I can change your mind in 15 minutes.
However, I only have 5 with this TEDTalk,
so it's going to be a little difficult to do that here.
I want to tell you about a time when I took a 100 minds
in a quarter of an hour and changed them.
Take a look at this wordle.
What country comes to mind?
These are the answers that we got from students
when we pulled them right before showing them
the short documentary we filmed.
If you thought Afghanistan, I know you didn't see the words
but you're right.
The two main words in that wordle are "Dangerous" and "Hostile."
Who said to you, that those words describe that country?
If you haven't been there and you haven't experienced it for yourself,
somebody else has already made up your mind for you.
My buddies have come to Miami to visit and told me about the work they did.
At one point, I had this little story pop in my head that said,
"Hey, you should go to Afghanistan, and you should tell a story
about the humanitarian work that they do over there
and how it effects the lives of the Afghan people."
However, when they came to my house, they just told me about it,
and it never really impacted me and never really changed
the way I felt about Afghanistan.
My take away from that is that
if you want to change someone else's mind
you have to have your own mind changed first.
And that requires vision.
Jonathan Swift said that
"Vision is the art of seeing what is invisible to others."
And that was exactly what that little voice was doing in my head.
It was starting to create this little vision in my head.
Unfortunately, I spent the next month and a half trying
to come up with every excuse in the book
why I should not go to Afghanistan.
Six months later, I find myself preparing to go to Kabul.
In spite of all that preparation, in spite of all that planning,
I overlooked the most important thing.
All I wanted to do was to tell a story. That's it!
Just hand the film over and say,
"Here you go!"
What I never thought about was
how that film was going to impact the lives
and minds of the people that were going to watch it.
Now, vision is important, but it's a far cry from crafting
a story that will change anybody's mind.
Steve Jobs said that:
"If you don't have passion, any rational person is just going to give up."
That passion will do more for you than fuel your vision.
It will get you through the obstacles that you are inevitably going to face.
It's also going to silence the naysayers that you're bound to run into.
But most importantly, passion is going to let you craft a story that's worth sharing
My story starts half way around the world at 8,000ft elevation,
kneeling in the middle of a snow-covered airstrip at 25 below 0,
with a plane racing at me, going to pass about 4 ft over my head.
Now for some of you, that may sound like a nightmare,
but for me, hands down, it's the best day at work ever.
My favorite definition of an artist is: "Someone who refreshes your vision."
Vision is great, and passion is essential.
But it takes more than just having an idea.
You need some kind of force that translates that idea into action.
Passion can do that to or for you but you need to work on it .
You need to get your idea out. You need to get your idea to life.
Gary Vaynerchuck tweeted the other day,
that said: "All ideas are great and even good,
but you have actually execute on them, for them to matter."
The Afghans have a saying that says,
"Your aspirations are in heaven,
but your brains are in your feet,"
In other words,
"Take your head out of the clouds, get off your butt and get going."
In order to change minds, you need a story that
you breathe life into or aspire into,
before it can change the minds of, or inspire your listeners.
About a year later, we were back into an auditorium full of students
that have just finished watching "On Wings of Hope."
And here's where I get surprised.
You've all heard stories that give you goosebumps,
or you've seen a movie that's made your cry.
But I have never had any kind of measurement
on how my art has changed anyone's mind.
Remember the wordle that you're going to see now for the first time?
These are the answers that the kids had before they watched the movie,
before they saw the film.
Now imagine, 50 minutes are over.
They're done, and the movies is finished. We asked the same question.
What do you think about when you hear Afghanistan?
And here's where I get surprised.
"Dangerous" and "Hostile" transform into "Poor" and "Difficult."
If you want to master the art of changing minds,
follow your vision.
It will transform the way you tell stories.
Fuel your passion.
It will refresh the way that you share reality.
And act on your ideas.
Aspire your stories to inspire.
A passionate story that's told from your heart
can change a thousand minds forever.
And that's the art of changing minds.
(Applause)