and my experience in all these
disciplines have taught me how to create
how to write and how to tell stories and
recently I come to the moment of deep
realization in which I discovered the
transformational power of storytelling
and absolutely all about it I was
sitting in the Korea department office
at the Ashe Leadership Academy in my
school and I was really taking a
personality test and on this personality
test there’s a variety of questions such
as you know what is your name my name is
Callister Tao which country from from
Malawi how old are you I’m 19 and other
seemingly strange questions such as
describe your childhood in three words
and I quote fun interesting and
challenging and there were very
introspective questions which attempted
to satellite on my personality and my
mental state however was this is one
particular question which truly
intrigued me and it was who was your
favorite childhood character boku TV
when you were seven years old and when I
was seven years old my favorite
fictional character was that and they
did this whole personality test I then
go to the school psychiatrist and said
of all the question is replacing this
test why this one
and she said from her research she
concluded that the story that took and
unsolved with can often give an insight
into the type of person who become
leader in their life many of the
fictional characters and children hold
most dear to our hearts represents I say
the values that that child wishes to
embody and so in hindsight that man
wasn’t simply a fictional character
in a common book for me he was the model
of courage that I wish to embody and
represent he was the bringer of justice
you know protector of the socially
disadvantaged and in the seven-year-olds
mind in my own world I needed that in a
world filled with play playground
bullies and students would often steal
your lunch money with the value of soft
worth and make you feel less than human
it was bad men who gave me the courage
to be courageous in their own life to
make courageous decisions in which I
then could become into a better person
but I’ll ask you guys a question how
many people in this room want to become
an icon or greeted something wreaths up
the ass okay well in order to become
micronized you must first produce iconic
work in order to become an icon you must
first produce iconic work and yet
produce it on a consistent basis and one
way to do this is to surround yourself
with iconic figures and iconic stories
and when I was growing up I saw myself
with an iconic figure who was Batman and
so by me tournaments of the stories of
Batman I changed I stood up to myself
I became courageous I spoke more with
conviction and I defended people within
my own life but it’s not only the story
of Batman which is massively influenced
my own life there’s another childhood
story which I grew up with which I’d
like to say to you guys it goes like
this
now in the Savannah there was a small in
the mouse and this mouse was known to be
you know the most scared of mouse of all
mice he would go to the watering hole
and he would see his own reflection of
be scared that if the wind blew mm is
scared of that if you saw another animal
could be scared that other animal and so
with this fear within his own heart he
goes to the magician who is living room
somewhere in the
the bushes and he goes you know magician
I’m really scared I have got this deep
fear within my soul I need you to help
me out and some magician looks in my
mouth and says I’ll help you God and
magician changes them into a cat and so
the mice who is now a cat looks at him
fall seasons clothes
Caesars teeth see there’s a long tail
and says you know what I’m a get your
face on the world and so he leaves the
bush and he goes back through the
environments however when he went to
that same watering hole he then sees a
hyena and I feel he saw that hyena that
I fear within him came up again and so
he runs back to the magician says help
me help me help you
see that I either and I’m still scared
and so the magician says I’ll help you
up and so he changes this mouse who’s
now cast into hyena and so this now
hyena goes back into the environment
again and goes to the same waterhole and
then it doesn’t he sees a pack of lions
slowly creeping up towards them and
that’ll say me fear that he always had a
rising within his own body and he runs
back again tradition saying help me help
me help me I’m so scared and so the
magician says a healthy on one last time
and changes them into a lion and so now
he’s known to be one of the strongest
animals within the whole ecosystem and
so he goes back in the same order and
all proud that he in the lion proud to
be known as one of the strongest and so
in the distance he feels a group of
hunters
carrying guns Reuters died and so that
same type of treatment is always had
comes up within him again and he runs
back to the magician says help me help
me help me I was still scared and so the
magician is not frustrated turns back
into a mouse and so the mouse we turn
into a cat
lion has gone back to Mouse and says but
why’d you turn me back into the person
that I once was and he said I could
change you into the strongest and most
powerful animal of talents in the whole
universe but the problem is you always
have the courage at hearts of a mouse
and so what that story taught me is to
have courage and conviction in the face
of things that you’re scared of and fear
the most and this would be very relevant
when I was four years old now growing up
I grew up in a very political background
what miles was a high-ranking politician
and actually remember parliaments in
with in Malawi and so I remember him
sitting down and having a conversation
with me and he asked the question
Francis how would you like it if I
became the next president of Malawi
because I want to run for the
legislature and while many 12 year olds
dream on you know getting the latest
gadgets getting latest toy you hear I
was a 12 year old wishing and dreaming
for Salah to become the next president
of Malawi unfortunately that didn’t
happen as month later after that
conversation would force things and
while receiving medical treatment in
South Africa who had died there and I
remember going to the airport as his
body was being flown back with all this
grief and all this anger within me over
why this was happened to me
and Ronald waiting at the airport just
as the train is flying in with his body
my dad who is a few meters and suddenly
received a phone call he picks up his
colon says hello is everything okay
and he says she’s dead okay we’re coming
and I was laid out find out that my
grandmother
on that same day died as well and so in
that morning I have sixth sense that I
lost well the closest person and was one
of the most important figures in my life
and a few hours later I realized that
one
would become too and it wasn’t messages
of condolences and hugs and kisses that
I got my family and friends that helped
me it was mainly stories story such as
the mouse to be courageous in the midst
of human suffering and death stories of
Batman to be the model of courage and
justice and I think that’s where the
transformational power saw is
comfortable because when you surround
yourself with stories of hope and
perseverance and internal metamorphosis
happens within embody in which you
become more hopeful more courageous when
you become that bringer of light and
justice not within your own life
we’re in their lives of other people for
when everything seemed lost my life it
is all in this story that I found and
when everything seems lost in your life
it will always be these transformational
stories of hope of change of
perseverance of development that are
bringing that search and affirmation
that you’re looking for and it’s the
main message for the spoke is to uncover
your own story each and every one of you
in this room Edward the Owen type of
story that needs to be said to the world
and so my mission to use to uncover this
story to write about it to speak it
fight you cheap and once you find this
and once you turn to other people you
not only transform your life but the life of other people as well thank you