Move over Millennials, Gen Z is coming through! In this episode, you’ll get inside the mind of a Gen Z CEO, Yale student, football player, and purpose-driven leader.
Michael Chime is the CEO and founder of Prepared, a company on a mission to pursue a safer world for everyone. Michael and the team created an App that connects schools and emergency services in real-time during crisis situations where every second counts.
In this episode you’ll learn about vision, passion, courage, defying conventional wisdom, and leadership from a Gen Z point of view.
02:13 – Michael’s story
06:39 – Football, the passion, the selection process, the decision
16:01 – The visualization process
20:39 – Yale
22:38 – School shootings, the impact, the purpose
29:37 – Being authentic
34:11 – Building the company culture
42:15 – Personal brand
47:30 – A typical day
50:57 – Influencers
55:41 – Advice to non-Gen Z listeners
[Transcript]
Welcome to the Finding Gravitas podcast brought to you by Gravitas Detroit. Looking to become a more authentic leader. Finding Gravitas is the podcast for you. gravitas has the ultimate leadership quality that draws people in. It's an irresistible force encompassing all the traits of authentic leadership. Join your podcast host Jan Griffiths that passionate rebellious farmer's daughter from Wales, entrepreneur, leadership coach, keynote speaker, one of the top 100 leading women in the automotive industry as she interviews some of the finest leadership minds in the quest for Gravitas.
Jan Griffiths:We're ready to continue our quest to find gravitas through the path of authentic leadership. Authentic leadership can sometimes show up in the most unexpected place. How about the mind of a 21 year old CEO? That's right, a Gen Z CEO move over millennials because Gen Z is coming right on through they are right on your heels and they are ready to go. And if this man is anything to go by, I am thrilled with what the future may hold for us. If he is an example of what Gen Z leadership is all about, then the future is indeed bright. In this episode, you'll meet Michael Chime, CEO of Prepared Student at Yale University. And a man who follows His purpose and passion. He has defied conventional wisdom twice already in his life. He's on a mission to put safety in the hands of everyone in the world. And you'll hear all about that story. Please welcome to the show, Michael Chime.
Michael Chime:Hey, Jan, it's great to be here.
Jan Griffiths:So Michael 21 years of age CEO, what's your story?
Michael Chime:Yeah. So I break down me into two two categories. I'd say there's, there's an athletic realm. And then there's this also this budding business realm that I'm diving into now. I think it's also predicated on a strong foundation. I grew up in Cleveland, Ohio, I had a great family foundation of people that were really supportive and saw firsthand example of what hard work looks like. So my mom and dad worked for everything that they had, and then that everything they had, they then gave to us kids growing up, they were great examples for me. And then, you know, moving into my later years in high school, I went to an all boys Catholic, Jesuit High School, very different experience from what maybe you see on TV in high school, and what that is, like, played football there had the opportunity to go and continue that football and my academic pursuits at Yale, which I'm studying there now. At Yale, I got really interested in an issue that I've been passionate about, since I was was a kid, and with a team of other Yale students, professors and alumni started a company that you know, was really excited about.
Jan Griffiths:That's great. So let's talk a little bit more about where you're from. Tell me about the town that you're from, what was it like?
Michael Chime:We moved around a decent amount as I was a kid. It was I started off in a really, really small town. And it was a town that kind of spurred my interest in the issue that I'm in today. It was a town that saw emergency event firsthand, which I'm sure I'll talk about. It was a very tight knit community that we ended up moving from and then I went away from that tight knit community to go to high school downtown in downtown Cleveland and right in Ohio city. More of the hustle and bustle and I grew up in the small town and then moved to some more downtown areas and got to feel what that was like my entire high school experience. Yeah, that was that was me growing up.
Jan Griffiths:What was the name of the town? Can you share the name of the town?
Michael Chime:Yeah, it was Chardon, Ohio is where I grew up. Yeah, Chardon, Ohio.
Jan Griffiths:Okay, great. And what did your parents do? Well, I know I'm curious to know what they did to influence such you know, such a young, incredible superstar. So tell me, you know, what did your parents do?
Michael Chime:They are superstars in their own right. So my mom works for a company called Alerus. It's a metals company. Funny story behind that is that the company My great grandpa started, which was also a metals company, actually ended up being acquired by Alerus. The company that my my great grandfather worked for and started and worked to build it was called Wabash alloys, which is a metal company itself was ultimately acquired by the company. My mom now works for today, which is Alerus International. It's a metal company that is based out of beech wood here in Ohio. And then my dad is in the The same industry as well. He's the metals broker, and trade scrap metal and helps companies with logistics of transporting that metal. He owns his own company. It's called Global Foundries solutions. And both of them have been in that industry since they were kids. That's something that they've worked on their entire life. And like I said, that foundation of working for everything you have is something I got to see firsthand.
Jan Griffiths:Was there an expectation that you should go into the family business, so to speak into metals?
Michael Chime:I don't think so. I think that they, they were passionate about it, but I don't think by any means they even wanted me to go into it. It was it was more out of necessity, right? They, they didn't have much as kids, and they, they wanted better. So they worked right away, and to try to help support the family. And they actually had a funny story. So they grew up on a similar block a block that was like, right next to each other's kids. My This was when my mom was really young, my dad was really young. And they didn't know each other until later in life, whether it was like 20s or early 30s. I guess maybe that town just breeds metals. And I guess I didn't grow up there. So I didn't get to be part of that.
Jan Griffiths:Yeah, it's funny. You know, I grew up on a farm in Wales. And my parents really didn't want me to go into farming. They wanted me to do something better, or something different, you know, they didn't see that there was money in it. So they wanted me to do something different.
Michael Chime:Yeah, I feel that really strongly. I think that my parents were similar in that sense, and that they were very grateful for the opportunities they had right to my dad start his own business now. And it's something that he's worked on. But by no means that I think that they want me to go into metals. I think that they were happy with the path that I've gone on so far.
Jan Griffiths:So let's talk about school and football. Now, as you know, from the early conversations, I am certainly no expert on football and American sport. So be gentle with me as we work through this part of the conversation. But I am very interested in your passion, and your drive to succeed in football. So tell us a little bit about that. And let's get inside your head as to what was driving that passion?
Michael Chime:Absolutely. This is something I would love to talk about sports in general. And I'll go and break it down into football later in life was something that was vital to who I became or who I am right now as a person. I think my mom says my first word was ball. From a very early age, I started playing football and was interested in the sport, I started flag football. Here in America, they start young. So I started playing at four years old, playing flag football with my friends and organized league. And growing up playing basketball, baseball, I wrestled whatever sport, there was the play, I played it. And it was lucky because I was bigger than most of the other kids. So I can take advantage of that. Growing up, that was definitely a passion of mine. And it stayed with me in middle school. And then high school is where I started to really specialize. So I started to focus on sports like football and wrestling and high contact sports and also doing track and field. Those were my focus, but always my my love was football. And it influenced my decision to go to that Catholic all Boys High School downtown, they were known as maybe the powerhouse in downtown Cleveland for football, went there. With a lot of expectations, there was a lot of great players that had played there in the past. And I knew there was a lot of great players at the school currently. And I think that at a high school like that, and just to speak, my senior year, we were 12th in the country by the end of the year, and we didn't even win the state championship. We weren't even the best team in the state. But we're rated 12th in the country. at a school like that with just a lot of talent. There's there's a wait your turn mentality. And I think that while that's a good thing is that teaches you somewhat respect and, and work for what you what you get the same time, it can be a passive approach to and you started to take a backseat and be like, Oh, well, it's his turn. And maybe even if you're better, you let that drive your thoughts and then some of your actions. So me as someone who's had all these high expectations of, of playing football to next level, going to college and continuing that passion that I had since I was a little kid. It didn't work out that way in the beginning. So I move into my my junior year of high school. And I'll educate you a little bit on college recruiting processes. If you don't have offers by your junior of high school. Most people will tell you, you basically kiss that dream goodbye, because that's something that rosters are filled up the offers that they're giving are out. It's a point in my life where I met my junior year, and there was better players in front of me one went to Ohio State and did really well there and I had to make a choice on like, what was going to be my focus for this next year. Because this next year was going to be vital in what I ultimately did. I looked around and there was a lot of people, coaches from other schools mentors in the past family members people who said You know, you're a smart kid and I was doing well in school had high GPA had good AC T and they said why don't you focus on that and have a really strong and Do your junior year, have a great senior year and go to a great college and you'll be one of the first in the family to do so go to college, right? And beginning that sounded enticing, right? Like that was something that sounded really good. I could be the one in the family that went to college and did those things. And I think that ultimately, though, at my junior year, that was a point in my life where I had to make a decision that I feel like I'm at a similar point today, where there was a lot of people that said, you know, maybe this isn't the best move. But when I talked about football, and playing football in college, my the hairs on my arm stood up, I got goosebumps when I would tell people about that dream of playing college football, of being on that big stage and making those plays that I had dreamt about since I was a kid. That was something that excited me and my core. And I wasn't ready to give it up yet. So I acknowledged that I think that at that point, there was a bit of delusion in that decision. Right? Like, a lot of people would have said, you know, that's not the best decision for you that the odds are really low. The odds of going and playing college football in general are really low. But the excitement and the passion and that dream since I was a little kid drove me to continue to pursue it. And
Jan Griffiths:So you have to choose between focusing on academics or focusing on football.
Michael Chime:I think my parents and people would say I could have done both. But I think one thing that's I pride myself in, which is a curse at the same time is I'm like 100% in something person. And while I can do other things and multitask is that my passion and my energy, and when I get really excited about something, it's very hard to divert me from that path. And at that moment in time, it was football. I mean, I could do well in school, and it would be the side but I could have done a lot better in school, but football was not in this equation. And that was that was the decision at that point. Was I going to put all my resources mentally and in school? Or was I going to put it in football and see what happens in your year just rolled the dice on a dream that I knew in me was was what I wanted to pursue? And that's
Jan Griffiths:What you do? What did you do, suspense?
Michael Chime:Oh, yeah, no. So So I think I made a decision to go after football. And it was the right decision. In hindsight, I, we had a tremendously great senior year. And it was a great team of guys that went on to go to the state championship in division one football in Ohio, which is the hardest division in Ohio and one of the hardest states for American football. And we ended up playing at Ohio State Stadium in front of 1000s of people in the stadium I grown up idolizing as a kid. And I was lucky enough to have watched enough film to see few plays maybe before they happened and was able to make some plays in that game score touchdown have a few sacks, after that game was presented with the opportunity to go to a couple of college and play football, which is why I ended up playing football to start at Yale, and having a few other opportunities to go play college football. But I bet on myself and the bet was right.
Jan Griffiths:Let's go one level deeper on that, because I know we were talking in the earlier discussion as we get ready for the recording. So you are not you are not supposed to be the guy that was pick.
Michael Chime:No. So by no means was the coaches that were attending that game or the coaches that were watching film from that game, looking for me to have a great game they, they were there to see the juniors the ones that I told you about. And there was a play that I remember vividly like it was yesterday, there was a play where they there was their first part of their game. And the part is just where they kick it, the other team changed possession. And the play was designed so that I block the person in front of me. But I had watched that that play on film a few times. It was in my head a few times manifested it and I saw the senator the guy was supposed to block stepping to the left. And that would give me a huge opening to break right through. And God hope I was right because if not, I was gonna get benched in the coaches were gonna be very upset because I was making the wrong foot. But I went with my gut with what I had seen on film, broke through the line blocked the punt, was able to pounce on it and score the first touchdown of the game. And defensive tackles don't score very many touchdowns. That's not our job, by any means. I ended up on the scoring to my entire career at Ignatius. So that was one of the two. And yeah, that play definitely was a game changer, a life changer for me. And I ended up being one of the players of the game being interviewed after the game by the ESPN, hostage game and stuff like that.
Jan Griffiths:Yeah, that's phenomenal. Now I have to imagine that the coach could take it one of two ways, right? I mean, either they're looking at that as Wow, that was a gutsy move. Right? And we're we're proud that you did that. Or they could look at it and say that's not what you were supposed to do. We don't want this sort of rebel spirit and a team. So how did they interpret that move?
Michael Chime:We've talked about it since actually, we talked about it a few weeks ago. I have a great relationship. With my coaches, they've been role models for me impactful figures in my life. And they were very happy I made that decision. I think that, like any great leader, our coaches understood that we were the people on the field. And that is, to a certain extent, they had to trust us to make decisions and do things that maybe went outside what they had preached all the time, and what was the status quo. And in that moment, and I think that another part of this is that I had to earn that trust. Over the the entire year, I had done things the right way, been a model for other kids and stayed after practice with the younger kids to make sure that they were moving in the right direction. And in that moment, I think that they trusted me to make a play and to do the right thing. And I and it wasn't out of just spur the moment I had prepared for that moment. I had seen that multiple times on film, I've voiced it to them on film that, you know, maybe this is something that I might do if I see it. And while that call in that specific time was to drop back, I think they were very excited in the fact that I had prepared and done the right thing in that moment.
Jan Griffiths:That's amazing. You've mentioned several times that you've seen that play. You've, you've seen it, I know you've seen actual recordings of it, but you visualize it in your head. And all of the research that I've done, and many of the leaders that I have interviewed, particularly Nick Norris, a Navy Seal, we had a long discussion about this, about the power of visualization, right. And in the Navy SEAL world, they have the sand table, they talk about where they lay out the mission, and they talk about what could go wrong. But it really creates a powerful visual. And I love that film in search of greatness. And particularly when they talk about Wayne Gretzky, when he talks about you know, he sees it he sees the he sees the play, he sees it in his in his mind. And he Tiger Woods always they feel the winning shot, they know it, they feel it in every fiber of their being, how much of that visualization process plays into who you are, and how it's guided you so far in your life,
Michael Chime:I think it's been a huge factor and any success that I've had so far. I think that in sports, it's something that's really important, I think that and it's tied directly into preparation. So like not only had I seen that play multiple times, but I had watched that pass play multiple times on film. And I think that you in sports, this taught me this lesson, but I think the you, you win a battle twice. I don't think that you win at once. I think that actually, if you don't win the first battle, you're not going to win the second one. And that battle is first in your head. If you don't win that battle, and I won that battle, I'd seen that happen multiple times, I'd seen that play, I had felt it to a certain extent the ball touching my hands as I blocked it. And that battle, when I stepped on the field was already one, I just had to recreate it in real life and manifest it and that's yeah, that's something that I think is when you're confident with the preparation that you've put in over a lot of times and you've felt that in your core. That's, that's something that can be really powerful. And I believe that it's been integral in my success.
Jan Griffiths:There is power behind visualization, there's no question, you know, what you felt that you've been there, you've done it. As you try to bring that into the business world. I will share with you that in my career. And many of the companies that I've dealt with, somehow we lose sight of that magic, this power of visualizing success of really talking about it, seeing it feeling it, feeling that ball, touch your hands, the same thing in business, feeling the success. We don't spend a lot of time doing that. Therefore, it's much harder to build up to that success when you haven't actually been there in your mind. How do you see yourself taking that into the business world?
Michael Chime:Yeah, I think that that's actually a challenging thing to do. I think the one thing that football or sports give you as an advantage is that there's these really impactful moments that you can recognize and schedule for for an entire week or a tire offseason. So so if you look at sports, it's we had 15 opportunities to show what we'd been working for for the entire year. And then that's really easy, definitely an easy situation, to think a lot about to manifest behavior to do immense amount of preparation for for one game, or 15 games, or whatever that is. And I think that in the business world, that's not something that's just natural, right, like you have meetings back to back to back to back. And all of those decisions can be extremely important decisions, and what you ultimately do, and you have a lot of people that are coming in coming to you that are unexpected that maybe you didn't plan in your day, but that happens that day. And I think that to a certain extent, you have to plan that preparation and that mental focus into your day. And I believe that you have to take control of your day to a certain extent. Because if you don't it'll it'll take control of you So what I've done that I think that works for me is that if I have something really, really big, like, for example, if we have a huge pitch, or if we have an investor meeting or something that's really going to impact the company, I try to take some time just to plan in and visualize that event. And I think that if you don't, you don't take that time in or it's easy not to write, you're just so busy. You have so much going on. And there's family and there's there's trying to grow a reading and all these things outside of work that you want to do and exercising and all those different things. But I think you have to take time to just plan, visualize it and put that into your day. Because if not, you're not getting that opportunity, otherwise.
Jan Griffiths:Yeah, well said. So let's talk about Yale.
Michael Chime:Let's do it.
Jan Griffiths:So you go from Ohio, to Yale, tell us about that process in. Let's stay with football for a moment. Okay. So Yale and football, let's talk about that.
Michael Chime:Very different actually. So what what the intuitive thing? Well, you would think would happen is that naturally, high school football, the college football would be this ginormous jump. And I think that physically was like the players were much better than what I had played in high school. But there's definitely differences, and especially when you're going to an Ivy League school. And I knew a lot of that going into, like, at my high school, football was everything, right? Like you had these massive student sections you had, we had multiple 1000s of people at at a state championship, high school football game. And there was multiple people there. And that transition from that where it was like this is the epicenter and byproduct, you're the epicenter, a lot of these players are becoming celebrities in those little communities, to going to Yale, where the focus is very much academics. And there's so many talented people in so many different spheres. And they're used to being the epicenter of whatever sphere that is. Football is not that, you know, so that they have their own worlds, which are incredible worlds, and they're doing incredible things and impacting the world and their various ways. But it was a transition for for sure to go to being the center of a community and of a town and to, to not being the center of really, really anything over. Yeah, so that was definitely a transition. But I think that just the physical part of it, the players were so much better. And I think that the time that I spent with them was definitely transformative.
Jan Griffiths:So let's, let's move on and talk about your business. Let's talk about the product. And right from the very beginning, right when you started with the idea for the product, and let's take us up to being in the position you're in today, which is CEO of a company.
Michael Chime:Yes, I would say that from the beginning to talk to you about my life breaks down into these two spheres. And I think that they're, they have their connections, but they also were happening very much at the same time. And from a very early age. I was passionate about the school emergency issue school shootings, something that impacted my town. So I said, I grew up in Chardon, Ohio in 2012, there was a school shooting starting Uh huh. And in my town actually was like, right next to it, it was Concord, Ohio, but that's much smaller than Chardon. But Chardon like my, my grade school actually locked down when the shot and shouldn't happen. And there was three fatalities in that event. So it was like really jarring for a small community. And, you know, news media comes in for the week or two weeks post that event, but I saw how it impacted that community for months after, or even years after. So, as I'm growing up, I had this in my back pocket, this experience of what that was like for our community. And when Parkland happened, I really resonated with that as well, because it was I was in high school, and that was happening and they were in high school. Like that was my age. This was my generation that was going through this issue. Like I felt like I was going side by side because it could happen to my school any day. And I think that when I got to college, I became really interested in the issue and maybe how I could do something to help. And also found two people who are incredible, two founders that started the company with me, who also grew up in Connecticut. And we're right by Sandy Hook when it happened. So those couple events impacted us. And I think that we rallied around finding a solution. And so we asked ourselves a couple questions like, you know, what are happening? What is happening in these events? You know, why are there so many fatalities? And then, with our current statute, what can we do about it? And I think that we were lucky enough to be at the intersection of execution and high technical skills. So I had been a part of high performance teams, I think of myself as somewhat creative, but they also have these. They had been programming since they were 11 years old. So this was just ingrained in what they do. Actually, one of my co founders, when he was 11, just threw an app on the App Store and got a cease and desist from Atari because he was so popular. Like that's the kind of that's what they've been doing their whole life. And so we had this intersection of talent and passion for the issue. And we started putting together ideas. And what we noticed from the very beginning about this issue is that some of the fatalities work During because of simple communication issues, like just because schools were using old age systems like PA systems and walkie talkies to communicate in, in a situation where it requires instant communication, and those systems were not built for instant communication, and you saw it in Parkland, it took them three minutes and 30 seconds, Stephen, lock down the school to send a simple code read communication to everyone on site. And the emergency itself was just over six. So for the majority of that emergency, your people internally are scrambling, trying to get more information. And that's why you see the majority of the fatalities are on the first floor, because by the time he got to the second floor, they'd locked down. So we saw really early on that if we could just solve the communication issue, we could do a lot of good. And that was something that we wanted to tell the world about, you know, we saw it like we could do something here. So we built this very simple communication tool that at the press of a button, you can now communicate to everyone. We showed it to a few schools, and they were really excited about it. So from the very beginning, we had paying schools that were adopting the solution that they wanted to be part of this whole process of building something to solve this problem. And from there, we started pitching it to more schools talking to more relationships, and continue to iterate the product based on that feedback. And then we started to develop products, which we're still doing today for police departments. And that's really the next stage of our growth. So we it was funny, every time we had talked to a school about the topic of safety, naturally that local police chief was brought into the discussion, those two sides are just so closely tied on this issue. And because of that police departments would tell us, you know, you have all this great info, right, we'd love to take it. But think about the systems we're using, right? Like the systems, we have our old age systems built for a phone call. You have in an amass emergency like this, you have 30 calls, 40 calls, 50 calls all coming in at once, we can't synthesize that type of information. And that was our next thought it's like, okay, well, we'll build you one. And that's what we ended up doing. So we built them a system that allowed them to see an emergency heat map in real time, they could see the building schematics, they could see where people were, what they were pressing, if they were safe or not. And they could synthesize all this info, at the same rate that they could take one phone call, they can now parse through 1530 messages. So we built that for police and connected it with schools. And that's really where we are today. So we're excited about some of the people that are excited about our solution, like the former head of Chicago Police Department just joined on as an advisor, we're discussing mass implementation of our police department, police product in all the 911 systems nationwide. So we've made some great progress. And I hope Hopefully, we've done a lot of good.
Jan Griffiths:So you're the CEO of this company with this incredible product. You're a student at Yale and you're playing football, is that correct?
Michael Chime:No, Jan. So this, I am, I am a student, I am CEO, but I stopped playing football just this last year me made that the hardest decision of my entire life. It's just a break right now. But I think coaches and my teammates understand that I'm just gonna take a break for a little bit and pursue what seems like a great opportunity to do some good. And it's an at the intersection of learning how to grow something and build with the team, but do some good for the world. So I've taken a break from that. But yeah, still schools still developing this. Yes, very much.
Jan Griffiths:But now you're passionate about the product and the cause and the solution because it is a solution to a very real problem. Yeah, absolutely.
Michael Chime:Yeah. And that's, and that's why I said very early on when you're talking about football is that I think I'm at a similar point to I was my junior year is right, like I right now. And to a lot of people it would seem like you know, Yale student, Ivy League student, and why don't you just focus on that get the best grades get the best job. It's a lot of security in that. And I think that what I have always turned to and what I turned to, and my junior year in high school was that passion, right? Like when I talk about prepared and what I think that we can do for the world, my hair stands up again, it's that same feeling I felt my junior year when they say or said you couldn't go play football in college, I know that the percentages are low that we're going to be the solution that that changes the world. But I get so excited and so passionate talking about it, that it's too much. I would be much more upset if I was 80 years old and didn't do this. And I guess I would regret it. And absolutely, yeah, so I think, yeah, I'm at a similar intersection where, you know, it seems like the likely path is just continuing to school get good grades, but I can't turn down the Goosebumps jam. You know, it's something I'm so excited about.
Jan Griffiths:What you're talking about is being truly authentic, right and you are living your life aligned with your values and your purpose and what you believe in. And for so many people, it's very hard to do that. And you had to make a conscious decision to go against what most people would do should do. What people told you you probably ought to do. And you had to make a decision to follow your got deep down inside, twice now, twice now in your life and you're 21. So that's going to happen again and again and again. But you find it's like a muscle, you know, you sort of once you do once you get get stronger, you give you permission to go with your gut, and it gets easier.
Michael Chime:Oh, absolutely. Yeah. And I definitely feel like that. And I think I talked to you about this earlier was that like, I don't know, if I had if I didn't have that experience with football, and would have made that decision if I would have made a similar one. Now. I think that it was really important that I had seen that roadmap before, and what it did produce for me. And the other thing is, is that I don't want success of this to be the outcome that doesn't, that's not what it has to be like, I would be okay with failing, but I wouldn't be okay with not trying it because of that passion. And what, how much it excites me. Right. So yeah, I think that seeing it before and seeing success, also with it, but just also seeing how happy I was chasing and pursuing it. Like that was just as much fun for me as the actual getting it that that final college offer, to some extent, like it was more fun chasing it. So yeah. So I think that, seeing that roadmap, seeing what it looks like, the the joy I felt, chasing that childhood dream is something that I lean on now today is doing it for the second time.
Jan Griffiths:I would imagine that Yale would provide some level of support to a budding entrepreneur. How does that work?
Michael Chime:Yeah, they've done some. So we've gotten 40k, in grant funding from you so far, was through we won the top tech startup at Yale in 2019, which was a $25,000 grant. And then we were part of the size city accelerator, which I don't know if you know, Joseph Tsai is now the founder, I mean, not the founder, he's the president of and the owner of the nets, then the basketball team over here. So he started an entrepreneurship clinic at Yale and an accelerator and we were part of that. So we got grant funding from that, but also tremendous amount of resources at our disposal, which we try to utilize as much as we can, like the Yale Law School, they have an entrepreneurship clinic that does all of our legal work for free. And then also just a tremendous amount of people that are willing to support especially because of the cause that, and then the mission that we're trying to solve. So yeah, definitely, yeah, has been helpful.
Jan Griffiths:I love the way when you talk about winning the 2019, what was the name of the competition at Yale that you won?
Michael Chime:Top Tech Startup? Yeah.
Jan Griffiths:Top tech startup. So you won the top tech startup in 2019 in Yale?
Michael Chime:Yeah.
Jan Griffiths:Which is a major, major accomplishment. But you just the way you talk about it, you just breezed by it? Yeah, well, we won this. And then we did this. And we did that, you know, I love I love how that the sort of the ego, there's a real Eagle there to you. That's all about, you know, hey, we did this and were graded. So it really is with you. It's all about the mission. You know, it's all about I am driven to do this, this is going to happen.
Michael Chime:Yeah, I think those things are nice as validators of what you're doing. But by no means are they the full story. I think that and also their external validators. Like internally, I've already validated this. And I told you about and some of its intangible things like I just know, what we're doing is a really good thing. And it's something that I should pursue, because it gets me so excited talking about it. And seeing those some of those things are nice, because by no means is this easy, right? Like pursuing something as a 21 year old, and then also going to school is a tough gig. But I validated it internally. So yeah, those those external validators don't don't mean that much to me. I mean, they're cool, and I definitely will take them. And I think it shows not only the work that I put in, but our team is put in, but at the same time, yeah, it's all mission. This is some, there's a problem that fundamentally needs to be solved. And I think that we are the right people solve it.
Jan Griffiths:Yeah, there's no doubt in my mind that you're going to do it. Absolutely. No doubt. You're a Gen Z CEO. So a lot of discussion these days about millennials are getting old.
Michael Chime:Right
Jan Griffiths:So your Gen Z guy?
Michael Chime:Yeah, I guess. Yeah. All right.
Jan Griffiths:So as a CEO, your company is still new. It's still starting. You said 11 employees already?
Michael Chime:Yeah. So most of them are intern summer, but they come from different schools. But yeah, so.
Jan Griffiths:Okay, so you're building this company, before you know it, you're gonna go through a period of tremendous growth. Knowing that you have truly embraced the power of visualization. What do you see your company culture to be in the future? If you're to sit back maybe 10 years from now and say, You know what, this is a culture that I want, and I've built in this company, and this is what I believe in. And I am not going to sacrifice it for anything. Describe that culture. What's it going to feel like to work in your company in the future?
Michael Chime:Yeah. I mean, I think this is something that's different than maybe the culture is of the past, but I hope it's fun. Yeah. And I hope that people enjoy going to work and are excited about what we're doing. And I think that to create a culture in that way, well, one, I have to be myself Often I hope to have fun. But if not, I hope that the the mission drives people well we're pursuing is we're trying to build better communication during emergencies for both schools, and police. And that's something that would help a lot of people in the world. And I think that ultimately going each day and solving a problem that maybe doesn't just make people money, right, or doesn't solve something really nice, but like, actually could save lives, is a really exciting and fun thing to go work for. So if I had to say one word, I would say, I would combination, I would say, to actually say, I hope it's fun. But I hope it's fun. Because you're really passionate about what we're building.
Jan Griffiths:And how you're going to make sure that you hire those kinds of people into your organization. How do you know that they share the same values that you do? Any thoughts around that?
Michael Chime:Yeah, I think that that's something that we're working through. Now, as we just went through our first hires. I think that culture in general models, the founders, right, in the very early days, it's like it's a flat hierarchy, you're talking to these people every day, and that we need to be real models of a successful culture before we can expect anyone else to be that model. And I think we try to find people who are diverse in thought, but similar morals. So I think that that's what we're looking for, ultimately, is people that share commonly our values, our mission, our morals, things that we hold dear about the way in which people should not only attack each day, but treat each other. And then the other thing is, is that we want people that are different and better than us, and things that we are not good at. Right? So we're looking for people that can inspire us and a category that we know way less than they do. Like I don't know a ton about marketing, right? So we just had someone join our team who's an expert in marketing, like that person, we have something in common, which is like, we believe that this issue should be solved. We believe that people should be treated a certain way. We believe that communication is key, like we have a lot of similarities. But at the same time, they think about marketing totally different than I ever will. And I hope to learn a lot from them. But that's inspiring, right? So I want to hire people that have commonalities in places where it matters, but also are very different in skill set and thought.
Jan Griffiths:What about hiring multigenerational people? Yeah. I know not looking for a job. But there's, you know, there's, I interviewed John Anderson, the other day, and he was the very first gazelles, business coach, extremely reputable, knowledgeable guy. And he's written a book called replace retirement. And he's basically saying to baby boomers and maybe Gen X's that are now retiring, you know, there's an opportunity for you to play in this up and coming workforce, or be at the bottom end of the millennial scale, or the Gen Z scale. But to come in and not work necessarily work full time, but to come in maybe in a gig economy type of environmental, this different talent ecosystem that we talk about, and play a role. How do you view that?
Michael Chime:Yeah, so I think that there actually be more opportunities for that, and maybe a more remote workforce too. So I think the the, there'll be an increase in people, hiring people who aren't working in the company every day. So things like Upwork and Fiverr, we're going to find certain skills. And I think that that could see an increase as people are working from home, and that you maybe can hire less employees and get things done with contractor bases. But in terms of like, just the age gap, this is something that is that I think about a lot, right. So if you think about it in the ideal sense, right? So me giving direction and how the company should go and shouldn't move. And that should be the ideal, but at the same time, that's hard in practice, when I'm 21, and hiring someone who's 40 or 50, right, and coming from other corporate cultures that maybe aren't as fun and a little more snobby than then what we try to create and how we try to try to act. So that's something we're working through, like we just added someone full time to our team, that's 30. So not not a huge difference, but definitely difference. And then they've worked in large companies before. And I think that I still would put those individuals through the same framework that I put anyone else, right, like, age shouldn't define morals, or basically what you believe to your core, right, but it will define your diversity of thought and your experience. Right. So I think people that provide value on thought are things that we don't think about are valuable experiences is included in that. Alright, so you're gonna bring, the more experience you have, the more you've probably thought about a subject that's valuable for us. But at the same time, we can't be disoriented on morals and things that you care about and the way that we treat people the way that we act the way that we trace our mission. So I think that just because of an age gap, there might be some dynamics and ways that we manage but the same time it's still the same hiring framework as we always have.
Jan Griffiths:Okay, very interesting. So a lot of people are working virtually now that Have not had any exposure to that before you grew up with technology. So I would assume that working from home is no big deal for you. But as a CEO, you know, you have to You're delegating, you're starting to delegate to other people. And it's not just the three of you anymore, there are more people involved. And you have to empower people. So now trust starts to become an issue. So do you. I'm not going to ask you if you trust to people? Of course you do. But how do you? How do you feel about that, know that perhaps your workforce is going to be working from home and you've got these new people, and you have to trust them? What are your thoughts around that?
Michael Chime:Yeah, I think trust is vital to build relationships. And we'll talk about a little background. So I think that this is maybe has some parallels to what we talked about, with bringing some of the things from football or sports into the corporate world. And I think that one thing about sports is that this idea of shared hardship, right, and that when you've gone through something that's really hard, like practices, or you're going through Sprint's, or a really tough defeat or something like that, those type of experiences, build trust, they build camaraderie. And I think that just as the in the same sense that you have to build in preparation, I think that you, you need to build in that same type of not not hardship, but that same type of scenarios where people are brought together, right. And while it is tougher to do in a rope remotes scenario, I think that that's something that we try to do on a daily basis. So we we push people extremely hard, right. But at the same time, we pride ourselves on communication. And we say like, you gotta tell me when this is, this is too much or too little, or whatever communication is extremely key in these remote settings, but pushing people to where we're working towards and and are passionate about the same mission. And it's hard at times, you can confide in us, right. And I think that I tried to, in the best way I can bring that experience that I learned in athletics, where it was like this shared hardship, and that we're all going through something hard. And by that we understand the troubles and that everyone's best interest is in mind, is something that we try to replicate every day and this remote workforce that we have now. So yeah,
Jan Griffiths:Let's talk about brand. Let's talk about personal brand. What makes you you, if somebody was to describe you in the hallway, maybe somebody that works for you works with you hangs out with you every day, how would they describe you?
Michael Chime:Yeah, I think, Well, I hope they described me as optimistic. I think that that's something that is just naturally in me. And I've, I've done a lot to make sure that that stays with me. So I think optimistic is one thing that you'd describe me as I think the other thing is energetic and passionate, maybe to a fault sometimes. And I think that when I get really passionate about a subject, I get really excited about a subject. It's it's hard to slow my roll on that. But I think that probably the two things that define me most maybe are optimism and pattern.
Jan Griffiths:Yeah, well, in the short time I've known you, I'd probably agree with that, too. So when you have constraints and you're thinking a barrier in your head, whether it's you know, you're you're training and you're running and and you know that your mind is telling you okay, you know, this is you're done, you're right, this is enough, stop, stop, stop, whether it's whether it's practice for sports, or whether it's in business, where somebody puts an obstacle in front of you. And and it's a constraint in your in your thinking, and it's a barrier. How do you overcome those barriers that may come up in your mind? Because, you know, our minds were programmed to stay safe, right? Our program is to say safe, we're not programmed to take risk. Yeah. So how do you talk yourself through how do you talk to yourself in your head? Yeah,
Michael Chime:I think I'm, I'm naturally prone to taking risks, which I think is a plus. Which is exciting for me. Because, like I said, Let's football, seeing what that looked like when I took my really first big risk, who was something that was definitely enlightening for me, and I was able to take it again. But I do do a couple things to program this intimate. And I think that one person that's definitely influenced me, maybe to an extreme extent, at times is David Goggins, who's a former Navy SEAL, and I read his book can't hurt me. And that was something that was impactful in my life. And he talked about how we can really control our thoughts and our mind and the way that we, we go about things and I don't do this, but one thing that he did was when he was running a mile, and he would have that, that voice in the back of his head, say, you know, you got to stop you got to stop. It would be two miles then it was supposed to be a mile, but then it'd be two miles and just trying to train himself on this idea that like, that's just a thought and that you need to you need to force that out of your brain. So I think that that was something that was very much me in my football years when I was in athletics. I think that if I didn't want to run five sprints, I would go out and One time, and it was something like, you know, I just need to program myself that and continue to show myself each day that, you know, I don't want to do this, I don't think I can do this, but I actually have double that in me. And each day that that's only a thought. And that's not reality in the physical. It's just in the mental. So I think that it was very much you talked about obstacles. In my football days, it was very much through that obstacle head on. And I think that I still have a certain sense of that. But I think that now with more physical barriers that exist in business, I've molded that approach to try to go around obstacles to certain extent, I still think I dive into things and I'm prone to taking risks. But at the same time, I try to especially because there's there's just age barriers that exist to that I can't control it to a certain extent. And I think that when I'm trying to change the way police interact with systems or workflow and something that they've used for 50 plus years now, who is this 21 year old coming to me telling me changing my my systems that I've used for 50 years, even if it's better for them? Right, so maybe that's not one that I should just go head on through? That's not an obstacle, right? Because I don't think that bashing through that that obstacle would be in the best interests of me or, or the police, right. I don't think they'd like me.
Jan Griffiths:Tell me why
Michael Chime:I thought that were true, right? They, they, they're a little bit different case. And I think that that's been a slow, high touch point, problems. And I've had to slowly over time, show them this is it won't change any your workflow, it'll give you more information. And by the way, we give it to you for free. And you know, I've convinced this guy who was former head of police chief of Chicago, that this is a good thing. And like slowly taking them through that obstacle, that physical barrier that existed. So I think that my natural inclination is to jump in something headfirst. But at the same time, over time, some of those physical barriers that exist, I've started to work around them.
Jan Griffiths:Tell us what, what's a typical day look like, for you, with a lot of the other leaders and guests that I've had on the show. People are interested in how they particularly how they start their day.
Michael Chime:Yeah
Jan Griffiths:That's really important. So tell us about that.
Michael Chime:I'm really interested in the subject too. So I have to watch all your podcasts tonight to make sure I get that. Because I think that starting your day is so actually I think that both sides of your day are so important how you ended and how you started, I think that you need to bookmark your day just as much as you need to start it. Well. This is how I start my day, I wake up at 4:45. That's something that I've gotten the habit of doing. I'll putter for a little bit, maybe 20-30 minutes, and then I'll go into workout. And just for today that workout was I hate running. So I made sure that I ran and ran a couple of miles and then went to a pool that we have and did some some pool workout. There was low stress on because I was a little sore from the last day, do my workout. Then I don't eat until 2pm each day. So I do intermittent fasting. Yeah, no, I know. That's crazy. I can tell her face.
Jan Griffiths:What? He don't eat it till two o'clock. This is Oh my gosh, I would be falling apart in the floor, would be climbing the walls I would people's eyes out if I didn't eat.
Michael Chime:Yeah, no, it's much harder some days and it is other days. But I've gotten into the habit of it, it's actually boosted my energy to a certain extent, I've tried to this is something that is again, a parallel to football, I've tried to have 10 to 20 minutes before I start my day, where I'm reflective. And I'm either writing things down, or I'm thinking about what I have coming up or what I had yesterday and trying to take some of those lessons and abstract things from them and use them in the day. And then also write when I'm done with that I read my goals that I have for not only day, but for the year and and I try to recap them every year what my goals are. So I do something reflective. And then throughout my day, I'll normally have a couple of meetings. So we normally have team meetings right in the morning, just to get everyone on the same page. We'll meet really quickly. We'll talk about the different areas everyone will give progress updates in our remote setting will we use some software's called Asana or notion where we push out tasks and delegate things that way? So people get started on the day. And then depending on the day, there's a few calls that are scheduled in it could be a fundraising call, it could be a call with with a school, I like to talk to schools that have already said yes, and get their feedback on how we can get better, how we can make this process more simple how we can communicate better. And then I always try to schedule in at least once a week a call with one of the mentors that I've acquired over this time and and people that have some of that experience who have done it before and see where I'm going wrong, where I'm going right and try to iterate off of those things. Another thing I do that's obsessive I think and I'm obsessing over a lot of things that I think are important. One thing I do is everything I'm doing I take a lot of notes on it, and I try to The optimal word here is try. I try to extract a lesson from those notes, whatever that meeting is. And then I have a lessons book that I write these lessons in. And I try to never learn the lesson twice. I mean, I fail all the time. That's something that a lot of my coaches talked about in football was that like, the best players are people that learn something once, and then don't have that same thing that they have to learn again. So I tried to bring that over and take those lessons. And I have a huge book of lessons now that I've learned many times. That's a goal of mine is to try not to learn a lesson twice.
Jan Griffiths:So not over the fact that you don't eat anything until two o'clock.
Michael Chime:I mean, I eat a lot from today, let me tell you, I'm, I'm like 230 pounds. So it's not like I'm not eating, I definitely eating. It's just the time and I feel better when I when I fast over time. And I found it for me that it works. But I don't think it works for everyone. But I started in I felt better energy levels, I felt more refreshed. And it's been good for me.
Jan Griffiths:Who do you look up to in the business world as a CEO that you admire and respect for the way that they operate? I don't think there's ever one person, you know, during somebody's career, there's always something that you like about one person and something that resonates, you know, with another person, but maybe other one or two that you keep in your sights right now that you sort of like the way that they operate? Who would they be?
Michael Chime:Yeah, this is this is. There's a lot of people that I would like to say right now. But one in particular that I like, one thing that they do is Jeff Weiner from LinkedIn. He's a CEO that preaches Compassionate Leadership. It's something that I've over time learned to love. I was the first time I interacted with him was through a YouTube video where I watched an interview with him. And he talks about Compassionate Leadership. And it's the first time I had heard the term Compassionate Leadership. And I knew that compassion in leadership was important. But there's a set term of Compassionate Leadership. That was my first interaction with it. And it's something that I really, really liked. And I thought that was really important, especially the way that he described it. Just to talk about one of the stories that he brought up that I thought was really great was, he talked about Compassionate Leadership and firing someone. And it seems like an oxymoron, right? And but he was, he described the situation where, in that scenario where you have to let someone go, they're not doing the best thing for the company. But at the same time, they're not doing the best thing for themselves. Like that person has capability if you wouldn't have hired them if they didn't have capability to do something great, right? within that realm, or whatever it is. And the most compassionate thing is to either find a role within the company that makes sense for them to be that great person that you saw on them, or let them grow or blossom in another company. It's something that I liked a lot was this idea of Compassionate Leadership, even when really hard decisions are faced. And that's something that I tried to pull from today. So Jeff, shout out to you.
Jan Griffiths:That's great. Who else?
Michael Chime:Oh, there's so many, Jan.
Jan Griffiths:I know, come on, I'm gonna force you to pick another one.
Michael Chime:Oh, my goodness. Okay. So this is like a common one that a lot of people look up to. But I like Elon Musk to a certain extent, I think that what Elon has been able to do, I think that He epitomizes two things that I resonate with, and you've probably heard from this podcast is, the first one is risk, right? So right after PayPal, he took the profits from that and put it into the companies that he thought were going to change the world. Right, that he was just passionate about. And then and then that brings in the second one is just his passion. And you see it more now with Elon. He's now selling his possessions and do they? Is it very Passion Driven? He thinks about how can I change the world? Where are the categories where I can change the world? And I think that I know that I'm not launching rockets into into space, or I'm not driving. I mean, I'm not making the next electric car. But at the same time, I think very much what we're doing could impact a lot of people in a good way. And that's something that I I try to keep with me is this idea of like, what what is going to move the needle the most in a good direction, right? And I tried to frame decisions off of that.
Jan Griffiths:Do you feel the need to fit a certain corporate mold? As a CEO? You know, do you do you have this this vision, whether it's through people, you've you've talked to movies, even, you know, just this idea of a corporate CEO, that you think you have to conform to? Or that tell me about that? How do you think about that,
Michael Chime:You would think that my age would cause me to try to replicate those type of models. But I think that I'm less susceptible to that than the CEOs of today. I think that when you're in a company for a long time, and then you ultimately become a CEO, you're going to be very much the CEO of the past. You're going to bring in those same things that he did, or she did or whoever,
Jan Griffiths:Then you're going to be a product of that environment essentially, right?
Michael Chime:Exactly. Right. And I think that I'm pretty far removed from that. So far moved it. I've never been in it. Yeah, so. So never having that type of influence. I think that actually is a strength to a certain extent. Now, I think that I don't want to discredit the role of experience in this. I've made a lot of mistakes as a first time founder that I wouldn't have made, if I would have seen it done firsthand, for sure. And I recognize I'll make a bunch more. But at the same time, I think that I won't be a carbon copy of anyone when I'm leading, and that because of that, I haven't, I haven't just seen what he did forever, and I'm not going to try to be them. I think because of that I can be me, I think being farther removed is actually a strength to a certain extent.
Jan Griffiths:Yeah, I think it's interesting that you don't really, you don't really know what a toxic corporate culture is, other than maybe something you've read about it, you've never experienced it. So you've gone straight in to this position as CEO, because you are a startup, which is a wonderful, refreshing, pretty place to be. So you can drive this culture, the way that you want it to be. help our audience who are perhaps a little older than the Gen Z and age group. And for for those leaders who are now looking to attract Gen Z, the Gen Z generation into their companies. What advice would you give them?
Michael Chime:It's a great question. Yeah. I think, ultimately, like anything, when you're recruiting, it depends on the person. Alright, so Gen Z, lumped together to is not the greatest way. But I think that this is going to be cliche, but I think that being yourself is something that's going to resonate with, with someone in Gen Z. And I think that there are times where I've gone into a meeting and say, Hey, guys, I totally messed up yesterday, like I did terrible I there was a meeting in which I had I didn't plan before and this, this didn't go right. And that what you would think the intuitive thing would be is that people will be like, oh, man, what are you doing like this? Arcia. But no, I think people resonate with that. Because at the same time, they've made those same mistakes multiple times, too. And that's just not Gen Z, either. That's our 30 year old, who we just heard, he makes a bunch of mistakes. And I think that us founders, when I say us and me, especially when we acknowledge those type of things, it opens up that type of acknowledgement from other people in our team meetings, and in other places, that would have been close communication that never got through. So I think that a certain sense of just being you and not trying to fit some sort of stereotype or mold or trying to be like, you know, suit and tie is something that will definitely resonate with Gen Z, you know, and I think that, like, you will have to resonate with Gen Z out of necessity, we're ever becoming pretty important, I think in these next couple years. So I think that that's one tip of advice that has worked for me with my peers.
Jan Griffiths:So you made it tell me you're not excited about working in a company where you're thrown in a cube and you're told what to do, and you give her a job description, and you better not make a mistake. And if you do you need to bury or hide it. And you need to protect yourself and your silo function at all costs. You mean that doesn't excite you, Michael?
Michael Chime:As exciting that sound? Yeah, I think I'll pass. Doesn't know I would much rather not do that. Yeah.
Jan Griffiths:How important is mission and purpose? We've read that millennials 77% of millennials want to work for a company that has a mission and purpose that resonates with them? How important is that to you?
Michael Chime:Yeah, I think it's everything. And I think that that's I didn't know that statistic. But I definitely believe it. I think that that that's something there's a reason that you get up in the morning. And I I tend to hope and believe that it's not money. And if it is that I think it should change. So I get up in the morning, because I'm, I think that the problem that we're solving fundamentally should be solved. And if someone else were to solve it tomorrow, I'd be better than I did, I'd be happy about it, because I'm chasing the solution to that problem, which I think hasn't been solved in 50 years, because there's certain barriers in place. And I think that we solve those barriers. That gets me up. I wouldn't get up at 445 in the morning, because I was gonna get 80,000 This year, that wouldn't, that wouldn't wake me up. So I think that is everything. And I think that my generation has noticed that, that it's a it's a rat race, right? Is that working for money today? Just because you have to it's not something that you necessarily have to do. I think that that sense of Office authenticity and people in my generation, especially resonate with that, yeah.
Jan Griffiths:When I started my career, I wouldn't have even thought about asking the question, what was the mission or purpose of the company interested? Wouldn't even he wouldn't have even it wasn't even a thought process. It wasn't even in my head. When I started my career in the 80s, it was about I want to get in I want to get a job. job and I want to work my way up that career ladder as quickly as possible. I want title, I want status, and I want money, I couldn't care less about what the company did or what they made, quite frankly. Now, that's changed over the years. And I would say in the last 10 years, it's, you know, I've changed my thinking on that. But it's funny how different generations, you know, see things coming into the workforce, but my generation has to recognize this and has to adapt. And to go back full circle to where we started, this discussion has to spend more time visualizing success, communicating vision, communicating mission, and, and vision in a very deep and meaningful way that people can get connected to. And that vision is not making 2 million widgets and be the world class manufacturer of X, Y, and Z and create shareholder value. You know, that is not something that's going to read resonate with Gen Z.
Michael Chime:Absolutely. Yeah. That's not exclusive to mission driven companies. And when I say mission driven companies I'm talking about, we're trying to save lives, right. That's our ultimate purpose. I think that every company should be looking at that the same way. I think it was, it was Sony, back in 19, whatever, when they, when they said that our mission was to make Japan known for quality, right. And it wasn't, it could have very much been that type of company could have very much been sell this amount of product. But it was a very different mission statement. And it was very, I wanted to change the way Japan was was viewed. And I think that any company can can look at a mission statement in that framework, and that will get generally excited, is that we're going to actually do something that has an impact on the world instead of having a really high. Bottom line.
Jan Griffiths:Yeah, I spoke to a company the other day, and they are distributor of fireplaces. They're an internet based company. And their mission in life is to create amazing experiences around fire. And I thought, wow, that's really good. Because that's a much more emotional connection. Because that's hard, right? How do you create a vision and mission around selling fireplaces? Right? But they they did they want to create amazing experiences for people around fire? And I was I was totally impressed with that. Because that's what we're talking about. You're talking about making making the production of a widget that could be plain and boring, making it meaningful and relatable, and an emotional connection to people. That's what creates drive. Yeah, no,
Michael Chime:I believe that to my core.
Jan Griffiths:Yeah. And you most definitely have that passion and drive.
Michael Chime:Thank you, like I said, sometimes to fall, but it may. So I'm gonna own it.
Jan Griffiths:So you're a successful 21 year old? I have a daughter, who's almost 18 years of age, what advice would you give to young people coming up? Behind you? So people who are younger than you your age and younger? What advice would you give to them?
Michael Chime:I think that to be a great leader, you have to understand yourself. And I think that that's that's important advice at this stage. Because like me, 20 I'm really trying to find myself. And it's really hard to be a leader when you don't even know yourself yet. One thing that I focused a lot on, and I still with adding in reflectiveness into my day, and then also writing down lessons each day. I'm really searching who am I, I've become a much better leader by understanding a little bit more about myself. So if I was 18, renew, I would put a lot of time and effort into understanding what's my passion? What am I excited about? What's going to get me up in the morning. And those are the things I would put a lot of effort into. To be a great leader, you have to understand yourself. At this age, like just being 21. I'm still figuring that out. I think I will put significant time and effort into that. It's something that it'll go on thought about, if you don't, is just understanding who you are, what what gets me going, Why am I excited about this, and what what pulls my excitement levers. And once you have that, it's much easier to one go out and just take risk on those things. Because those are the things that you're excited about. Like, you're gonna have no regret, chasing a passion. Even if you fail, you're gonna have no regret chasing a passion, but to chase that passion and to take significant risks. You got to understand what that passion is. And the other thing is, is that I think that it makes you a better leader because people gravitate towards someone truly chasing your passion. So I think it's predicated on that understanding what that passion is chasing it, because you know that that's ultimately what he what you want to do. And then convincing others to chase it alongside you. So yeah, that maybe that's the advice is understand what your passion is your why.
Jan Griffiths:That is great advice. Michael, thank you very much for giving us a peek inside the mind of a 21 year old CEO. It's been fascinating.
Michael Chime:Yes. Thank you so much.
Jan Griffiths:And I have to tell you that from what I know of you, you are very much an authentic leader. Don't ever change. You have a strong value system. I think your gut is right on. I absolutely love your ability to capture vision and to take that from the football field into business. I would expect to see you as a tremendously successful CEO. There's no doubt in my mind that it will happen. And thank you.
Michael Chime:Thank you so much. I'm really grateful for the opportunity.
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