These stats are fascinating. YC is a premier, highly selective incubator. It screens and accepts only the top ideas, founders, and teams. The stats highlight that “only” 0.4% of those go on to IPO. 0.8% are valued over $150M. These are among the strongest stats in their market. And yet, it falls shy of what we would expect from a community of the most promising ideas and founders. No founder starts out with the intent of being part of the 99.2%!

I was recently at a charitable golf outing, and after a very mediocre to bad round—pretty much the norm for me—I was at the social event mingling with the other participants. It’s the part of the day that the extraverts in the crowd love more than anything, and the introverts, like me, are kind of dreading. At this recent outing, a genuinely interested gentleman posed the typical “what do you do?” I proclaimed proudly that I was an executive coach but he asked a quick follow up, “what does that actually mean?” After five minutes of rambling, I knew he did not really have a better understanding of what an executive coach is and I had work to do to tighten up my answer of what I do and why. In the ensuing days and weeks, I’ve landed on the following:

On a recent visit with my family to the national parks of the southwest, I was awed not just by the natural beauty but by the energy of the parks. Our travels began in New Mexico, snaked over to the Grand Canyon, followed up through Zion, and culminated in Moab. The grand landscapes and tiniest natural details were majestic, and yet the beauty extended well beyond the surface and physical attributes. I often found myself reflecting on my experience through the lens of the takeaways relevant for leaders striving to build organizations and cultures that create similar, if not equally powerful experiences for their team members.

In April, I reposted a blog post that my spouse, Janine, wrote about the concept of active recovery and how it can lead to heightened creativity, ideas, and solutions. During my own active recovery practice on a morning hike, I experienced this real time and was reminded of a concept that has served me well in the past as a pilot, business leader, husband, and father: the importance of a “1%” incremental gain.

A few weeks ago, on February 18th, my daughter, C.J., and I watched NASA’s Perseverance Mars Rover successful landing on Mars. With our eyes locked on to the tablet, we joined the world in watching this historic event.

The Burns Brothers and LionPoint Coaching have created a strategic alliance to provide coaching and development services to executives who are growing early-stage companies and already recognize and embrace the power of diversity, equity, and inclusion as foundational elements for shaping, solidifying, and scaling organizational culture and growth.