Christopher Michel
Chris Michel, the founder of Military.com and Affinity Labs, is a well-known entrepreneur and investor. He is also an accomplished photographer and someone whom I call my photography guru. He is one of the quiet success stories in Silicon Valley, and his journey is chock-a-block of lessons. Michel sits on the boards of\xa0Dale Carnegie, Catchlight, Kixeye,\xa0and 3D Robotics. His photos have appeared in\xa0the National Geographic, the Smithsonian, the New York Times, the BBC, Outside Magazine and others.\xa0His "Flying Emperor" photograph was the 2nd place finisher in\xa0the 2014 Wikipedia\xa0Picture\xa0of the Year.\xa0We share a love for Leica and its beautiful lenses and often go out to make photos.\xa0 After months of arm-twisting, I finally convinced Chris to sit down and tell me his story \u2014 his journey in life, his time in the U.S. Navy, his move to Silicon Valley and why he loves photography.\xa0We dig deeper into the meaning of life, accomplishment and how to reframe ourselves in a world that is framed by false proxies of success \u2014 money and fame. There is so much I learned about him during this conversation, even though we meet for coffee every two weeks. I was moved to tears, and so inspired by our\xa0t\xeate-\xe0-t\xeate. Have a listen --you will be glad you did.