[elbigbad]

I had to look this up to make sure this wasn’t some low effort trolling. It does seem real, which raises the question: With regard to getting people to listen to your advice, wouldn’t it have been better if you had created or done something notable in the past 25 years rather than be a self-titled “Visionary” on LinkedIn?

[anonymouskimmer]

It's not required for McKinsey consultants. It's also not required for therapists.

What makes a good consultant or therapist is adaptation to the person they're consulting for / therapizing, as well as a knowledge-base on what has worked for others in similar situations in the real world.

I agree with you, "visionary" doesn't seem like a good credential for either of these, unless said "visionary" is working with someone who has a lot of drive but not a lot of vision.

[ada1981]

The only thing that matters, is results. Specifically the results of my clients.

I don’t really use linked in, but a visionary is a very specific role. You goto the edge, you find what’s useful, you relay that back to others. It’s what I’ve done my entire life.

I also coach, invent things, create art and am an activist.

My clients are the most successful people in the world and don’t come through LinkedInn.

My offer of free support still stands.

[anonymouskimmer]

> The only thing that matters, is results. Specifically the results of my clients.

What matters is value add from your work for your clients. If your clients are already the most successful people in the world, you have to have a very good method of identifying and quantifying your value add.

[ada1981]

I can certainly see how one might think that. However in practice the kinds of things happening in peoples lives are out beyond the ken of “quantifying your value add”.

Our clients regularly cite immeasurably positive ROI — like finding their soul mate, having a child, gaining clarity on how to spend the next decade, healing old traumas, etc.

Also interesting but perhaps not surprising is that people who are at the top of a domain, are often challenged in other areas — super powers often come with challenges.

[ada1981]

I don’t really use LinkedInn… and advice is pretty weak magic. Coaching and community however, are some of the most powerful magic I’ve seen.

You can see some of the clients I’ve worked at earthpilot.org - including multi year 1:1 coaching and advising some of the most successful founders (from companies like Asana).

I’ve had modest successes in a number of things… I created a self help app when I was 10 back in the 90s that sold internationally, it’s was called Virtual Journal and was for the mac. Don’t bother looking for it, I’ve tried, and my own remaining copy vanished when my mom gave away my childhood computer.

I got really into ultimate frisbee in 2001, started the countries first online ultimate clothing company, was invited to compete in the world games, and have coached some of the best in the world including pro players.

For a while I ran a small company based on a self authored patent I obtained for skins for credit cards. Weird company, everyone from Lady Gaga to Obama had them (with Obama being spotted with one in his hand in a NYTimes photo).

I’m credited with being the inspiration and founding co-host of summit.co - I mentored and taught sales and entrepreneurship to Elliot and helped him launch the first event — our first guests included Sam Altman.

For fun, I started a (now defunct) blog that was named Top 25 in the World by TIME/CNN in 2009. We were an activist media company and we’re successful at integrating race segregated proms in southern public schools and in ending corporal punishment in New Mexico.

I created the first app based on Art Aron’s work (the NYTimes would follow) on the 36 Questions to Fall in Love (Mark Zuckerberg shared the HN listing of the app on his personal home page). Turned it into a card game, did a successful crowdfund, and then rolled it out in every Urban Outfitters store in the country.

I was doing psychedelics before they were envouge… running an underground clinic in NYC (I was feature in a PBS docuseries called mysteries of mental illness episode 4, where I openly administer MDMA to a lawyer who has complete PTSD - first time that was done in television); started a non-profit to decriminalize plant medicine in partnership with David Bronner (Doc Bronners). Also have contributed to a book on underground MDMA published by Tucker Max, and have lead hundreds of people through transformational BioMythic.com sessions including entire companies (Bombas) and teams in the Ukraine just after the war started.

Maybe some of that’s notable to you, maybe it’s not, it doesn’t much matter to me as much as ensuring visionary people don’t end up dead by suicide or overdose (I just lost a life long friend a couple weeks ago) or otherwise fail to get their visions into the world.

Personally I overcame a pretty challenging experience of a decade plus of regular suicidal depression and manic psychosis, which I realized could be navigated successfully outside western psychiatry — and I did so. Psychedelics helped but it also has required a very deep tool set and new ways of approaching the world.

My coaching was all word of mouth and referral for many years, only recently did we start to put up some videos and offer things more publicly.

When I asked one of my founders why he chose to work with me vs. any of the other people out there, especially when I have never built a billion dollar company before.. he said “the reason I am more successful than most people, is that I know where to look”.

Anyhow, I’m not surprised by the hackernews downvotes, people would much rather avoid facing themselves and any real work - but, if we can support people with our (many free) processes, it’s work the negativity and judgement.