#88: Discover Your Greatness with Les Brown

Aug 26, 2021

24:24

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Les Brown and his twin brother were born on the floor of an abandoned building in Liberty City, a low-income section of Miami, Florida. Their birth mother, married at the time to a soldier stationed overseas, had become pregnant by another man and went to Miami secretly to give birth and three weeks later, she gave them away. He was adopted by Mamie Brown, a 38-year-old single woman who worked as a cafeteria attendant and domestic assistant. As a child, Brown was finding it impossible to concentrate and was labelled "educable mentally retarded" in the fifth grade which damaged his self-esteem and confidence. While in high school, Brown used to fantasize about being on stage speaking to thousands of people.

After high school, Brown was firmly intent on becoming a DJ, he learned all he could about the workings of a radio station. One day, when a disc jockey became drunk on the air and Brown was the only other person at the station, he filled in at the microphone. Impressed, the owner of the station promoted Brown to part-time and then full-time disc jockey. In the late 1960s, Brown moved to Columbus, Ohio, where he had a top-rated radio program and was eventually given added duties as broadcast manager. This new level of influence inspired Brown to become more socially and politically conscious, urging his listeners to political action.

After being terminated from the radio station, he ran for election in the Ohio House of Representatives and won. After leaving the Ohio State Legislature, he shifted his career to television and became a host on PBS. From September to Nov 1993, he hosted a talk show, The Les Brown Show.

When he entered the motivational speaking arena in the mid-1980s, he had virtually nothing, having moved to Detroit with his clothes and just one tape of his motivational speeches. He rented an office that he shared with an attorney.

Now, Les Brown is a highly sought-after resource in business and professional circles for Fortune 500 CEOs, small business owners, non-profit and community leaders from all sectors of society looking to expand opportunities. He energizes people to meet the challenges of the world around them. Hundreds of thousands are watching him on YouTube and tens of thousands interact with him regularly on Facebook. He has a keen way of turning what he touches into gold. Over 20 years ago, he won a Chicago-area Emmy® for his unsurpassed fundraising pledge drive for the Public Broadcasting System.

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Mentioned in the Episode:

Website : https://lesbrown.com/

LinkedIn (@lesbrownspeaks): https://www.linkedin.com/in/lesbrownspeaks

Instagram @thelesbrown: https://www.instagram.com/thelesbrown/?hl=en

Twitter @lesbrown77: https://twitter.com/lesbrown77

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCHCi9A9-ibkH3-fOw4GhZUg