← Culturally Speaking: The South Florida Sunday Podcast
Culturally Speaking: The South Florida Sunday Podcast
Patrick Franklin, President and CEO,Urban League of Palm Beach County + Paul Leone, President & CEO, The Breakers Palm Beach
00:30:42
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- [00:01]
A
Good morning and welcome to another edition of Culturally Speaking. My name is Patrick Franklin, president and CEO of the Urban League of Palm Beach County. And welcome to a wonderful Sunday. Happy Easter to all of you who are listening to us this morning. Thank you again for joining us. I hope that your Easter weekend is going just fine. I hope that you've had a good week so far. And leading up to Easter. And for all you getting ready to go to church later in the morning, don't forget to put on that nice pretty Easter dress, that bright colored dress and get all dressed up to go to Easter Sunday church. And hopefully that you'll enjoy our guests today like always. We always have interesting guests and people that inspire me, inspire this community to do the best we can. Today I have Paul Leone, who's the president and CEO of the Breakers Palm Beach. Paul, welcome to Culturally Speaking.
- [00:52]
B
Good morning. Thank you so much for the welcome, Patrick. Great to be with you.
- [00:57]
A
Thank you, Paul. Paul, I've known you for many years, and for the people who are waking up this morning hearing you for the first time. Welcome to Culturally Speaking. I think we're going to have a wonderful conversation this morning. Paul, let's get started. Just to kind of give our listeners a little background on who you are.
- [01:19]
B
Sure, sure. I'm happy to do that. Well, let me start by saying I am a native New Yorker, but I was transplanted to Kentucky, the state of Kentucky, for 10 years in my high school and college years. And in 1984, I transferred to West Palm beach from my Big Eight accounting firm, Coopers and Lybrand. Back then I was practicing as a cpa, one of the top public accounting firms in the world. And one of my. My top client that year was the Breakers, Palm Beach, Inc. And as a 26 year old, I woke up one morning and I thought, I think I want to work at the Breakers.
- [02:07]
A
Okay.
- [02:07]
B
And I recommended myself for a job and they hired me. And on my birthday, my 27th birthday in 1985, I started working at the Breakers. 41 years ago, yes, as the hotel controller in the finance department. And I've been with the company, of course, 41 years. And 32 years ago, at the age of 36, by a miracle, I became the president of the company.
- [02:33]
A
I don't think it was a miracle, Paul. I think it was destiny for you.
- [02:37]
B
Well, thank you. Thank you, Patrick. And you know what? Given my faith life, I agree with that. I think this is where I was meant to be. I think the good Lord put me here in the middle of back then 32 years ago, a really challenging time for what today is our 130 year old company.
- [02:57]
A
Wow.
- [02:58]
B
So, you know, 41 years family owned. Family owned, yeah. The entire 130 years. Really unique for the fourth generation now of the Kenan family to be the original owners of this property. We're proud to say the only large historic luxury resort in America still in the hands of its original owners.
- [03:23]
A
That's phenomenal.
- [03:24]
B
Yeah, it really, really is. We're really proud of that. And. And the oldest continuously operating business in the great state of Florida.
- [03:33]
A
I did not know that.
- [03:34]
B
Yeah, you know, our state, 130 years. In some other parts of the world, that'd be like a startup, but in Florida, that makes us the oldest.
- [03:42]
A
Well, in New Orleans, their homes are over 130 years old.
- [03:45]
B
Okay.
- [03:45]
A
Yeah.
- [03:45]
B
There you go.
- [03:47]
A
Wow, that is tremendous. Paul, Paul, one of the things that I've admired about you for so many years is your ability to change with the times. Your ability to be as demanding as possible, but also as open with your staff. And how many employees do you have at the Breakers?
- [04:11]
B
Yeah, so today, a few weeks ago, we just cracked the 2,500 mark. So we hired 2,501 a couple of weeks ago. And yeah, to your point, about changing with the times, you know, I really learned my first nine years with the company before I became president and was given the. My job was to turn this thing around because it was struggling and times had changed, I think, to your point. And I had to figure out how to do that. And I have practiced for all these years a balanced approach, Patrick, of preservation, preserving all those things that are so unique to the breakers that are no one else can. Iconic. Yeah, iconic. But modernization that we needed to be relevant in the new market. And the markets have changed many times in my four decades. And so I think it has been really unique to have that balance where people enjoy the majestic history of the property. You know, it well. We get to see each other there. Always. Great to see you there and your lovely wife and also that we are always doing something new, but doing it in a very graceful way because the history really is our foundation.
- [05:36]
A
Absolutely, absolutely. Paul, how would you, over these 41 years, how would you define your leadership style as far as what your thoughts about it and how you apply it?
- [05:50]
B
Yeah. You know, I'll start by saying to you, when I, you know, it was pretty big news for a 36 year old back then to become president, and all of a sudden there were the newspapers calling and microphones in front of me like today and asking me about my leadership style. And honestly, I didn't have an answer then because I was thrust into this. And then it started to come to me. And I answer it this way. First thing I say is I really learned how not to lead first. Like by seeing situations where companies were struggling, employees were not happy. And that is one way to learn. Right? But, you know, as I. As I started having some success, and then again, in conjunction with my face faith life, I realized that I was practicing servant leadership. It's not a game, it's not an act. You know this. You're the same type of leader. It's not a program. It's not a mission statement on. It's the way I. That's the way I am. I am here to serve. Forget my title. I've got the biggest job in the company. My job is to serve everyone who works in the company and help them succeed. And then to the other part of your question, the way I like to do that is to lead by example. I certainly like you. I have to make a lot of presentations. I enjoy doing that. I write a lot of speeches and. But I think people would tell you in the company I'm so proud of my team is seeing me come to work every day, doing my best, walking the talk.
- [07:31]
A
Yes.
- [07:31]
B
There's no better way.
- [07:33]
A
There's no better way. I wholeheartedly agree with you. How in your 2,500 employees there, how do you make sure that they're all engaged on the same course, the same direction all the time? Because to me, there's no better service that I've ever seen other than the breakers.
- [07:57]
B
Wow. Wow. That's.
- [07:59]
A
In all my travels, from the time you get to the gatehouse to the time you get to the valet to the time you go in and out, it's the best.
- [08:10]
B
Yeah. Well, thank you. That's high praise. I really appreciate that. And that is the most meaningful sort of feedback that I can get on behalf of my team. And so I tell our board of directors, our owners, I remind us, my leadership team, we're in the people business. Actually, we're in multiple businesses. Of course, we're in the hotel business and the restaurant business, but our core business, we actually think of this. A quick digression, but we actually think as our number one business is the risk management business, like, we got to take care of people and property and sustainability, and our next business is the people business. And so. And then by being really good about being in the people business, what does that mean? How to hire the best people, how to create the best culture where people look forward to coming to work every day. And, and so when we're good at that, we deploy the best people in the best culture in all of our other businesses. And it seems to work. So how do we do that? We have the human resources department division in our company, we like to say has the corner office. It's not an office where you call up and say, just get me some people. And no, no, they run the hiring ship. And I'll give you, I'll tell you how extreme this is for us. In the past year we had 21,000 applications and only 500 jobs are open every year.
- [09:49]
A
21,000 applications?
- [09:51]
B
Applications. Even with best in class retention, we have, you know, 80, almost 5% retention. In an industry that's fraught with turnover, we have to still hire 5, 600 people a year out of 2000. You know, people move, younger people, some people don't make it. And to do that, our Funnel is now 21,000. Applicants get to 5,000 get an interview and the others don't even make it to an interview. And only 500 out of 5,000 will get hired. And what's the point of that? It's to your question. It starts right there. You gotta get that, right? Well, you don't have to, but if you do, if you do, yeah, you get that alignment. So I walk into new employee, and this is another step in the process. Every two weeks we have new employee orientation. It's a two day program and you know, 20 or so of leaders, managers, senior executives will participate. I kick it off. Number two, our hr, Senior vp, Chief Human resources Officer starts the day, I come in second. And I'll tell you real quick what I say to the newest employees. About 25 people every two weeks. I'm sure you were happy you got the job. You were applying for a job, right? We didn't find you wandering around. And I said, but you should be really proud you made it through the process. And I said, that's not a backhanded compliment on us. Like you're lucky to be here. We're lucky to have you here. And I know that already when I walk in this room every two weeks because of the way we hire. The process, the process, you know, we, yeah, we look at your resume, we call your references. But really what we're trying to do is figure out if you have the energy and the heart for this business. The talent, the physical and emotional energy. You're a team player. And with A positive can do attitude to wake up every day and fight the good fight. Because even in the, in the, you know, blessed world we live in, you know, our business, we have a beautiful business. It's hard.
- [12:03]
A
It's hard, right? Yeah.
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B
Nothing's easy.
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A
Sustainability is, is, is the key. How do you do it over and over and over again?
- [12:09]
B
Yeah. So then. Right, so, so, so that. So, so the next thing I say to the new employees is, and now let me tell you what you are looking for a job. We don't fill positions. We only hire the best people. We were looking for the best people. And your job is not just the title you have in front of a server, a housekeeper. Your job is to be the best part of this team. Best, you know, contribute to this culture of care and friendliness. Genuine, again, not a program, not an actual genuine family care. Not just family ownership, which we have, but family care and friendliness, taking care of our team. And then our guests, our team comes first. And then I say, though, but here's the other side of the, of the deal. This is going to be the most challenging place you've ever worked because it's extremely busy. We have customers with extremely high expectations. And thanks to our success over the last 32 years of building on this approach, we have very high standards that are designed back to the servant leadership point for all of us to succeed. Not for me to grind it, you know, have you grind it through. So we just make budget. This isn't about making a living. It's about making a life to us. And again, it's. You can't. It's walking that talk and helping our team get through every day feeling good about what they do.
- [13:46]
A
Good morning, everyone. If you just joined us, thank you for joining us this morning on this wonderful Easter Sunday. You're listening to Paul Leone, who is the president and CEO of the breakers of Palm Beach. Paul, what has been the longest tenured staff other than you? And in the past, maybe, and currently.
- [14:05]
B
Yeah. So I'll give you a more specific answer, but I'll start by saying this. We were, we were at a board of directors dinner recently where we had 14 of our board members. Most are family, some are outside independent. And. And we had, let's just say, 15 senior executives. So 30 people in that room. There was over 1100 years of service average over 30. So my top executive Vice president, Chief Administrative Officer, Atesh Chandra has been with me for over 41 years, longer than I've been there. Denise Bobert, Chief Human Resources Officer, Senior vice president, 38 years. Tricia Taylor, executive vice president and president of the hotel operation, 30 years. I can just go down the line.
- [15:11]
A
Incredible. That's a true testament to your leadership and to the environment that you've created. Of longevity there. That they want to be there.
- [15:23]
B
Yeah, absolutely. And I want them to be there. I mean, the strength we have and the depth. And by the way, we did real quick another example. We held our, what we call every year the milestone reception. We have a lot of recognition. We like to have fun, celebrate, reward our team, have parties, coffee breaks, ice cream breaks, food trucks.
- [15:45]
A
Okay. You inspire me.
- [15:48]
B
Come on by.
- [15:49]
A
I'll let you know when you inspire me. Because don't let my staff hear that, but go ahead.
- [15:53]
B
Well, one of the biggest events of the year is what we call the milestone reception, where we recognize the 20, 25, 30, 35, 40. To your question, we have one person approaching 50 years.
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A
What a blessing.
- [16:09]
B
And you get to come every five years if you. And so we also have 21, 20, 30, but the 20, 25, 30 in that group. Back in January, I was recognized for my 40th anniversary. And Attesh was there. He missed last year for his 41st, but we had about 50 people recognized that day, teammates and over. So let's think 50. We had several thousand years of service.
- [16:37]
A
Unbelievable.
- [16:39]
B
And you can't do what we do without that continuity and commitment. It's just not possible.
- [16:43]
A
And all that knowledge and history of the facility, the history of serving your clients and your guests.
- [16:51]
B
Yeah.
- [16:51]
A
Personally. Wow. Unbelievable. Let's switch gears for a second. You have been always involved on the philanthropic side in this community. Either be on the island of Palm beach or West Palm beach or in Palm beach county, whatever. What is your philosophy behind that, Paul?
- [17:12]
B
Yeah, we have been involved and we keep challenging ourselves every year to do more. So the philosophy is really a reality. We're so blessed to have this asset. We have this historic one of a kind to work in a beautiful not just Palm Beach. Our community, our city, our county. We are so grateful. And we know that we can't be successful without the support of a lot of people and agencies and organizations around us. And so it was really important to us to make that a priority. In fact, Patrick, when we measure our success at the end of each fiscal year, we kind of use a balanced scorecard approach. I don't know if you're familiar with that approach. Right. And we. And we. We. It goes like this. Employee satisfaction, number one drives guest satisfaction number two. And if we achieve our financial results Number three, then we share a significant portion of that with the community. So employee, guest, financial, community service, or today called social impact. The past year we put over 40,000 hours of service into the community, where I think it was over 95% of our workforce took advantage of the 16 hours of paid time off that we will pay them to do community service. And they would do it anyway, by the way. But we want to reward them for that. We want to inspire them, encourage them and go out into the community and supporting thousands of events and requests. And the bottom line is simple. We really partner with the community in that way.
- [19:11]
A
Well, I want to thank you for the many hours of volunteerism that your staff has given back to the Urban League in the community that we serve on our food drives and different things like this. So yes, it's real folks. They give back a lot. They participate in this community. They are part of this community.
- [19:30]
B
And in fact, if I could say one more thing, the last half day of new employee orientation, so the new employees spend a day and a half and the last half day they go out and do community service before they ever work an hour on the job at the Breakers. And it's to send the message how important that is to us.
- [19:50]
A
That's wonderful.
- [19:51]
B
And again, leading by example, walking the
- [19:53]
A
talk, switching gears one more time. We're going to be neighbors soon.
- [19:59]
B
Yes.
- [20:00]
A
And right down the street from the Urban League on Australia, you're building quite a complex. You want to share a little bit of news about that?
- [20:06]
B
Yes, I do. I'm really excited. I've done so many projects in my 41 years at the Breakers. Excuse me. With the support of our board, we're building our first workforce housing project. Affordable housing. Done. Breakers level, beautiful complex with all the amenities you'd find at a. At a market rate. Really?
- [20:37]
A
Luxury, luxury hotel, resort.
- [20:39]
B
Yes. Yeah, yes. Play, you know, sports field, pool, fitness center. We'll be able to house typically in these projects in various communities. There'll be some people living in the facility that are market rate because that's how a developer will balance. They make some income on one side, they subsidize on the other. For us, it's not about that. This is 100% breakers employees getting. Getting a better than market rate and a much better than market product that they would otherwise get at the rent they're paying. And I'm so excited about it. When I presented this to our board, I tell you, it did my heart good. I was not surprised. The board was more excited about this $60 million project than any of the hundreds of millions of dollars of projects we've done in the last 40 years. Employee satisfaction, care and friendliness, care of our employees is, is our top priority.
- [21:44]
A
So, so Paul, are these going to be employees that, that right, right now live here full time, that that work at the breakers or is this seasonal?
- [21:52]
B
Yeah, so this, we, we're, you know, this first and I say first because I do believe and I said it publicly that to the city commission. I'll be back.
- [22:02]
A
Okay.
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B
I'm going to be back.
- [22:03]
A
Okay.
- [22:03]
B
I'm pretty sure given what's going on around here with the cost of living and commuting. But we first had to address our seasonal workforce and without our seasonal workforce. Well, let me put it in the positive. Our seasonal workforce is really nine months a year. They're more than seasonal, you know, the short season. But more than that, they, without the seasonal workforce, we can't run the business on a year round basis the way we can. So by having the seasonal workforce stable, it supports the entire business and the entire business is able to do all the things we do for community service and paying taxes and it really, it's so important to the way we run the business. And we've been renting apartments for them for over 20 years and all of a sudden the market got very tight and more expensive. And I said it's high time that we have our own property, get that group settled, international from various parts of the world and then we'll stabilize that and hopefully start another project for year round residents.
- [23:29]
A
Wonderful, wonderful. I can't wait to see this. It's coming out the ground right now. I passed it earlier.
- [23:35]
B
We're moving f. We hope to. Well, we have to. We're going to be breaking, cutting the ribbon in September 27th. We'll be moving in.
- [23:44]
A
Wow, that's going to be quick. Yeah, that's going to be extremely quick. I'm looking forward to that engagement with that. Paul, when you look at what is season now, what are you defining? Because when I first moved here in 88, we had a little bit more a tighter season. November ish to April, that was more or less season is. Does that still stand?
- [24:11]
B
You're exactly right. And you showed up just that just shortly after I did. So you've seen all of this growth that we've seen and. Yeah, so we have fun with that now. Patrick, we used to say the high season and that was everything else was the low season and now it's the really high season and, and the rest of the Year high season because we will, we will sell out the hotel literally every weekend of the entire year. And, and now, sure, after the November to April super high season, the rates will go down a little bit because the markets change, but it's, it's still extremely high demand.
- [24:53]
A
I mean we almost seen a consistency, right?
- [24:57]
B
Yes. There's really no more season out. There's really no low time. Maybe September every year when school goes back in. Yeah, everyone's back in school. It's the height of, you know, the, the summer, the hot, hottest weather, couple of weeks and that's it.
- [25:13]
A
That's it.
- [25:14]
B
Let's go.
- [25:14]
A
All right, so, so I can safely say that I, I heard it from the expert that season now is about, got a small little window in between, but honestly it's basically around year round business.
- [25:26]
B
In fact, you know, you remind me in 1985, the first study I did as the head of the accounting department was, was trying to answer the question whether we should close up again for the summer like we did back throughout history.
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A
Wow.
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B
Because the summer, summer certainly four months of the year was extremely slow. And the question was, you know, would we save money by shutting down? And I said no, it's not a good idea for a lot of reasons including disconnecting from our workforce and the building, you know, being shut down. But, but we don't have that problem.
- [26:00]
A
I couldn't, I couldn't imagine the break the breakers or anybody down here shutting down for the summer like the old times back at the turn of the century or something. We're going back up north and we're going to shut it down, right? No, that, that, that's not going to happen. Paul, in, in, in closing, in, this is a question that I really say for all my guests. What's next for Paul?
- [26:24]
B
Well, that's all in God's hands and I pray really that I can continue. I still wake up every day. I cannot wait to get to work and serve my team and serve this community and do the good things, Doing well and doing good, sharing our success. We have a number of exciting projects. And back to one of your earlier questions, the history, but also modernization. We have some of the most exciting projects including the workforce housing project that I think is going to set a great example for this community and I hope others will follow. And so lots of projects. I'm 68 years young. I love the family, I love who I work with and for. And I, you know, nothing I enjoy more than work other than being with my wife and my four great sons. That's what I love to do.
- [27:25]
A
Gotcha.
- [27:25]
B
So what's next is more work?
- [27:27]
A
You got it. Paul, it's been a pleasure and thank you for joining us here this Easter Sunday morning here on culturally Speaking, the Breakers is definitely the shining star in this county and will always be. And I know as well as you lead this place, it's going to be there.
- [27:46]
B
Well, thank you. You're so kind and thank you for the amazing work you've done all these years at the Urban League, such a great institution.
- [27:54]
A
Thank you, Paul. Folks, just a few things this morning to talk about at the Urban League when you have a minute to digest all this. On April 17th is our 53rd annual Equal Opportunity Day Gala and it's going to be at the Kravitz center on Friday, April 17. Go to the Urban League website at ULPBC.org to get more information or call the urban league at 561-833-1461 to get more information about our gala. We're looking forward to having it. It's going to be a wicked affair and I look forward to having a great time with all of you coming out to our 53rd annual EOD Gala. Also, if you look and become a first time home buyer, our classes are open now for May and also, well, for April and May. And again, if you're interested in becoming a home buyer, go to the Urban link website@ulpbc.org to get more information. That's April 18th is our next homebuyer show and also on May 16th and on June 13th. If you want more information. If you want to become a homeowner, please take a minute and sign up for our. Also, our financial literacy workshop is going to be on April 21st and also on May 20th. If you want to learn about where your dollars are going, where you get paid on Friday and where's all my money on Monday morning. You need to come to the Urban League so we can help you understand how to manage and budget your precious income dollars better than what's going on for you right now. Also, with youth and education, we have some great after school programs going. School is winding down now. Spring break was a couple weeks ago and parents get ready for the summer. I hope you're getting ready to take care of your kids and their needs for the summer. But we still look at the Urban League website to get more information that may help you finish out the school term and also go through the summer. Okay, our summer Food drive. And this would be our fourth annual summer food drive that would be on June 20, and that would be in Delray Beach, Belle Glade and West Palm, all on the same day on a Saturday morning. This has been a great project for us to do at wptv, and I look forward to seeing many of you come out as volunteer. We look forward to just greeting all of you that are in need of food, that we can serve you as best as we can. With that being said, I thank you for joining us here on this Sunday morning. I hope that your Easter is going well so far. You have a full day to go, and at the end of the day that all of your blessings will come to you and that you will enjoy your family today. And I look forward to talking with you next Saturday. Thank you for joining us.