What happens after you've achieved everything the world says should make you happy, only to discover you're still searching for something more? In this episode of Leading Visionaries, host Anjel B. Hartwell sits down with Kris Land, entrepreneur, technologist, and award-winning author. After building and exiting more than a dozen technology companies, including one that went public, Kris realized external success couldn't answer life's deepest questions.

If you're building a business, leading a team, or searching for deeper meaning beyond achievement, this conversation offers a refreshing perspective on success and the human experience.

What You Will Learn

Why external success doesn't always create lasting fulfillment.

How curiosity creates more effective and adaptable leadership.

The importance of listening before making leadership decisions.

Why synchronicities may be meaningful connections rather than coincidences.

How childhood conditioning shapes our perception of consciousness.

Why having purpose beyond financial success matters.

Three lifelong goals that create lasting fulfillment.

How embracing the journey leads to greater growth than focusing only on outcomes.

Why asking better questions can transform your life.

FAQ:

Why can success still leave people feeling unfulfilled?

Many people discover that achieving financial or career goals doesn't automatically provide purpose or lasting happiness. True fulfillment often comes from continuing to grow, learn, serve others, and pursue meaningful goals beyond external achievements.

What is conscious leadership?

Conscious leadership is leading with self-awareness, curiosity, empathy, and purpose. Rather than believing they have all the answers, conscious leaders invite collaboration, remain open to new perspectives, and align decisions with deeper values.

How can curiosity improve leadership?

Curiosity helps leaders make better decisions by encouraging them to ask questions, gather diverse perspectives, and remain adaptable instead of relying on assumptions or predetermined answers.

Connect with Kris Land

Website

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Make a Donation to Support the Show

Creative Age Consulting Group

LVP 144 Kris

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Now, here's your host, Angel B. Hartwell

Anjel: Welcome to another episode of the Leading Visionaries podcast, where we celebrate the ingenious, insightful, innovative, and inspired leading visionaries of our time and provide our listeners with world-class examples of the kind of courage, clarity, and confidence it takes to bring visions into reality.

After reaching many of the milestones society defines as success, Chris began exploring a deeper question about purpose, intuition, and the nature of human experience. His book, The Infinity Within, shares that journey and invites readers to transform fear into curiosity and rediscover the deeper intelligence guiding their lives.

Today, Chris speaks and writes about authentic leadership, inner alignment, and the future of human awareness. I am so excited to have you here. Welcome to the show, Chris.

Kris: Thank you, Angel. Very mu- very pleased to be here, and can't wait to dig in.

Anjel: Yeah. Well, I wanna start our conversation around the idea of vision.

Kris: I think I started there. I was very much a introvert and what would be considered a computer geek at a very young age. Uh, never got along all that well with my peers, kind of always marched to my own beat. Started working with electronics when I was 9 and 10. Started studying different theologies when I was...

Anjel: Mm. Beautiful. I love it. Okay, so move us a little bit forward in time and let's talk about leadership because clearly with, you know, all of these companies that you've built and including the one that you exited, leadership has definitely been something that's part of your journey. Again, were you, like, naturally born to lead, or was leadership something that you had to gain, you know, knowledge and wisdom and experience and skill and mentorship around?

In fact, I remember in high school we were... We went to a restaurant, and I started moving tables around before anybody said anything. So I've always taken the lead on things and moved things around. And my first company that I started, I sold when I was 17. My business partner and I were kind of co-people.

I mean, there, there were no other employees. It was me doing all the software. He, he had all the ideas on how to get the stuff done the way he wanted it, so we kind of co-led each other. Mm-hmm. And then my second company, I certainly was the leader, I mean, it was my company but I had a lot to learn.

Anjel: Yeah, beautiful. Chris, I would say sometimes even by the hour things change.

Kris: Agreed.

Anjel: By the minute. By the minute. So let's talk about being nimble. Like, you know, as we are in a time, in my mind, of accelerated change where, you know, things don't actually stay the same for very long, what were some of the things that you've learned or done in your journey that have allowed you to become maybe more nimble in your leadership?

Kris: Being curious

Anjel: Mm-hmm

The, the beginning of the meeting is a round table discussion. I'm, I'm, I'm intentionally not the leader. I mean, I'll, I'll guide the meeting, but my, uh, my, my goal is to get everybody's ideas out on the table in an equal manner, and then after hearing everything, asking questions and being curious, and then from there building up what I think the best path is.

Anjel: Mm. Beautiful. I wanna go back to vision, Chris, because clearly you've had lots of visions.

So I'd love to have you talk to our listeners about how you receive vision and what you do to support yourself to kind of be open to receiving vision and then choosing to bring it into reality.

And, and the, the idea comes from when you go to a buffet and you know you have all the plates and they're all stacked in a, in a bin with a spring on it, right? And then as you take the plate off, they rise up. One of the ways

that information comes to me, and I think it comes to, uh, many people, I don't know about all, but certainly many, is that our brain throws information at us. So if we ask a question or you ask me a question, what I usually find happens is these, these, th- what I call these plates come up. So the first plate pops up on the top, and if I ignore it, I really can't get to the download.

And within a few plates, I've found that I'm always getting to the answer I'm looking for. But if I block or don't pay attention to the first plates, I can't get to my answer.

Anjel: Mm.

Kris: And so it's really important, at least for me, to be able to say, "All right, these thoughts that are popping up and bubbling up," or whatever metaphor you wanna use, they have a purpose.

They're there, and maybe the only purpose is, is to clear room for what I'm looking for.

And back then, we didn't use the word downloads. Um, so I am quite sure you weren't using the word downloads 20, 30 years ago when you were getting your visions, or maybe you were 'cause you were in the computer game or the technological game. I just find it fascinating that we have collectively become more aware of our ability to receive vision.

Mm-hmm. So I'd love your take on, you know, where do you think that's coming from?

Kris: Not sure I understand the question yet. Where what's coming

Anjel: from? So, so where this raising of consciousness is coming from. You know, where do you think it's- Ah ... coming from that the, that the collective now is much more in tune to things like, "Oh, I'm getting a download," or, "I'm getting an upload."

Kris: That's a bunch of questions. Um- I know. Um- You're

Anjel: gonna do fine, though.

Kris: So I'll start the question with, or the questions with a question. Mm-hmm. How many times have you heard stories of children seeing ghosts?

Anjel: Lots of stories

Kris: Okay. And what have you heard is the typical pattern that parents use with children when they say they've seen ghosts?

Anjel: Uh, shut down. Shut down.

Kris: Okay. It's, "You imagined it. You had a bad dream. You ate the wrong food."

Anjel: Mm-hmm.

And our parents don't do that to be mean. They do that because they were taught that that's the way to calm a child down, right? If, if you tell them ghosts aren't real, then they can't be scared of them. Of course, in the, in the ironic way, that's kind of a form of gaslighting. And even though it's not intentional, it's kind of saying, "Well, your reality's not real."

Anjel: Mm-hmm.

Kris: Now, what is a coinci-dink or a coincidence? What I have found is they're small little connection miracles- Mm-hmm ... and they're there that are intentional. They're not coincidences. They're not coinci-dinks. When you and I have this discussion, we already chose through a different connection to be here at this time to do this.

Mm-hmm. The more aware we are of small miracles and of things going on behind the curtain, the more aware and in tune with what I feel is really going on happens.

Anjel: Mm-hmm.

Kris: And so what I'm seeing is that more people are being curious-

Anjel: Mm-hmm ...

Kris: about the difference between a coincidence and a connection.

Anjel: Yeah.

Anjel: Mm-hmm. I love it. And, yeah- All right. We're gonna take a quick break and when we come back, we're gonna talk a little bit about your book and about what I like to call quinkles. You call them coinkidinks, I call them quinkles. Perfect. Um, but right, right now we're gonna have a quick break. So listeners, are you a leading visionary or in the role of leading other visionaries?

If you're interested in finding out more about how you can receive support for getting your vision out of the air and onto the ground in a way that's both impact and income producing, the best support is found in collaboration with other leading visionaries, which is why we've created the Creative Age Leader Lab.

I wanna say a big thank you to all of our listeners who are downloading, rating, and reviewing. We're welcoming thousands and thousands of downloads from all over the world, and I wanna shout out this week to our listeners in Sri Lanka, Cambodia, and Zimbabwe, and we will be right back with Chris Land.

Your word is your wand, and as the leader, your ability to articulate and communicate your vision is essential to its materialization and monetization. Please enjoy, with our compliments, a free copy of the book Be Heard by Millions and Live Your Destiny, which was a number one new release in three categories to get you started.

The book is yours by visiting gift.leadingvisionariespodcast.com.

Kris: Short version.

I had no idea. I mean, why am I getting up anymore? What am I doing? And through a set of three different things, which I won't go into in detail, but through three different things, I started down the path of asking what a soul is, what it's here for, what its purpose is, and ended up getting downloads and getting lots of information just kind of dropping into me, and writing the notes that, that became the book.

And she said, "Your concepts and ideas have helped me so much. You need to finish your book." Mm. And so I took my notes from 40-plus years ago in a filing cabinet I have from then and actually finished the book in '25.

Anjel: Mm. Beautiful. Well, I would love to have, um, your thoughts for our listeners on this idea of, you know, there's such, in our culture, there's such a huge amount of energy and focus on the idea of taking your company and blowing it up and selling it and making tons of money.

What were some of the things that you n- know that you did, as you look back, to get you out of the depression and into creating your next company and your next company and your next company and your next company? Yeah, so the first thing I'd say is what I learned from it is that, as human beings, we need to have a reason to get up in the morning.

Ad: Mm-hmm. We need to have goals and things that drive us and excite us. And if we don't have that, I think the depression sets in pretty quickly. So for what I did is I created three simple goals that I can go for every single day and that I will never achieve, and that's to have fun, learn, and do neither the harm or impedance of others.

But the goal is to be curious, to keep learning. If you're starting a company, in the middle of a company, or selling a company, selling companies less so, the first two more so, what I have learned, and, and this is a cliche, it's something that people have said, but it's, it's real, and that is pay attention and really enjoy the journey.

Mm-hmm. The destination is great, but the journey is where it's all at. Now, if, if you guys are in the middle of companies, guys and gals are in the middle of companies and you're sitting there pulling your hair out and you're, you know, trying to figure out how to raise some money or do whatever it is, it's n- it might not be fun that day, but it is part of the journey.

So the journey is really the key, even though that is u- overused or used quite a bit. When you sell a company, try to come up with what you're gonna do next. Mm. If you can do that before you sell the company, even better- Mm ... because then you can, you're, you know, you can have the goal set on getting the company sold or acquired or merged or public or whatever the exit is- But if you're successful and if you're successful doing that, you hopefully will end up with a bunch of money.

Cause I don't know him personally, but I know a little bit about his history, and that's the guy that created Minecraft.

Mm. Sold it for $2.1 billion. And from the last I heard, which is about a couple years old now, he bought one of the largest houses in Los Angeles. I mean, it's huge, and he lives by himself and really has no goals, or at least didn't at the time.

Anjel: Mm.

Kris: So g- by all metrics of success, he achieved all of them. Mm.

Every single one of them.

Ad: Mm. I

And so even in his constructs and the things he built-

Anjel: Mm ...

Kris: he had challenges and things that kept you on your toes.

Anjel: Mm.

Kris: And I would argue where he's found himself right now is he has no challenges and nothing keeping him on his toes.

Anjel: Yet. Maybe he needs to read The Infinity Within.

Kris: Yeah, well, hopefully. Or, or at least- Well

Anjel: Mm ...

Kris: is fairly real.

Anjel: Yeah. Well, so Chris, now let's talk a little bit about what inspired you to put this book...

You know, you said your wife said to go ahead and do it, but, like, what's inspiring you? You could've put the book together and not wanted to put a whole lot of effort into getting it out into the world. Like, what's really calling you right now to get the... 'Cause a lot of people write books and they, you know, they just need to get the book out of them.

But you're actively engaged in bringing this book to more people. So, like, what is your intention here? What do you want for the people who are reading this book, who are, are picking up this book? Who are the people you want to, to touch with this, and where do you wanna see this go? Bunch of questions.

And what I've found and what drives me is the reviews and responses I'm getting from the readers. Mm-hmm. When I wrote the book, it is not designed to preach. It's not designed to tell you what to think. It doesn't focus on a particular theology. It's designed where you follow Gabriel, who, he goes by Gabe, through kind of a life story of things that he questions.

Mm-hmm. And so it starts out with s- asking questions about life and experience and spirituality and, you know, if, you know, why do I th- why is a soul important to think about? Why is believing a soul, believing that I have a soul important? Mm-hmm. I actually have four questions because what start, what, one of the three legs on the stool that started me on the writing back 40-plus years ago was my boss at the time told me he was an atheist.

Anjel: Mm-hmm.

And so it's, the book is designed to ask questions and lead you through Gabe's journey in a way that hopefully things resonate with you. Mm-hmm. And the ones that do stick with you, and the ones that don't is perfectly fine. But then the next time you pick up the book, new things might resonate.

Anjel: Mm-hmm.

Kris: And the, the reviews I'm getting- thank goodness, are matching my intent, which is it's changed my life.

Ad: Aw.

Kris: So, so that's my driving reason.

I mean, my other books help people, and I've had a lot of really good reviews on my other books, but this one is designed to help us remember who and what we really are-

Anjel: Mm ...

Kris: and that we are co-creators in this game. Yeah. That we really do, we are connected beings.

Anjel: Mm.

Kris: And to kind of- Yeah ... give ways of showing how that resonates and how that fits.

Anjel: Excellent. Beautiful. Well, thank you so much for everything you've brought to our episode today, including the book, and I am very grateful for this opportunity to have the connection with you. Listeners, we love feedback. Please let us know what you thought of today's show by joining our community, sharing your takeaways, asking questions, or submitting guest suggestions.

Ad: Thanks for tuning in, downloading and listening. Be sure to rate and review Leading Visionaries on Apple Podcasts and share with other people you know who can benefit from today's episode. Leading Visionaries is the premier podcast series for informing, activating, and inspiring the leading visionaries who are called to create conscious change and know that now is the best time to welcome wealth and cultivate a web of collaborative support to bring their vision to life.