Reality master’s advice: Take the plunge

Reality-TV pioneer Mark Burnett’s latest book is a virtual facsimile of his 2001 effort, “Dare to Succeed: How to Survive and Thrive in the Game of Life,” traversing the genres of self-help and inspirational memoir. And now, the creator and producer of “Survivor” can boast even more success -- “The Apprentice,” “The Contender” and a forthcoming daytime show featuring Martha Stewart. For better or worse, phrases from his series are part of the cultural lexicon: “The tribe has spoken” and “You’re fired!”

“Jump In!” describes, in a nutshell, Burnett’s philosophy of business. “It’s about taking action,” he writes. “Nothing will ever be perfect, and nothing can be totally planned. The best you can hope for is to be about half certain of your plan and know that you and the team you’ve assembled are willing to work hard enough to overcome the inevitable problems as they arrive. And arrive they will.”

Notwithstanding a brief introduction by “Apprentice” star Donald Trump, who touts himself, his own book “The Art of the Deal” and the “over-the-top ratings” of NBC’s “The Apprentice,” Burnett’s “Jump In!” proves surprisingly engaging, if redundant and self-congratulatory in parts.

Burnett’s immigrant-makes-good tale is both familiar and impressive. (No doubt there is some self-mythologizing involved.) The former British paratrooper arrived in Los Angeles in 1982 with $600 in his pocket, no return plane ticket and no particular goal in mind beyond realizing some version of the American dream. With no place to live and no intriguing employment prospects, he took the first job he was offered: as a nanny for a Beverly Hills family.

Burnett left that job to sell T-shirts to tourists in Venice Beach. He soon discovered he had a knack for “reading people.” “The same strategies I used to sell those T-shirts apply to selling TV shows,” he writes. He classifies personalities into four groups and adjusts his sales pitch accordingly: analytical, emotional, passive and motivated. Simplistic as they may seem, Burnett says such categorizing can work in any context.

Passionate and intuitive, Burnett knows how to work his charm on the reader too. His enthusiasm is infectious, if not quite inspiring. Scattered throughout the book are highlighted boxes of aphorisms: “Embrace adversity, then learn from it,” “Start small, and build,” “Almost every problem has a solution” and so on.

Get past the advertising patter, though, and Burnett is a keen observer of human behavior. He’s also gifted with optimism and resilience; he just won’t quit. Like his future collaborator (and fellow rags-to-riches story) Martha Stewart, he has an indomitable, roll-up-the-sleeves attitude.

His “Survivor,” he notes, is an extreme microcosm of “connecting (or not) with other human beings and carrying on a happy and successful life.” Winners and losers are easy to spot: “Smart competitors expect the unexpected. They absorb the shock of a new obstacle or calamity, find a solution, then reach for their goals. Winners are always flexible.” Lesser competitors “become stymied and angry.”

It doesn’t matter if you yearn to become a “Survivor” contestant or not; Burnett’s observations are easily applied to everyday life. Being rigid or overly analytical, whether in relationships or careers, can stymie just about anyone. Nor is there room for cynicism, he contends.

Though Burnett comes across as self-aggrandizing at times, he is also awestruck at the good fortune that has found “a working-class boy from London,” even shocked that he has built an entertainment empire. But the behind-the-scenes stories he offers about his TV shows are far less interesting than his astonishing personal saga.

Carmela Ciuraru is a regular contributor to Book Review.