Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Speaker A: Foreign.
[00:00:09] Speaker B: Welcome to the Clear Impact Podcast, brought to you by PGTI University. Thanks for joining us today. My name is Sherry Connor and I am your host.
[00:00:24] Speaker C: Good morning. We are here on the Clear Impact Podcast and we are recording in Scottsdale at our CX event. And I'm so happy that this is happening. We were hoping that this would happen. At my table right now is Joe Person, our cfo, and his friend Brad Snyder, who is a lieutenant in the U.S. navy.
[00:00:44] Speaker D: Right, yes, Formerly was a lieutenant. And Joe and I actually went to the Naval Academy together, which is how we know each other.
[00:00:50] Speaker C: Nice. And so thank you both for making time for this. This is absolutely. I'm so thrilled we were able to pull this off. And, Brad, you just delivered an amazing keynote for everyone, but thank you for being here. For those that maybe didn't get to hear this or don't know you, can you give us just like a quick overview of who you are?
[00:01:08] Speaker D: Sure. Let me just thank you for the opportunity to join this podcast. And it's been really awesome getting to know the Mitre brand and see everyone and see what incredible people and what an incredible culture you guys have here. But my name's Brad Snyder. Joe Person and I went to the Naval Academy. I was one year ahead of him, but in the same company. So we lived on the same floor, saw each other all the time. In fact, I think we were on the same squad at some point or another. And after I graduated the Naval Academy, I went into the explosive ordnance disposal community, which is a long way of saying the bomb squad for the Navy. I deployed twice, once to Iraq, once to Afghanistan. At the end of my Afghanistan deployment, unfortunately, I stepped on an improvised explosive device, the result of which I lost my vision, but was able to make a pretty rapid recovery and found kind of a second career pretty quickly in Paralympic competition. I went to swimming. I swam in the London Games, won two golds and a silver, notably winning one on the day anniversary of the day I lost my vision. I competed in Rio, won three more gold and one silver, switched over to triathlon, won another gold in Tokyo, and now doing a variety of things, one on the board of the Olympic and Paralympic Committee. And then I'm also now onboarding as a faculty member back at our alma mater, the Naval Academy.
[00:02:15] Speaker C: Wow, that's amazing, Jerry.
[00:02:17] Speaker A: Might I add, I continue to throw this in just because of my experience at the Naval Academy, where you read about folks like Brad and. And I was fortunate to know Brad before. He's achieved all these incredible life achievements. And Brad is a distinguished graduate of the United States Naval Academy. And his peer group is incredible. It's Roger Staubach. I'll go with the sports figures first. David Robinson, the late, great Senator John McCain, President Jimmy Carter, and Captain Jim Lovell, astronaut. So an incredible group of people. Needless to say that I am on a very, very long wait list for distinguished graduate list. I just aspired to follow Brad's lead in the way he inspires not only the company here today, but his family and friends and community around him.
[00:02:57] Speaker D: Thank you, Joe.
[00:02:58] Speaker C: Well, I'm so thankful that Joe is a fan of the podcast because he gave me a heads up like, hey, Brad Snyder, mermaid. And so I grabbed your book and read it on the way out here. And as I mentioned just a moment ago, it was much more inspiring to hear you tell the story than it was to read about it. But reading about it was heart wrenching. I was just like, oh, my gosh. And so one of the things that I wanted to ask you is how difficult is it for you to continue retelling the story? And then not just your story, but also talking about Tyler's death. I did notice you got a little bit emotional during the keynote about that. And so I wondered, like, you know, this was a huge, like, obviously life changing event for you. How hard is it for you to stand up in front of people and tell it again and again and again?
[00:03:47] Speaker D: That's a very insightful question. And I'm sort of disappointed you saw me get choked up. Cause I thought I hit it relatively well. But you're right, you know, it's a personal journey. It's an emotional journey. I talk a lot about really difficult stuff. You know, me thinking I was dead, the death of my friend. There's more in the book. That time frame was a very difficult time frame in and around the global war on terror. And navigating that was difficult. And to come back to it frequently is a challenge. But I would say the upside makes it all worth it. I think that when I look back on my own journey, I have a really bizarre set of life experiences and an intense one. You know, intense set of life experiences that I've learned an immense amount from that I've been enriched by. I think I have an appreciation for life, having come so close to dying that most other people don't. And people can get tied around relatively trivial matters that I find that just really don't bother me. And I think it has to do with having the perspective I have from being in austere environments. Like Afghanistan to almost dying and losing friends. And a lot of that stuff looms large in my mind. And I just don't get wrapped around the little things, the way that can bog down other people. And I feel like I said in the keynote or afterward that my life's mission is to enable my community's pursuit of happiness. And I feel like I've been given something. I've been given perspective. I've been given some lessons or some tools that help you navigate that darkness and come out winning on the other side. And I want to share that as much as possible. So, yeah, it is emotional to go into that place, but I think that's what people connect to. If I was to go up and just say, I'm Brad Snyder, and I got blown up, and then I went to the Paralympics and then some stuff happened, and then really, you should just, you know, make the most of life. Thank you, guys.
People wouldn't connect to that. It doesn't make any sense. I want you to come into my heart. I want you to feel what it felt like to be on the battlefield, to think that you're dead, to lose your friend, to stand on the block at the Paralympics and be nervous. I want you to go through that emotional journey with me because that's what's going to impact you. And hopefully, next time you find yourself in that position of. I need to make a choice right now. I need to either wallow in being a victim, or I can choose to own my reality and make the most of it. I hope that my emotional journey will empower you to do that in a different way than maybe you would have if you hadn't heard me. So the upside is worth it. It's a challenge. But I've done it so much now. I feel like I've gotten good at navigating it for myself, telling the story, but bringing people in and along with me in a way that hopefully is empowering to them.
[00:06:24] Speaker C: Yeah, well. And I'm sure at some point you kind of reach a detachment space, too, right?
[00:06:30] Speaker D: Like, to some extent. Like, pieces like the battlefield part, I'm detached from because it's so long ago and it was so intense. And I've told the story the same way so many times that that part I can kind of recite. But there's parts like talking about Tyler going into the ground. Like, there's no way to say that without getting touched by that. It's just such an emotional thing. There's parts about my mom. Sometimes in other environments, I get real wrapped around talking about my mom.
[00:06:56] Speaker C: Right.
[00:06:56] Speaker D: A lot of people think that the challenge of me becoming blind is the hardest part. But imagine you're a mother and you get this phone call saying he'd been blown up, and he's probably going to be different for the rest of his life. He has a traumatic brain injury, his jaw's wired shut. We're not able to talk to him. We need to get on a plane right now. Imagine what that is like. Sometimes when I talk about my mom, I get upset because it's like, you know, she's a hero of mine. For her to navigate that with the grace she did is something really incredible. So I gotta touch these things. I have to feel it because it comes out in the way I speak. There's no way to avoid that, but that's what's important to do.
[00:07:30] Speaker C: Yeah. And it was not that long after your dad's passing, too, so I'm sure she was in a very raw state. Anyway.
[00:07:37] Speaker D: All of us were. All my siblings. Yeah. I don't talk about that in the keynote, but while I was in Afghanistan, I received a notification that my dad had passed. And that was really tough. And I made a weird choice. I chose to stay in Afghanistan rather than go home and bury my dad. And that was built on this idea of, you know, make the most of every moment. I'm not going to have the opportunity to deploy in this way. My dad would be more proud of my service than putting him in the ground. So in honor of him, I stayed in Afghanistan, and maybe I should or maybe I shouldn't have, but that definitely created an emotional climate where we were all certainly on edge.
[00:08:11] Speaker C: Yeah. That was a challenging time for everyone, for sure.
[00:08:13] Speaker D: Yeah.
[00:08:14] Speaker C: Here's a question. So in the keynote, you talked a lot about attitude and mindset and that we all have challenges. We all have different things that we're going to face and different points of adversity. And the theme, obviously, is grit and being able to fall. 7. Rise. 8, I think is the phrase that Angela Duckworth uses in her book. But what is a point of adversity for you, like today or in general, like now? You have a wife, you have a daughter who you said was two and a half. And obviously you're speaking and you're pursuing other interests. So what would be a challenge for you now?
[00:08:47] Speaker D: Just keeping all the balls in the air, I think time management, or. And time management sounds kind of trivial, and it doesn't feel like that in the moment. It feels like I have a lot of really important Things going on, dad, spouse, Naval Academy speaking, being an athlete, being a board member, and all of these things feel really important and feel really impactful, but it's just fundamentally impossible to be all those at once. So trying to, in any given moment, wear the correct hat. And I say in the keynote a lot, make the most of every moment, be a hundred percent present for whatever you're doing. And that's my style. I'm a deep, focused type of person. If I am somewhere, I am there and not anywhere else. Never on my phone. I detest social media. I don't have any ding dingings. All the day long, I'm trying to be where I am and 100% present. And it's just so challenging given the variety of things I have myself involved in, especially when one of them is dad. Like, that's the hardest one to leave behind. I feel like I'm always trying to rush back to my room or rush back home because I hate giving up a bedtime. I hate giving up bath time. Bath time's my thing. I'm a good bath giver. Like, I'm the bath guy. I hate giving up baths. Or I like being there when she wakes up and every morning she wakes up and I'm gone. It's like a knife in my heart, that kind of thing. So keeping all that in balance and trying to give myself the perspective of saying, at least I believe I'm delivering good to the world in other places. So I have to weigh that, you know, when I'm on the road, I want to make sure that I'm delivering good somewhere else because it justifies why I'm not with my family right now. But keeping that in balance is just a constant struggle. And I talk about that openly because I think a lot of people think work life balance is a set and forget it. If I can just put a calendar invite for my wife and I have date night once a month, I've got it all figured out. It's like, no, it's this constant struggle of making sure everything's in balance. Constantly looking at the way you're allocating your time and making sure that you're committing to things that are important. You're saying no to the things that aren't important, and making time for things that you value. If you value being in shape, you need to make time to work out. And that's something I'm failing at right now, but something I hope to get back to here soon. So I know it's a struggle, but I hate to put the adversity label on that. Given that we've just talked about being blown up in Afghanistan or losing friends, but on a day in, day out basis, that's probably the biggest adversity I face.
[00:11:03] Speaker B: We are sharing our expertise around all topics relating to the window and door industry. Whether you are a customer selling our products or a homeowner doing research, the Clear Impact podcast provides helpful content that makes an impact. Subscribe today wherever you listen to podcasts.
[00:11:21] Speaker C: Yeah, I've heard it said that priority management is probably a better term than time management.
[00:11:26] Speaker D: Yeah, that's exactly right.
[00:11:27] Speaker C: Yeah. Just finding that true north.
And for all of us, right, we all face that like, you know, you're missing out on time with your family because you're here. I'm missing out on time with my family because I'm here. We're all making the sacrifice on that level. But it's a short term, right? Yeah.
[00:11:43] Speaker D: You have to give yourself permission to be where you're at. I think I tend to feel guilty that I'm not with my family, but it's like I have to get rid of that guilt. Like, my daughter will be proud of the guy I am one day and when she sees and understands what I've been doing this whole time, if I was just to drop it all and become anonymous, I don't know that it would have the same impact. So get rid of that guilt and I'm doing good. Just go out, do good, then go home.
[00:12:06] Speaker C: Right?
[00:12:06] Speaker D: You know what I mean?
[00:12:07] Speaker C: Exactly.
[00:12:07] Speaker A: Brad mentioned he is going to be committed to his fitness, which his level is a lot different than any of ours when he gets going.
[00:12:14] Speaker C: Great. Olympic swimming.
[00:12:15] Speaker A: Exactly.
[00:12:16] Speaker C: Yeah. 50 yard freestyle at 23 seconds or something crazy like that. Yeah.
[00:12:20] Speaker A: But we're going to give a little teaser to something that we're going to announce tomorrow. Something that Rod Hershberger, who's on our board, has avidly participated in. That's the February 10,000 pushup contest. And we're going to announce what that's going to mean to the organization tomorrow. And actually, Brad has signed up to participate in that and it's going to be exciting to announce.
[00:12:37] Speaker C: Wait, so it's 10,000 pushups? That's awesome. Because there's 10,000 people that work here. So we each do one 10,000 because I'm good for one.
[00:12:44] Speaker A: It's like 360 a day or you can split it up and do half. So we'll figure it out.
[00:12:50] Speaker C: Oh, my gosh.
[00:12:50] Speaker A: There'll be some more details on it.
[00:12:52] Speaker D: But for those who want to commit to that. I want to highlight that a want to encourage as much participation as possible. But for you to achieve 10,000, and this includes me, I can't do more than 15 consecutive right now. I haven't done pushups in a long time. So I'm going to start training tonight. I'm going to start training tonight so that February I can do 10,000 in the month.
[00:13:11] Speaker A: As Brad says, it's going to be easy peasy for him.
[00:13:13] Speaker D: It'll be easy peasy.
[00:13:14] Speaker C: Oh, my gosh.
[00:13:15] Speaker D: We got to do the preparation.
[00:13:16] Speaker C: 10,000 push ups in a month.
[00:13:18] Speaker A: It's a lot. We'll get through it, Sherry.
[00:13:20] Speaker C: We'll get through it. February is a short month.
[00:13:22] Speaker A: Rod planned it that way on purpose. Yeah. But if I. I'm going to chime in here real quick because Brad has been such an impactful leader to me, the veteran community that he serves, and I have a unique perspective. Brad talked about perspective. I among some of Brad's classmates and company mates at the Naval Academy, who knew him. I knew Brad before he lost his vision, and I know him obviously now. And I think the one thing that stands out to me is when you think about, I'll use the term heroes, like, you know, I think the average audience that hears Brad, like, man, true American hero. And that's not like a oh, in the moment type thing. Brad has been building this process throughout his entire life. I vividly remember Brad was elected as the swim team captain. He didn't go around talking about it. All of a sudden, I saw a couple extra stars on his uniform which indicated something happened. I said, brad, what happened? Oh, swim team captain, the history, the honor of that award is incredible. But Brad shared it with humility, and he continues to share it with humility. So when I talked to Brad, actually, we were just walking down the hall. I said, one of the unique aspects of my knowledge in working with Brad is that he's the same person 15 years ago that he is today. And he's always committed to serving a bigger purpose, something other than himself. There's always a great saying that we used to have a wristband says the cause is greater than I. And Brad embodies that better than anyone I know. And I can tell you sharing this podcast will be shared across our organization, but will definitely be viewed by the veteran community. And Brad, if you ever question whether you're making an impact, you are day in and day out. And he's actually going to be kicking off a speech for us for Army Navy weekend here Go Navy on Friday. Go Navy.
[00:14:54] Speaker C: Go Navy.
[00:14:54] Speaker A: Exactly.
[00:14:55] Speaker C: Nice.
[00:14:55] Speaker A: So, Brad, appreciate everything you do.
[00:14:57] Speaker D: Thanks, Joe.
[00:14:58] Speaker C: Well, it's definitely inspiring to meet you and to just have an opportunity to record. And I have one more question that I wanted to ask. And again, I'm so glad I read the book. So this is helping me. Like, okay, who is this person? Because there's obviously a lot more than we heard in the keynote. One of the things you mentioned in the book, and this was kind of a turning point, and your mom helped you with that, where you were upset because you would have dreams as though you could see. And then you would wake up and remember that you were blind. And your mom said, oh, Brad, you're looking at this all wrong. You know, when you go to sleep, you have the opportunity to see again. And so I wondered, do you still dream in full color? And are those still as vivid as they were?
[00:15:39] Speaker D: Yes. It's interesting you bring that up. I used to have that part in my keynote all the time. I liked that moment because it involved my mom. And my mom's that kind of sage mom wisdom you get every so often. And I do remember that moment. And it was really hard at the beginning, especially when it's fresh. You go from seeing life in such vivid color to just dark in your day to day. And then that juxtaposition was just so present every morning. I mean, waking up is not a pleasant experience for most of us. You're kind of like, oh, man, I'm getting up. My head's foggy. And for me, it was like a moment ago. I could see all these rich colors and texture and the water and the sand of the beach and all that. And now it's just dark. And that was tough at the beginning. It was my mom who flipped that perspective and said, you know, look forward to the opportunity to go to bed every night. And you get all those colors back. And I do still. And it's interesting. Cause I've been blind now for 14 years, going on 14. And a lot of stuff has happened. I've gotten married. I don't know what my wife looks like. I had a child. I know what my child looks like. I've moved three times. I don't know what my house looks like. I don't know what my yard looks like. I don't know what our car looks like. So I create all these images in my mind of what everything looks like, and they manifest in my dreams. So I see my daughter. I see my wife. I see my dad. I see people. I'VE lost. They're all in my dreams. And I do get to visit them and I speak with them. And sometimes it's happy memories, sometimes it's tougher memories, but it's my mind sort of working itself through all of these images. Walking through my past, walking through my present, walking through my future. And I do value that. I don't always value it as intentional as I would probably like to because I'm frequently busy. And, you know, sleep is just what I do in between while I'm awake sometimes.
[00:17:18] Speaker C: Right, right.
[00:17:19] Speaker D: But there are times where I wake up in the morning. I do pretty consciously try to build in some space when I wake up, because waking up is rough. But I also, especially with a young child, it's the one hour a day that I have control over my time. I get up a little early, I have a cup of coffee, and I sort of either read the news or meditate and kind of absorb all those memories. And when I've had a particularly impactful dream, a visit from my dad or visit from my grandfather, I think about those things. And I often ask the ghosts of my past, am I doing okay? Am I living an impactful life? Am I doing something that would make them proud? And it's always great to hear Joe say those things in real time. But I don't always get to talk to Joe. And I have those ghosts with me all the time. And they're what keeps me on the straight and narrow. So I do, of course, appreciate that sage wisdom from my mom. I do speak about that flip up perspective a lot. And so I try to live that as much as possible, carry those ghosts with me and make sure that I'm abiding by what I say, living up to my mission and all that.
[00:18:18] Speaker C: That's awesome. I am mindful of the time. I don't want to keep you too much longer, but this has been such an amazing experience to have this bonus conversation with you.
[00:18:29] Speaker A: Gosh, she asked good questions, doesn't she?
[00:18:30] Speaker D: She does, yeah. This could go on for three hours. We could do the journey thing.
[00:18:34] Speaker C: We could, we could. I do want to just read one little excerpt of the book because this struck me and I write and underline and earmark. This is the only part that I really earmarked in the book when I was reading. Cause I was so involved in.
And this is talking about Alive Day, so. And I appreciated the insight of that. So Alive Day is the celebration of the day that you might not have been alive, which your first Alive Day was the day you won the gold in London. So I love this. This is just one little paragraph. It says nothing else mattered. I was now the one in control of my destiny. I was the only one capable of conquering my own doubts and proving that while my vision might have been taken away, my spirit could not be conquered. And I was like, oh, incredible. He has to win. Like, this is before you did the race, obviously, when you had those thoughts. But just thank you. Thank you for sharing your experience, as hard as that may be to retell that story and to be back in those spaces. I know Miter Brands is better off for having you here today, and I look forward to, you know, whatever happens in the future for you. I'm excited to be a fan now that I know you well.
[00:19:40] Speaker D: Thank you so much, Sherry, for having me today. And Joe knows where I'm at, so this won't be the last time I'm on this podcast, I hope.
[00:19:45] Speaker C: Awesome. Thank you. All right, take good care. Okay, bye.
[00:19:51] Speaker B: The Clear Impact podcast is brought to you by PGTI University. We are a part of Mitre Brands, a family of leading window and door brands united by our passion for quality and relentless pursuit of 100%. One of the missions of Mitre Brands is to unite and deliver the finest customer experience possible across the nation. Our window and door brands deliver regionalized expertise and products backed by a national company. PGTI University is here to educate you, our listener, so that you can be a more informed consumer of window and door products.
