"No guarantee tomorrow's coming": Joe De Sena reflects on his life and CNBC show 'No Retreat: Business Bootcamp'

Joe De Sena, founder and CEO of Spartan, a series of obstacle races franchised across over 40 countries, is now coming to television with CNBC's new primetime series No Retreat: Business Bootcamp. The show challenges businesses and their employees with near-impossible physical and mental tasks that will enable them to realize their full potential and chart a better way forward.

Joe De Sena, a former Wall Street broker, turned serial entrepreneur and author, provides advice and expertise to help companies remodel and rethink their business visions and goals to achieve better targets. The team includes Clinical Psychologist & Performance Coach, Dr. Lara Pence, Entrepreneur and Growth Marketer, QuHarrison Terry, and guest mentors.

Joe and his team provide all-round guidance for businesses to enrich over some time (Image via Scott Eisen/CNBC)

In conversation with Sportskeeda, Joe spoke about his early struggles and inspiration, his family and kids, and the ideas behind the CNBC show. While reflecting on his life, the author stressed having gratitude and not taking it for granted and said:

"Life is precious...I gotta squeeze everything I can out of this thing 'cause there's no guarantee tomorrow's coming. And I think a lot of people take each day for granted, I don't."

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More on life, family and 'No Retreat: Business Bootcamp' with Joe De Sena

For Joe, his father was his biggest inspiration as he saw him navigate through tough roadblocks with failed businesses and losing properties but bouncing back stronger with each hurdle along the way. The star shares a great bond with his kids, going on a number of adventures and learning that "abundance is a gift."

Something that has kept the author going strong all these years has been a good workout. He stressed the importance of physical exercise, especially when people running businesses are developing unhealthy habits and said:

"I never understood why the gold medal in business..was a cocktail and a cigar. Why would you be unhealthy if you try to live and operate at an Olympic level every day in this tough thing called business. I always thought physical activity, healthy eating and good mindset should be merged with business so that you could be better and succeed."

His ambition to keep moving, getting physically and mentally fit, and understanding how this was essential to running a good business inspired him to make it scalable for all kinds of people, families and businesses. This marked the idea behind the show No Retreat: Business Bootcamp.

"My wife and I bought a farm in Vermont where we've had people and business come to for 22 years and..it's a science experiment. We put people through hell and they get to meet themselves and come out better..we wanted people to start complaining and take ownership on whatever it is that's going on in their lives."

Speaking about the team behind the show, Joe said:

"The team is amazing..We've got Dr Lara Pence, she gives me the credibility because she is a legitimate psychologist. QuHarrison Terry is young, hip business person, provides legitimacy and a lot of expertise and the show's awesome because they let me bring in other experts...because if I have somebody I can be like, "Oh I don't have expertise in this area, let me bring my friends.'"

Companies have been approaching the serial entrepreneur and his team for many years, starting with Goldman Sachs and Merrill Lynch before moving to Wall Street. They wanted to see if their employees could handle tough situations.

They have had people from all walks of life, from the military to monks on the farm, participating in these activities and changing their lives for the better.

Through the CNBC reality show, Joe intends to transform the lives of these individuals like how one would transform iron into steel. He said:

"We have to torture them, they're gonna hate us for it..They're gonna hate the farm. But, like it's how the military turns young recruits into officers, you break them down and you build them back up..so that's what we're doing."

According to the show's producers, communication is integral for any business to function. Trust, health and wellness at their core, processes and procedures, and business knowledge are other life skills that they intend to provide knowledge on for the people on the farm.

No Retreat: Business Bootcamp premieres Tuesday, March 8, 2022, at 10:00 pm ET on CNBC.