You’ll want to save this one, share it, sing it, dance to it and replay it!

Shawn has given so much to VisionForce and our efforts to contribute to you, your vision, your loved ones and your journey. If he inspires you as he does me, I encourage you to download this man’s music into your heart.

Shawn Madden attended the VisionForce Boot Camp, aka, iStand Experience in March 2007. He came with his guitar and serenaded us with his uplifting music. Later that year he moved to Austin, joined the VisionForce team, and has been preparing the launch of his grand vision for transforming the world through song and dance.

Check out my audio interview of him and his One Prosperous World Music Tour.

I’m including a special note from her here, because she has so inspired me with her heart, her courage and commitment.

I’m inviting you today to stand beside me, as my ally, as I stand for being a powerful symbol of love, inspiration, wisdom and self-empowerment for our children, our country and our world, through the mighty vehicle of pop culture.

The hardest part of pursuing the glamorous career of a performer is balancing self consciousness with selflessness, or better put, balancing give and take. It may sound strange at first but if you think about it, a performer has to consider things that can feel like pure vanity. How do I look? Am I “cool” enough? Are my songs powerful while also being entertaining? I’ve received criticisms for the most personal details such as my weight, my clothes, my friends, my education, my childhood, my life. On the one hand I just want to sing, perform, spread light and love. On the other hand, I have to have enough self love to remain confident, open and flexible even in the face of rejection and sometimes harsh criticism. No matter how I feel, the show must go on!

A few years ago I was a top 100 finalist on American Idol. It was Season 3. I was right there with Jennifer Hudson, Fantasia and the rest of the bunch. My readiness faced the test right then and there. I’ve been doing this my whole life, I thought, I was born to do this, it should be a cinch! As much as I’d love to say that it was Paula, Simon and Randy that made it so hard to be open when I got in front of those cameras, I know better.

Even when my intentions were checked and double checked, in my heart I harbored fears. I wasn’t ready. How could it be? I’d always known this was my purpose, my destiny, so why wasn’t I ready?

I wasn’t taking a stand.

I was taking positions on lots of things, pouring my feelings into the work but something was missing. What was it?!

It was vision.

In my heart I feared all sorts of things. I feared that I would absorb all of the attention, that my sincerity might diminish, that I could lose my way, divert my mission, and the whole thing would go straight to hell!! I feared that I would hurt or be hurt by people. Consequently, I suffered with an eating disorder for SIX years! To make things harder, in the artist community there is a THICK resistance to success. Working for money is considered insincere. Shaping your work to make it more acceptable to a wider audience is looked upon as “selling out.” For years I’ve asked myself, am I a sell out? Why do I want to be a mainstream artist instead of being content as a grassroots, street level indie artist?

Then, against the will of my entire family, I went to Tokyo, Japan. For over a year my only responsibility was to teach English and perform in clubs and bars. I lived in a bubble and worked hard to get clear on who I was, who I was becoming, and the woman I wanted to be. Suddenly, something which was once vague became crystal clear.

This is not about me. This is about a life purpose, a calling, a vision.

Now I am ready, not to fight, but to take a stand. I am ready to declare my own greatness, free of fear. I know I’m ready because doors are already opening, and opening wide! I’ve begun a whole new phase with my family, my friends and my work. This is why I want to attend the VisionForce bootcamp. This new phase has begun and I want it to kick off right!

This is my declaration, my commitment to you and to a whole new world:

I dare to spearhead a new conscious pop culture that stands for self-awareness, self-empowerment, peace and embracing a rich and full life.

I dare to stand for being a guiding light for all women and young girls in America.

I dare to stand for being a fully actualized woman.

I dare to stand for being a conscious and successful artist committed to you, our children, our world.

I dare to stand for being a symbol for women in America to embrace their full capacity, release their oppression mind-set, and be graceful leaders in that way that only women can do.

I will do this first by living it.

Artists have the capacity to reach an extraordinarily wide and diverse audience. I can help you inspire the world.

In the past ten years of pursuing this mission there have been incredible challenges. Yes, sexual harassment. Yes, rejection for my beliefs. Yes, it was all enough to make me doubt myself.

Now, I know to expect these challenges every step of the way. In VisionForce I believe I have found the right support group and the skills to know how to keep going! If you believe in the VisionForce training then you know it will do for me what it has done for you.

Will you stand beside me as my partner and ally? Will you let me stand beside you, as yours?

From the bottom of my heart, thank you for taking the time out of your busy schedule to read my letter. Whatever you decide, I will trust that it is best. If you do choose to make a contribution, whatever amount you choose will be perfect. As a token of my thanks, when that first album is done, I will publicly honor you as a contributor to my life and to my work. Now and in the future I’m sure that we will find exciting ways to work together to make this world healthier and happier!

We’re in it together till we reach the summit, and thereafter to dance on the sky!

I wish you great success in everything that you do.

Standing with you and for you!

Esse
Singer, Songwriter & Author

To help make Esse’s journey to Boot Camp possible, please use the ChipIn tool below (any amount at all is very appreciated!):

http://revolution.zaadz.com/blog/2007/10/shawn_maddens_visionary_journey

Keith’s impromptu lyrics were his way of honoring everyone with whom he had shared the Boot Camp. He starts singing to individuals towards the end of this first video. (Oh, and those are bottles of sparkling cider on the tables, as this is an alcohol-free event!) We seem to have some incredible, visionary musicians at every Boot Camp. Of course, artists are, after all, visionaries.

Keith, we’ll cherish this memory forever, and we hope to have you on our Training Assistant team for November… bring the guitar!

I find myself in this predicament currently, and I’d like to speak to two fundamental challenges that someone in such a position faces. I invite you think about these challenges for your own situation.

2 Challenges for the 21st Century World-Changer:

1) How do you share your idea or vision in a way that has people understanding it, without oversimplifying such that they don’t see it’s novelty and genius? Many people are often all too eager to file your idea away into the category of something they already know.

2) How do you share your new idea or vision in a way that does not offend those who are attached to the way they currently view the world? Many people are often all too eager to erect a wall between you and them, if your idea somehow threatens their current reality–or more specifically, their image. From behind their wall, they cannot see what you are saying.

The first challenge is similar to the prospect of sharing a complex theory with someone who barely understands your language. Sure, you can describe it with very simplistic vocabulary and grammar, so that they think they “get it;” but you know that they don’t. Certainly, they don’t “get it” on a level that would inspire them into heroic action in the service of your vision.

I find this to be a growing challenge in my blogging and newsletter/autoresponder writing. Am I speaking to those who share a deep, rich context, or am I speaking to those who are finding this site for the first time? Sometimes I find myself writing in a very simplistic manner, so as to reach people emotionally. Readers will then have the experience of “getting it” or “getting me;” however what I am sharing can easily sound like it’s nothing new to them, because I am using such familiar language.

At other times, I start writing on a more intellectual level, only to realize that a lot of groundwork needs to be laid in my article or blog post, before people would grasp what I was intending to communicate. I begin laying the groundwork in the blog or article, and then before I know it, I am out of time. The article, blog or email does not get produced that day, and it sits awaiting a future completion date.

While there may be many simple approaches to resolve this dilemma, what I’d like to point out is how this problem lies in the domain of BUSINESS. What is business? A business is a system that comes into existence by virtue of solving problems–or of creating value for people. Business, can then be said to be the range of activities that a person or organization (the “business”) engages in for the purpose of ongoingly providing more and more value to others. A business, at least in a free environment, only exists to the extent that it provides greater value by virtue of it’s existence. Marketing is the realm of activities through which the system communicates with it’s environment, such that value exchanges take place.

Thus, my dilemma in communicating my vision with the world is a marketing problem. As I find solutions to this problem, our organization can more easily and ongoingly (profitably) solve more and more of the world’s problems. I invite you, if you self-identify as a world-changer, to self-identify also as an entrepreneur–if you haven’t already. Whether you are up to creating a better marriage, family, life, community, organization, country, ecosystem, world, etc.–you are an entrepreneur. You are an entrepreneur, and the range of activities you engage in to bring about change are your BUSINESS. So, from a business perspective, how well are you succeeding in bringing about the positive change you seek?

Most of us, who self-identify as “world-changers,” have hobbies at best.

Volunteering some of our time, donating to causes we care about, signing petitions, writing our political leaders and voting on election day are mostly the failing busy-ness priorities of YESTERDAY’s “world-changers.” Those who want to bring about great positive change in today’s world, yet who are engaging in the largely impotent strategies of yesterday’s world-changers are becoming less and less relevant.

Those of us who want to bring about serious change in today’s world, will embrace entrepreneurship as not just a vehicle for great and lasting change, but as a paradigm to operate from. You want to own your power to change the world? Look around you at the world out there… your laptop computer screen, your blackberry, the coffee shop you’re sitting in, the buildings outside and the cars traveling down the street… where did they come from? The power of big government, big religion or big business? NO. They came from the new ideas and visions of individuals such as yourself–from entrepreneurs who owned their entrepreneurial power.

More and more so, the power to bring about change in today’s world is in the hands of the individual. More and more technology only means more and more freedom and power for YOU to change the world.

Political Force? Military Force? Measure these against the natural force of your own vision. Vision is the power of the creator, the one who creates what did not exist before. Own your power to change the world around you. Own your Vision Force. Claim the title of entrepreneur.

Stay at home mother of six? Starving artist? Student activist? Employee? OWN that your power to change the world lies in *your* systems for keeping your vision alive, for sharing it with others, for inspiring the world to stand with you, for marketing your ideas, for implementing your solutions, for creating the better world you envision!

Own that whatever your current methods of thinking, communicating, creating and resolving conflicts are–they are generating the results you see in your life and organizations now. The world around you is a result of your business.

That’s where VisionForce comes in.

Only to the extent that you fully own your current and potential freedom, power and responsibility to create a better world will you see cause to invest in next-level methods for manifesting the world you envision. If you’re ready to learn new methods for bringing about the world you envision, check out our Boot Camps for visionaries here.

It’s not training to follow someone else’s vision… just the opposite. Consider it Navy Seal training to follow your own vision to the ends of the earth, standing for a better world in the face of all the inner and outer obstacles that arise in such an “impossible” yet worthwhile journey!

A young visionary in Hawaii has a vision of a green, sustainable, conscious community that can be a beacon for other communities around the world. Imagine–communities that work for everyone and with everyone. Is it possible? Many believe that our global community will only heal itself when we first ascribe to a local cohesiveness that bridges divisiveness at home in our families and local communities. From that foundation, many believe, we can build a world that really works… but will it work?

Recently, one such community has emerged as an example of such a vision, showing what is possible when people unite with a common vision to create sustainable and evolving communities that work for and with everyone.

Keith Kavisic, a recent VisionForce Boot Camp graduate (pictured playing his guitar at the Boot Camp Dinner of Honor (and, yes, that’s sparkling cider!)) is spearheading a project in Hawaii known as The Green Source Community. “We are committed to creating this project into a blueprint for community cohesion, cultural appreciation, social responsibility and local economic development,” states Keith. “You are that change you see in the world! Evolution starts here.”

So what does Keith have to say about his experience with VisionForce, “VisionForce broke through the glass ceiling that I had been tapping at for years! Unlocking the tools necessary to walk with honor in every step of life…In addition, this connection provided a team of visionaries for life to move forward in our collective stand for humanity!…If we all live to these standards we begin to change the world instantly! Through the bold actions taken immediately after attending [Boot Camp] I see the light at the end of the change and know that I am and will stand in the face of everything for humanity! As a community leader in Hawaii, I will take these tools and utilize the resources to put sustainable models of economic development and incorporate the sacredness into the infrastructure of life.”

The more Keith and those in the Green Source Community stand for their vision, the more they find themselves living in the vision and the more the vision becomes reality. Rising up to “be the change” is often not an easy task to undertake. As Keith said, however, “I see the light at the end of the change.” Oftentimes when we step out to walk the journey of our vision we step out with nothing more than faith in ourselves and our vision, and trust that we shall see the day where our vision comes into fruition as Keith’s has.

“We are always looking to join forces with all of you visionaries and creators standing for humanity,” says Keith. “If you would like to come to Hawai’i and Stand with us as we create GreenSource and Globe Oasis this community model of sustainable change, contact us.”

If you are interested in Keith’s project or would like to support the Green Source Community, you can visit him on zaadz and learn more about the Community and Keith.

At one of our Boot Camps for world changers in 2004, a young Turkish man realized he stood for social justice. He would go on to describe it as far more than an intellectual insight–it was a deeply emotional, physical and spiritual realization for him. Through his being, he felt called to stand for social justice, and a vision was born.

Within months after that event, he founded 20/20 MultiMedia and began sharing his vision for giving a voice to conscious hip hop artists, who could use their medium for positive change. A few years later, a feature-length documentary starring some of the biggest names in hip hop is about to be released internationally–it’s a visionary film with a powerful message and a call for hip hop artists to stand and own their power to bring about positive change.

This man’s name is Emjed Hammas, his company is 20/20 MultiMedia, and his film is Business As Usual: The Exploitation of Hip Hop. Check out his web site here: www.2020multimedia.net The trailer for the documentary can be found under ‘Projects.’

Positive revolutionaries, authors, musicians, change agents, educators, artists, activists, entrepreneurs, parents, students, CEOs–those who attend Boot Camp tend to become so deeply connected to their values, that they take a stand for what matters most. And a vision is born–a vision, which calls them into heroic action, a vision which demands their personal evolution. They become shaped by their stand and their vision, and their relationships, companies and communities are transformed.

The world needs visionaries now. VisionForce, through our One Million Visionaries campaign, is searching for the most impassioned, conscious agents of change we can find to attend our upcoming “boot camp for world changers” in Austin, TX, July 18-22. Those who are ready to face everything and avoid nothing to stand for humanity for 5 days should apply.

Scholarships are available through our portal on Zaadz.

Here at Vision Force, we also salute the soldiers who fought, and in doing so stood for peace. The more we can all see the stand even in our adversaries, the more we can call them to stand with us in a way that works.