About

What is it that your heart asks you to stand for in this life?

Who is it that your heart asks you to stand for?

You are a gift.

What support do you need?

VisionForce is a gift to support visionaries like you who are standing for bringing forth the more beautiful world that our hearts tell us is possible.

– Michael Skye

The VisionForce story (super short version):

It was late 2005, the height of the Iraq War, and I was growing increasingly impatient. I knew in my heart that the body of transformational leadership work I’d developed over fifteen years could support people who were through their activism or art standing for a more beautiful and peaceful world. I desired to empower inspired and courageous change agents every way possible. VisionForce.com is the result of that desire.

I was personally ready to develop myself at the next level as a man, a facilitator and an agent of change, and excited to dive deep into and experiment with the realm of societal change. “VisionForce” would be the flag I carried.

In early 2006 I began to shift my focus to bring my work to change agents, inspired revolutionaries, social entrepreneurs, visionary artists, activists and entrepreneurs. That spring I created the Visionary Mind Shifts free online course, the Visionary Mind Program and repackaged my 4-day transformational leadership intensive, calling it the VisionForce Boot Camp.

Soon the “bootcamp” gave way to what I now call an iStand, delivered in the context of a sacred ceremony, a rite of passage and a visionary training for those committed to “being the change” in our world and are willing to “face everything, avoid nothing and stand for humanity.”

In the coming years I experimented using the work to support everyday visionaries like peacemaker, Thad, social entrepreneurs, Clovis and Michael, musicians, Keith and Shawn, filmmakers Catherine and Emced, etc.; and developed stand-alone tools for them such as the Honor Window, Inner Conflict Diagram, and more. We collaborated in adventures such as “VisionForce Summits” and VisionForce Safaris.

These years of adventure, challenge and experimentation have proven to be a great and humbling learning experience for me, transforming me and my view of life in the process. I’ve come to understand myself less as an entrepreneur or businessman, and more as an artist creating concepts, tools and events for other artists giving their heart’s gifts for humanity.

What remains are a collection of trainings, courses, tools, audios, videos, etc. that are my gift to any person who desires to “be the change” in his or her world. And the more that such an individual must face “the man,” “the masses” or his own fears to do so, the more useful he or she may find these offerings.

I’m currently finishing two books describing my adventures (and misadventures) over the VisionForce years: Visionary Heart and Visionary Troubadour (working titles). And who knows what will come next? This for me is still a grand adventure, the vision is continually evolving and I’m listening closely to what my heart calls me to next.

Currently, I’m still traveling our beautiful planet, and I’ve decided to gift my life’s work to all those who desire to follow their hearts, bring down their walls, stand for their people, etc. I’m working out how to do that, experimenting with new ways of living through gifting.

– Michael

P.S. That’s the super short version. If you’d like to know more of the story, read on…

The VisionForce story (for those who want more of the juice):

My life’s work is born of the pain of a 14-year-old boy who has been told all his life that “families are forever” and then one night finds out his father won’t be coming home ever again. As an eldest son he watches as his two brothers, three sisters and parents struggle through seven years of bitter divorce, separation from religious community and from each other, and all the trauma and heart-wrenching grief that no one knows how to deal with. 21 years later his life’s work is bringing deep healing and restoration to families and individual’s hearts, and all of his siblings have finally received the gift of his work in their lives.

VisionForce tells of my journey beginning in 2006, when I became inspired to focus my work to support artists, activists and revolutionaries who were giving everything to stand for and create the more beautiful world their hearts tell them is possible. It’s a journey I’ve shared with many people, and together we’ve touched many lives and experienced many beautiful moments.

I’d just turned thirty five and had been leading “boot camps” and other workshops and trainings based on a body of transformational leadership work I’d developed over the years, rooted in the ‘warrior ethic’ and a person’s own sacred honor. I consider this work, which deals with the realms of inner conflict and interpersonal conflict, a martial art for the human mind and spirit.

It was the height of the Iraq War, and I was growing increasingly impatient, my heart telling me I could serve and stand with the inspired young revolutionaries of our day by offering them my work, which grounds a person in their sacred honor, supports them in standing strong in the face of any opposition, accessing the natural and endless courage, compassion, wisdom and vision of their hearts.

In the spring of 2006 I found myself watching films such as the U.S. vs. John Lennon and Sir! No Sir! about people taking a stand at the height of the Vietnam war, and witnessed artists, activists and soldiers rising up and bringing about real change–including an ending the Vietnam war.

Then one day high school students across the U.S. suddenly walked out of class with no permission or explanation and took a stand on an immigration issue, and it was revealed that it was organized through social media, I realized the immediacy of this new technology to inspire, inform, support, organize and mobilize individuals of any age to be a dangerous force for good.

And when I saw authorities react to these young people with condescension and punishment, training them to be “good” and obedient students and citizens, at the expense of honoring and nurturing their natural heart’s desire to stand up for what they feel in their hearts is right, I knew that now as the time. VisionForce is the result of my desire to stand with those who are standing for “being the change” and bringing forth the more just, peaceful and beautiful world that their hearts tell them is possible.

I began immediately refocusing my efforts on conscious change agents, inspired revolutionaries, social entrepreneurs, visionary artists and activists; and created the Visionary Mind Shifts online course, making distinctions between “goodness” and “greatness” (pt. 2), created the Visionary Mind Program and repackaged my 4-day transformational leadership intensive, calling it the VisionForce Boot Camp.

I was invited to speak to a class of young people at a progressive private school in Austin, and was excited to bring a controversial conversation about the Abu Ghraib prison scandal and how that related to parents and teachers training young people to be “good,” even at the expense of trusting the inner authority of their hearts and acting courageously in line with their heart, even if that means breaking the rules, and being humiliated and punished. When that conversation was met with mostly apathy from the young people, I was perplexed and frustrate. This was a revolutionary conversation, and they can literally be the ones to change the world.

Soon after, the friend who’d invited me to speak at high school told me that she needed a curriculum to bring to high school students in Kenya. She was also passionate about inspiring and empowering youth; her organization took American high school students to live in developing countries for a short time, interacting with and serving local communities. Against the advice of almost everyone I knew, I volunteered not just a curriculum but to be the one to go. That month in Africa would change my life forever.

I could no longer limit my trainings to those who could pay $2,500 plus room, board and travel. I decided to gift the next one to 30 people who were willing to “face everything, avoid nothing and stand for humanity.” I renamed the boot camp an iStand and offered it in the context of a sacred ceremony, a rite of passage and a visionary training for those committed to “being the change” in our world. Words of some of those who attended the first one in March 2007 follow:

Among others in attendance were visionary musicians and activists as well as two brothers, one an Iraq veteran and the other a Conscientious Objector, both of whom would say that this work saved their lives:

This little audio clip of me sharing my excitement in early 2008 (thanks Shawn Madden for the remix):

MP3 File

In the coming years I experimented using the work to support everyday visionaries like peacemaker, Thad, social entrepreneurs, Clovis and Michael, musicians, Keith and Shawn, filmmakers Catherine and Emced, etc.; and developed stand-alone tools for them such as the Honor Window, Inner Conflict Diagram, and more.  We collaborated in adventures such as “VisionForce Summits” and VisionForce Safaris.

These years of adventure, challenge and experimentation have proven to be a great and humbling learning experience for me, transforming me and my view of life in the process.  I’ve come to understand myself less as an entrepreneur or businessman, and more as an artist creating concepts, tools and events for other artists giving their heart’s gifts for humanity.

What remains are a collection of trainings, courses, tools, audios, videos, etc. that are my gift to any person who desires to “be the change” in his or her world.  And the more that such an individual must face “the man,” “the masses” or his own fears to do so, the more useful he or she may find these offerings.

I’m currently finishing two books describing my adventures (and misadventures) over the VisionForce years: Visionary Heart and Visionary Troubadour (working titles).  And who knows what will come next?  This for me is still a grand adventure, the vision is continually evolving and I’m listening closely to what my heart calls me to next.

Currently, I’m still traveling our beautiful planet, and I’ve decided to gift my life’s work to all those who desire to follow their hearts, bring down their walls, stand for their people, etc.  I’m working out how to do that, experimenting with new ways of living through gifting.  More soon!