Of Visionaries And Charlatans

Daily Blog #67

There is a wall, in a startup space I’ve frequented, with a quote written on it. The words of a man named Napoleon Hill, and startup founders walk past it and take on its wisdom, every day. Just a few short words, to carry and provide the gift of faith in the makers who populate its hallowed halls.

“Whatever the mind of man can conceive and believe, it can achieve.”

It’s inspiring. It’s moving. And it’s also throw away tripe from a self help scammer and charlatan who barely avoided prison for fraud and built his career on lies, damn lies and public relations. He was the epitome of the startup charlatan, weaving a web of bullshit and believing it himself.

When the pied piper plays, do you follow?

Will you, when he wears a new set of clothes and carries a deck full of numbers and charts and cute isometric graphics? Will you, when the image is right, the hoodie well chosen, and the tech press are prepared to fawn? Will you, when the tech can’t be proven and the black turtleneck can’t hide the lies?

The visionaries are easy to find, in tech. They have squads of people around them to give that label. They have followers on Twitter, they have adoring fans and journalists. They are the chosen ones, the anointed ones, and we wait for their innovations. The problem is, the line between visionary and charlatan has always been a little blurry.

And it blurs all the more with every Elizabeth Holmes and every crypto scandal. It blues all the more with every charismatic Chiron who stands highest amongst their peers and proclaims “Eureka!”

I think the only answer, here, is to approach with a sense of skepticisim. To question, rather than believe. To question is not to tear down, it’s simply to doubt. We shouldn’t shy away from doubt, if there is a chance it could lead to truth and a little less snake oil.

There are charlatans and visionaries, and the visionaries are worth following. But we need to be careful, and pick which we are talking to, and find a way to know the mask before it falls away and leaves us empty.