In honour of the memory of the deceased Joy Brands Manager, Elvis Kwashie, host of the Super Morning Show, Kojo Yankson recounted how an encounter with Elvis impacted his life.
Today, a post from Latest Ghana explains how Elvis Koku Kwashie gave Kojo Yankson the bravery to work when he felt worthless in his career in Ghana.
According to Kojo, this was during the days he was having a tough time in his career.
“You’ll remember at some point I was taken off this [Super Morning Show] and I was put on the AM Show. It wasn’t a direct line and I wasn’t taken straight off the show and put on TV. I was first sent home for almost four months. For that period, it seemed the business wasn’t really sure what to do with me, but they didn’t waste that time. They made me learn a few things and I developed my capacity,” he revealed.
According to Kojo, dejection had taken over him as he wasn’t certain what his fate in the company would be.
“Then one day Elvis called me to resolve this. He came to my house and sat with me and he told me about his vision and my role in that vision and what he expected of me and what he knew it would cost me and then he explained the most important thing – what it would mean if I failed.
“Then he proceeded to ask, ‘Do you trust me?’ Up until that point, I didn’t know Elvis like that. We worked together, he gave me great feedback almost always but because I had a different line manager, I wasn’t always coming into direct contact with him. And this was him asking if I trusted him.”
Initially, Kojo was hesitant but Elvis somehow convinced him by encouraging him and telling him the story of how he [Elvis] rose to the top of the journalism ladder and this was a turning point for him.
“He noticed my hesitation and he told me his whole story of how he came into this business and the fact that this is the only thing he does and that’s the one thing he cannot get wrong and so if he decides he’s going to spend time on me, its because he knows it will make his legacy stronger and that was when he told me about the AM Show.
Even after that “I used to come to work and I used to feel lost. I felt like I was of no value to this place. It seemed like they did not know what to do with me. I would be on my way to work sitting in my car driving to work and crying my eyes out. A song would come up on the radio and I would feel worthless. I’d been sitting quietly in the newsroom just wondering, this place would go on well without me why am I here? Is it that someone is just having pity on me?
“Then Elvis will walk in call me into his office and ask ‘what story are you doing today.’ He used to call me the greatest storyteller of all times. And it’s because of him that I won’t fail, because his legacy must stand. He told me that ‘I’ve always known that there’s something you can do that no one else can and I know how to put it to work.
“My only interest since then has been to serve my audience and it was Elvis who gave me that bravery [to do my work].
“He’ll send me to the newsroom and the editors will send me off on assignments and he was deliberate with that and that was the best thing that ever happened to me. Elvis was bent on teaching principles and he made sure that I spent that year or so that I spent off this show learning principles.
“Koku was everything to everyone. We were all lucky to know him,” he added.