Time selected YOU as the person of the year for 2006 for your participation in the next generation of cyberspace, Web 2.0.  It was a Web 2.0 site (Zaadz) that facilitated a young visionary in Uganda bringing vision force training to his university and communities, and has thrust VisionForce into a new mode of operating.  We’re looking at how we can use emerging web technologies to train one million visionaries around the world over the next few years.

Unlike any or most seminars, workshops or trainings in human development you may have attended, the powerful VisionForce methodologies are such logical processes that simulating them on-line and delivering high-level transformational training via the web is not only possible now, it’s what shall be.  We envision creating many highly interactive tools and processes and offering them for free on-line in the coming years.  We see ourselves being a leader in human development for the 21st century.
We’re seeking passionate programmers and others who can help make this vision a reality this year.  Contact us if that might be you.

We all have ideals and values we want to uphold, and as we encounter resistance, we begin to form and strengthen our ideological positions.

Watch this video of a pastor in Ohio, who is standing up for what he believes. In his mind he is fighting the “secular jihadists!” It’s good against evil and god is on his side.

He is fighting “evil,” just as George Bush is doing, just as Osama Bin Laden is doing, just as Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is doing, just as Hugo Chavez is doing…

Isn’t it wonderful we have so many people fighting evil? If we keep it up, all the evil will be gone in no time! lol

Now, this man, no doubt, is really standing for values we can all relate to. He wants children to be raised with good values, he wants us all to be good people, etc., etc. It’s the tactics that we must call into question. Are his tactics really even forwarding his own objectives in the long run? Is defeating our ideological enemies a sustainable method of positive change?

Looking deeper than an ideological position, what is formed by caring, passionate people who are trying their best to stand for something is what I’d call a psychological position, which becomes a barrier that frames our view of reality–barriers beyond which we cannot see.

This man is fighting the ACLU, an organization of human beings who are standing for people’s rights. Because they are supporting legislation and solutions that conflict with the ones he thinks are correct, they must be the evil enemy. Indeed, he cannot see people when he looks at them. He cannot see caring, passionate people who are also standing for worthwhile values.

Beyond the specific strategic solutions they support, the ACLU is simply standing for human beings, for their freedom, for their dignity. Who can oppose that? No doubt this pastor shares the same values. So why can we not collaborate and co-create in ways that work for all of us?
Rather than all of us fighting evil, why don’t what if we start standing together more for the values we hold in common?

The day will come, I do see, when all the world will view our current ways of thinking and communicating with one another as quite silly. Literally silly–ridiculous even. People of all ideologies will come to see how living this way, at the level of position, is antithetical to all of our values, and it feeds our devolution into people who cannot use our god-given (however you define that term) faculties of human consciousness.

I believe we can all rise to the level of vision. We can learn to think, communicate and interact at higher levels of consciousness; and, indeed, many of us are discovering how to do this at present.

Does our future demand finding the one and only true belief, joining the army of the righteous and defeating the evil ones?

Or does our future require us learning to rise above such positionary thinking?

No one needs to be afraid, for giving up positionary thinking does not mean giving up your ideals or compromising your values. It only seems that way, because from a position there is not much vision. I say, we as human beings are visionaries by nature–meaning we have the innate capacity to live at the level of vision. And I say it’s time we learn to make this shift in thinking.

“I keep my ideals, because in spite of everything I still believe that people are really good at heart.” –Anne Frank

Please comment…

Just recently I mentioned the formation of a campaign to find, unite and train one million visionaries, each of whom are dedicating their lives to stand for all of humanity and create a world that really works for everyone.

When we speak of “visionaries,” we are not speaking of people with a special “gift” for thinking big, thinking creatively, etc. We are speaking of people who choose a certain kind of path in life. Most people do not choose the visionary path (at least not at present).

Many people focus on achieving “success,” “financial freedom,” etc.; however this is easy to do without living a visionary life.

Many people also focus on “making a difference,” “leaving a legacy,” and “doing my small part” to “change the world;” yet this is easily done without living a visionary life.

Further, people focus on attaining “salvation,” “enlightenment” or “transformation.” Once again, pursuing these objectives is quite easily done without living a visionary life.

You can live a visionary life while pursuing any of the above objectives, however most people dare not tread in the realm where the visionary lives. The visionary life is anything but “easy.” Indeed, it is a road less traveled.

What we tend to do in life is seek noble goals, values and ideals, while staying safely within the realm of our psychological/intellectual position. We could say this is living a “positionary life.” Or living beneath the level of vision.

If this is so for you, then you’d be content with actions and solutions that compromise your highest values and ideals, and your path of conscious/spiritual/intellectual growth/evolution. You might not act like you like such actions and solutions, but you’d tolerate those actions in your life, as if there is no other practical alternative.

Thus, in various areas of your life you’d see 1) a great disparity between what you say you value and how you act, OR 2) that you’ve come to accept very low values, dreams and ideals OR 3) that you are not consciously evolving both your values and your actions to higher levels as you could be (more about this later).

Here’s the kicker… Living beneath the level of vision, one can often not even see much evidence for 1, 2 or 3 above (Unbridled self-honesty is more accessible and prevalent at the level of vision). Thus we cannot see how much we cannot see, and so we think there’s not much that we don’t see.

Look around at the world today, and what do we see? People who are perfectly content with compromise solutions, as if we as human beings are not capable of rising to new levels where compromise is not necessary. As evidence of positionary thinking, I’d point to the acceptance of compromise as a valid, worthwhile and even noble approach–in life, in marriage, in international relations, in politics, in business, etc.

Visionaries in general do not espouse compromise. Visionaries face what few do. Visionaries are more like warriors than dreamers, in that they walk the path, they face what there is to face, and as a result a vision that others cannot see emerges. In the same way that the man who does not climb the mountain cannot see what’s on the other side, those who do not walk a visionary path cannot see what the visionary can.

I am eager to share more about the One Million Visionaries campaign and how Vision Force will be partnering to recruit and train the one million visionaries… watch for some exciting announcements… soon!

Behind the scenes over here in the world of VisionForce, we’ve been quietly planning a movement called, One Million Visionaries. The idea was born and began to grow as we watched Clovis Ategeka, a blooming young Ugandan visionary promptly set out to change the world after simply downloading our Vision Force 101 program.

Imagine, one million Clovises, or one million gandhis, stepping forward with vision and in unison as they take a stand for all of humanity! Through this campaign we envision training one million visionaries in high-level visionary leadership skills over the internet–and for free. It’s much bigger than that and we are going to share the bigger vision and plan on a private conference call next Wednesday evening at 8pm Eastern. You’re invited to listen in live! If you want to be on the call, listening in, go mark that date and time on your calendar right away. Then we’ll send you an invite with the specific call in number (if you’re on our Visionary Mind Shifts list)! Stay tuned…

Something’s a brewin’ here in Austin, TX!

This evening I spoke to a revolutionary (and fellow zaadzster) with a vision for how human beings can solve the world’s problems in the next 50 years and create a world that really works for everyone… through entrepreneurship!

Right now it seems that most people who are passionate about issues like the environment, global warming, social justice, extreme poverty, etc. blame capitalism and entrepreneurship.

And most people who are passionate about business, free markets and entrepreneurship consider the aforementioned causes and people who champion them to be adversaries.

These two sides have been taking positions and battling each other in order to further their idea of a better world and a just society. What the man I spoke with tonight sees is how all of us as human beings can use our creative minds and entrepreneurial spirit to “flow” together and create a better world, a world that works for all of us. In fact, he partnered with Whole Foods CEO, John Mackey to create an organization called FLOW, to promote this vision and facilitate a movement where people passionately take up the cause of creating a world that works for all of us throught creativity and entrepreneurship.

This is a movement whose time has come.

More and more I see young people awakening to a vision of living a visionary life, a life without limits guided by their own vision, a vision that calls them into heroic action to create a better world. I see the idea of a visionary life becoming a meme. I see it becoming what’s next and what’s cool.

Zaadz is furthering this vision, this idea, this meme, this movement by creating a community where conscious, entrepreneurial people can come together.

I am seeing more and more incredible parallels and synergies for Vision Force, FLOW, Zaadz and other organizations as we bring this new world to life, and on my drive home the thought again occured to me of how we can help bring this world to life right now by making such conversations available to the masses right now. The kinds of conversations I am privy to, given what I do for a living, would be incredibly valuable for every independent thinker, dreamer, idealist and entrepreneur who still believes we can create a better world. Ha! Not just a better world… that’s just it… I want to show you just what leading visionaries SEE for our future. It’s far beyond a “better world.”

Put on your seatbelt and start with Michael Strong’s FLOW vision.

Yesterday we tested a new model for our workshops, one in which a partiipant only need give up an afternoon, invest a very small amount of cash and drive to a home in their local area. We titled it, Visionary Mind: Living at the Level of Vision.

We had a great conversation and the workshop “worked,” yet the greatest outcome was the vision for how we can upgrade it in the future. What we want to create is a simple format for a short afternoon or evening discussion that can easily be organized and lead by anyone with a moderate level of training in the iStand technology (the VisionForce work). The idea is to create a formula that can be duplicated around the world by people passionate about VisionForce and the difference it can make in peoples lives and for humanity itself.

We’ve scheduled the next workshop after having made the following adjustments/upgrades:

1) It will be an hour shorter (4 hours instead of 5)

2) We will leave more time to integrate the global vision, to build personal vision and to introduce opportunities for each of us to step up our game in “being the change,” and “changing the world.”

3) We will focus more on the Inner Conflict Diagram and use it to integrate more of the concepts, so participants leave with an even firmer grasp and clearer view of how everything relates.

4) We are going to make it even more of an interactive discussion than it already is.

If you can make it to Austin for the afternoon of Sunday, January 14th, we’d love to have you. Details are here.

Entreprenuers dancing naked around the camp fire? Maybe…

Yesterday when I received an Evite from a local group called Bootstrap Austin inviting me to an evening discussion titled Entrepreneur As Hero, I didn’t think twice. That morning I’d had a revelation of sorts, when I’d seen a new vision for working with entrepreneurs in a new way (more on that later). And with all the seemingly magical synchronicity happening in my life recently, it was a no-brainer.

Just weeks ago, I’d sat down for a bubble tea with a friend who offices next to me, Kevin Koym, and he’d expressed his mission in life in terms of inspiring the maximum number of people possible to take up entrepreneurship. He sees entrepreneurs as revolutionaries who step outside of “what is” to create “what can be,” and his current entrepreneurial enterprise provides a methodology and internet-based tool for entrepreneurs to collaborate at higher levels. It was Kevin who’d turned me onto Bootstrap Austin and the fire dancers.

So recently, as I’ve received the standard emails from people who are of the mind that business, entrepreneurship, capitalism and money are somehow bad… somehow to blame for the ills of the world, the drum of the entrepreneurial warrior within has been beating more loudly. I see entrepreneurs as today’s heroes, the ones who are standing for a better world and risking everything to bring it into existence. They are the warriors and creators of today.

So, I showed up early last night with local Vision Force Boot Camp grad and ally, Audrey Parker, at the home of one of the local bootstrap members and was welcomed by a man whose face I did not recognize, but whose name I did. He introduced himself as Michael Strong, and I knew he was somehow involved with Flow, another Austin-based entrepreneurial network. Turns out he’s the CEO, and come to find out he is a pioneer in education and independent learning and has founded innovative Socratic, Montessori, and Paideia schools and programs around the U.S. He has a passion for freeing young minds “from the matrix.” Talk about synchronicity…
He introduced me to Bijoy Goswami, founder of Bootstrap Austin and the Bootstrap Network, who was already engaged in the topic of conversation of the evening, entrepreneur as hero, and relating it to the recommended reading, Joseph Campbell’s book, Hero with a Thousand Faces.

Soon, other Bootstrappers showed up and as I met each of them I continued to feel as if I was coming home to reunite with family. These were conscious entrepreneurs and visionary thinkers. Where have I been all my time in Austin. How is it I’d not met these people sooner?

It doesn’t get cold too often here in Austin, but this night was quite chilly and so there was a fire in the fireplace in the living room. That’s where we sat down in a circle and began what would be a 3 hour conversation about the heroic life journey called entrepreneurship. We talked about entrepreneurship as a path to enlightenment, and the almost unavoidable and continual expansion of consciousness that happens along that path, as one must continually face one’s self and evolve beyond one’s limitations.

Refrencing movies like The Matrix, Braveheart and Star Wars throughout the night, we talked about how today’s culture conditions us so much to be outwardly focussed and paranoid of failure, and about how we’re missing the kind of rituals that could help us as a culture mark our inner progress along our entrepreneurial paths in life. All evening I couldn’t help but notice how it felt as if we were warriors of the same tribe on a spiritual journey, and at some point I even brought up the idea… What if once a quarter, we went camping and celebrated our failures, struggles and triumphs around the campfire?

While that may or may not happen, what I do see emerging in the next decade are new cultural traditions and structures to support people in living entrepreneurial/visionary lives. I see that visionary thinking and an entrepreneurial approach to life is the way of the future, and I am so excited for what is to come.

I strongly encourage all entrepreneurs to get involved with communities like Flow and the Boostrap Network. We may live in a world where entrepreneurship as a lifestyle is increasingly growing in popularity (some surveys have shown 7-8 out of 10 highschool students want to be entrepreneurs), yet we still live in a world that blames successful entrepreneurs for society’s problems. How ironic that the very individuals who are, as Ayn Rand might say, lifting the world on their shoulders and taking humanity to new heights are often those blamed for our problems.

I use the term entrepreneur very loosely to mean individuals who are risking a lot to bring something new of value to humanity into existence. (Aren’t we all entrepreneurs in spirit? Don’t we all yearn to live a heroic life, creating value?)

Do entrepreneurs do what they do out of greed? Is there a limited amount of wealth that entrepreneurs and capitalists just greedily fight for at the expense of others? Or is wealth created? And who creates it?