|
Brendan Synnott is all about playing the
game. Whether it is in front of a classroom teaching
entrepreneurial success or taking part in outdoor extreme
adventures, he knows how to read the odds.
Raised by a single mom in Connecticut, Brendan pulled
himself up by the bootstraps to be the co-founder and CEO of
Bear Naked, a natural food brand that was recently acquired
by a major corporation. Despite his financial success, he is
not all about the money.
Success to him, however, is about more than simply creating,
building and selling a thriving business; it's about hard
work, passion, fun and surrounding yourself with the best
people.
Synnott has always wanted to combine his love of the
outdoors with his skills as a leader. In school, he played
both football and baseball, and still stays active as much
as possible. He loves to compete and says it's a driving
force, even in business. It will especially be a driving
force on SURVIVOR.
Brendan is single and currently resides in Vail, Colo. His
birth date is Sept. 28.
Jeff Probst: He's a very successful
businessman. Those skills can work on Survivor. He knows how
to lead people. He knows how to take an idea and execute it.
So he's going to have to overcome the burden of people
figuring out he's successful and still wanting to keep him
in the game.
|
Being an entrepreneur is...I
don't know...it's like a dream come true. I loved every minute
of it. I love walking into the office everyday and you walk
yourself into a new situation. And you don't know necessarily
kind of who the players are gonna be or what needs to be
accomplished. You just figure it out on the fly. To me walking
into a new situation everyday and having to solve it
creatively was the most inspiring thing to do everyday.
I love adventure...I love
competition and I love just playing games. And when the
opportunity arose to be on Survivor I said, gawd it's like the
ultimate game to go play. Like why not go play it? And to go
have an adventure in a cool far off land that I haven't been
to before is just an awesome awesome experience.
Living in the wildlife to me I
think it's really healthy to kind of break yourself down every
once in a while and strip away everything you know really well
and have to kind of re-build it. And this is the exact...this
setting that's gonna happen. All the material possessions,
everything that we know is kind of taken away from us. And we
have to start from scratch and I think that's good for your
character. I don't like to lose. I really like winning. So
that's probably my greatest fear...getting voted off first for
some reason. But other than that to me I just look at this as
a great adventure, a great opportunity, a great experience.
Just go have fun with...go play a game.
I think in this game you need
to be a quick study of people's character and I think in
business that's true as well. You also need to be able to kind
of motivate and lead people and understand what's really
driving their actions. Because as much as Survivor is about
surviving the elements it's more about I think understanding
and being able to communicate with others. Ultimately it's how
you play the game in as well do people want you to win...do
they support you...do they feel good about that? And I think
you need to play the game so that you achieve your goal but
also do it in a way that people support and appreciate how you
played it.
I think that it's important
when you get out on Survivor that you use all the assets that
you have. And so if being nice to people or smiling to people
in a certain way helps you achieve your goal then I think you
need to do that. My motto in life is really just about having
fun. playing games, being passionate about what you believe
in. And kind of having a clear vision about what goal you want
to go accomplish. That to me...having that sense of purpose is
really important.
|
