 4 young adult level, and 3 or 4 children's level books, all under 250 pages, so some people have something they can read quickly when they're stuck in a meeting. And so I'm going to give you a children, a young adult, and an adult book. The children book that I would offer is Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak. And what I learned from that is to always stay curious and be creative. For young adults, this book still remains one of my favorite books of all time is To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee. And what I learned from that book from Atticus Finch, the main character, well, Scout's father, is the importance of integrity. Which we can all learn to have a little bit more integrity in today's day and age. And then finally, for an adult book, there's so many to choose from, like all these, but probably a book that really changed my life was "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy" by Douglas Adams. And that really taught me the importance of laughter.

And what is your favorite quote and why?

Charlie "Tremendous" Jones once said, "You're the same today as you will be in 5 years, except for 2 things: the people you meet and the books you read." So I always encourage people, make sure you surround yourself with lots of positive influences and always sit down with some really good books to read.

I love it, man. Thank you so much for coming on. The last one I have for you before we let you go is, where can our audience best find you online?

Well, I really appreciate you having me, Tyler, and to serve you and your audience, I'd like to give everybody a complimentary copy of my book, Read, Lead, and Succeed. It's a book that I read— I, I wrote for a principal, school principal, didn't know how to engage his faculty, so I said, okay, I'll write you a book. And so, uh, everybody, when you get this book, it's a— you'll get your free e-copy when you to my website, readleadandsucceed.com. Every week you get a concept, an inspirational quote, an inspirational anecdote, a book recommendation on a book all of us should read, but we're probably all too lazy because we're adults. So I also give us a children's picture book recommendation that you can read in 5 minutes that demonstrates the same concept. I know you'll, you'll love it, Tyler.

Awesome, dude. Thank you for that. Appreciate you coming on.

Thanks for all that you do. Keep it up, Tyler.

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