Motivational Speaker Les Brown Lists 5 Ways to Operate in Era of Obama, Recession
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At
the 10th annual State of the Black Union last weekend, motivational
speaker Les Brown listed ways in which we can maximize opportunities
during the era of President Barack Obama and to thrive — rather than
survive — in spite of the greatest economic collapse in at least 70
years. Overlooking the crowd of thousands at the event founded by Tavis
Smiley, Brown said he grew up destitute and doesn’t have a college
education. Yet today Brown earns more in one hour than the average
citizen makes in their entire lifetime. Brown is commissioned to imbue
leadership skills to executives at Fortune 500 corporations. Here’s the
best-selling author’s strategy for prospering during the recession and
beyond. –terry shropshire
1.Vision:
“[Obama] has raised the bar. We have to look at ourselves because the
state of the black union is the state of our minds. … You have to have
a vision. And if we don’t have a vision of where we are going, then we
will end up someplace else.”
2.Preparation:
“One of the things that we knew during the debate — yes [Obama’s] a
great orator — but he was the smartest one, he was the most
knowledgeable. He’s brilliant. It’s necessary that we begin to study
success. Many of us are failing because we don’t know that we don’t
know and we think we know.”
3.Spend on our future:
“We have to be willing to invest in ourselves, invest in our minds. You
don’t get in life what you want. You get in life what you are. You
don’t get paid by the hour. You get paid from the value you bring to
the hour.”
4.Entrepreneurship:
“By the time we get the end of 2012, 67 percent of the jobs will be
permanent part-time jobs with no benefits. Today, you either expand or
you are expendable. You have to look at yourself. It’s not about where
we are; it’s about who we are. And we’ve got to be willing to die at
what we’ve been and give birth to what we can become.”
5.Love Ourselves/Overcome Self-Hate:
“We are working with black men to overcome HIV — Hood Infected Virus
and AIDS — Addiction to Incarceration and Death Syndrome. No one is
going to save us from us, but us. If there is no enemy within, then the
enemy without cannot harm us.”
