Leadership Lessons: Empathy and Individual Approach

Since the day it launched as Rebel Interactive in 2013, Rebellion Group has strived to do things differently. “I saw an opportunity to build an agency that was focused around disruption,” Rebellion Group CEO and owner Bryn Tindall told the CBIA BizCast. Tindall and senior vice president of client services Sam Barrett joined the BizCast to highlight the company’s evolution and the growth of its Shaping CT’s Future event series. The agency works with businesses for services including marketing, advertising, brand awareness, video production, customer engagement, and website development. “If you’re going to do great things in life, then you have to believe you have it in you to do it,” Tindall said. “And we were associating the word rebel with that inner essence, that inner belief that you could do amazing things.” The rebel spirit extends not only to the name of the company and the workforce—team members are known as rebels—but also to the physical space. The company themed every room in their Cheshire office after a well known rebel from history or pop culture. “It’s an environment that is fun to work in. You feel good when you’re in a good place,” said Barrett, who joined the company in 2023 just before they rebranded as Rebellion Group. Tindall said that rebrand was the next evolution of the company. “There’s a maturation that occurred,” he said. “So the version of today is a much more grown up version of what started 13 years ago.” “I feel like our aesthetic, the way we talk about ourselves, there’s that sense of depth and nuance,” Barrett added. “I think that lends itself to us being in conversations that potentially we weren’t in years ago.” Some of those conversations are happening in the form of Rebellion’s Shaping CT’s Future. The event series brings together stakeholders and thought leaders to dive into different important topics in the state. “We were in a perfect position to start to do something different and meaningful, to affect people’s lives, to benefit them,” Tindall said. “We have these organizations pitching in, coming in, willing to lend their thoughts, their time, their expertise, and I think it starts to become a coalition,” Barrett added. In its first year, the series grew from about 90 people to bring in hundreds of people to Rebellion’s event space. “I don’t think that we produce conferences,” Barrett said. “I like to say that we produce experiences.” “And so we want people to network. We want them to have a drink. We want to have intelligent conversation.” Tindall and Barrett said they are focusing on building on the momentum from their events to develop broader solutions. “There has to be next. We have to be able to have a path forward from here,” Tindall said. The second year of Shaping CT’s Future begins with a deep dive into the future of AI and cybersecurity. “We’re going to start generating themes, conduct in-depth analysis, and ultimately, recommendations, and that is a tangible product from the event,” Barret said. Rebellion is partnering with GreatBlue Research to capture data from the event. They also partnered with Fox 61 to live stream the event and so a broader audience can take part. “If we can get people in the room that can help inform what’s going on with important topics that are influencing business decisions, then our clients can be more successful,” Barrett added. “Ultimately, if Connecticut’s more successful then so are we.” Related Links: Rebellion Group Website: https://rebelliongroup.com/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/rebelliongroup/ Bryn Tindall on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bryntindall/ Sam Barrett on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/barrettsamuel/ CBIA Website: https://www.cbia.com/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/cbia/