The Winter Olympics have just ended, and we have all become more acquainted with the idea of a hundredth of a second. It turns out that this precision-measuring ability was first developed in the late 1930s and then officially became the de facto standard at the 1968 Summer Olympics for swimming, track and other events.

In 2026, we just saw the USA women’s monobob racer Elana Meyers Taylor win the gold medal by 0.04 seconds. Yup, four one-hundredths of a second. The difference between first and second. As a point of interest, at the age of 41, she also became the oldest American woman to win an individual Winter Olympic gold medal.

“Close only counts in horseshoes and hand grenades,” said MLB Hall of Famer Frank Robinson.

I recently had my own experience in a long overnight sailboat race. We were doing quite well when the wind shut off a quarter-mile from the finish. Dead in the water. Bobbing. Nothing.  Couldn’t finish the race. Close but zero.

Now think about this puzzle in your entrepreneurial adventures. What is the difference between success and failure? Does it hang by a thread, somewhat random, outside your purview and power or can it be created, managed and forged by your own practice? I would like to believe in the ability of the team to overcome and shape the company outcome, but I have to admit, I am not so sure. I am beginning to think that random serendipity seems to play a disproportionate role.

If that is the case, then how can one maximize the possibility for that intersection? Allow me to offer an answer.  

Kindness.

Now, I know that is possibly a bit corny and I have certainly in my past life been accused of having sharp elbows, but I am going all in on kindness as the tip of the spear for increasing positive outcomes.

Think about your investors. Did you have a previous good experience? Note, I did not say an economic successful outcome, rather, however it ended, did it end nicely? Did you treat the investor, the employees, the law firm, the CPA, the sandwich shop owner at the end of the street — did you treat them with kindness? Understanding? Or did you leave a mess?

I no longer support or believe in the primacy of transactional behavior. It is not just a deal. It is not just a check or the lack of one. The entrepreneurial adventure cannot be reduced to quid pro quo — after I get what I need from you, take a hike, die and pound sand, and see you later.

This is not sustainable in any world that I want to belong to. I think this model is more important now than ever before. The speed of change is so great today, in all areas, not just technology, but also in world affairs, politics, human needs and demands, that the single mitigating factor must be kindness.

Now, let me also confess that I am clearly still a work in progress. The Tibetan monks, the priests and the rabbis, the nonprofit community, etc. — all of them are more highly evolved than I am. But I see the power and the profit of this behavior in my little company and my little world. It is not only and never can be — just the deal. I think about all the deals I have worked on, and the ones with the best outcomes also came with the longest-standing relationships and friendships.

I will resist the soapbox, but the visible hunger of the young CEOs I meet is so obvious that nothing can hide their teeth. If I have no immediate asset to offer, then they are off to the next person on the list.

The intensity of this transactional nature is accelerated in part by AI. Whatever it is, it is coming for you and me. We are not talking about aliens or the technology singularity. Rather, when we are confronted with something or someone we cannot understand, explain or control, our default model is usually to attack or defend. 

If our world is going to be measured or destroyed in hundredths of a second, then I am going to opt in for a millisecond of kindness. You just can’t know for sure, but it might be enough for the gold.

Rule No. 820: “To Serve Man,” Season 3, Episode 24 of “The Twilight Zone”

Senturia is a serial entrepreneur who invests in startups. Please email ideas to neil@askturing.ai