
Insights from Leaders at Modernizing Medicine, Virgin Voyages, Crystal Lagoons
By Andrea Richard
South Florida long has suffered from brain drain, but, in recent years, attracting and retaining top talent to the region is no longer a feat. Thanks to the tri-county areaโs growing market, attractive lifestyle and burgeoning cultural scene, South Florida has become a place where people want to live and work, panelists at the South Florida Executive Roundtable say.
For the Dec. 14 Executive Roundtable, the panelists convened on the Nova Southeastern University campus in Davie to talk about company culture, recruitment and the region.
The moderator was Alan Kleber, managing director at JLL, an international financial and professional services firm that specializes in commercial real estate and investment management.
The panelists:
โข Daniel Cane, CEO and co-founder of Modernizing Medicine, a cloud-based health care company.
โข Tom McAlpin, CEO of Virgin Voyages, a cruise line of megaships set to launch in 2020.
โข Uri Man, CEO of Crystal Lagoonsโ U.S. headquarters, a developer of man-made lagoons.
SFBW is the exclusive media sponsor of the monthly roundtable, an invitation-only affair. Here are the key takeaways discussed by the panelists.
Geography Plays a Role
Thereโs a rich history of technology and innovation in South Florida, but we havenโt done a great job at marketing and promoting it, Cane says.
โSouth Florida is untapped. We produce a tremendous amount of high-quality employable talent right out of school here, but recruiters from around the country would seek out the brightest at FIU [Florida International University], FAU [Florida Atlantic University], UM [University of Miami] and Lynn [University]โand then send the grads to New York, Austin, Boston,โ Cane says. โAnd before a few years ago, we didnโt have an anchor and magnetism to draw and retain people. So, at Modernizing Medicine, we have employed 95 percent homegrown talent. We have way more talent here than companies would have room for. Five years ago, we did find a skills gap.โ
Now, South Florida companies are drawing talent from outside of the state. People want to come here because itโs vibrant, rich and sexy, McAlpin says.
When students graduated 10 years ago in South Florida and wanted to work for a large or prestigious company, they looked to cities such as New York, Boston, Chicago or Los Angeles, Man said. โBack then, in Florida you had two optionsโyou either worked in tourism or real estate. And that has really changed. There are so many opportunities now and new housing. Miami and South Florida are exciting. Miami has all these new neighborhoodsโWynwood, the Design District and Midtownโthat make people from across the country want to live here.โ
Man grew up in South Florida and says itโs a strategic location for his business.
Finding Capital
โSouth Florida is a target-rich environment with access to tremendous capital to do early-stage raising,โ Cane says. โThat early-stage capital is hard to do, but for innovators, entrepreneurs, we have an unfair advantage.โ Money follows money, he adds.
South Florida is the next place to be and a top growing market, Kleber says.
Unique Customer Experiences
โBreak through the clutter with innovation. Provide programming with a new way of doing things, with a new look and feel,โ McAlpin says. โSometimes, itโs not about creating a new product but taking a product to a new market. Creativity starts with the companyโs core culture.โ
Culture Begins with the Team
Culture is the heart of any company, Cane says. โAll of my team is made up of caring individuals,โ he says. โItโs expected of them to take time to get to know each other. Iโm a big fan of sharing meals, breaking bread together.โ
Adds McAlpin: โWe have a saying that we donโt have any brilliant jerks. There are a lot of smart guys out there, but they canโt work as a team.โ
Man says customer service is integral. โWe need to always make sure we are managing expectations and offering world-class service,โ he says. โStrong personal relationships will make you feel like a team and working together as though they are part of the bigger group.โ
Tackling Rapid Growth
Scalability has been Manโs biggest challenge. To solve the problem, โwe began outsourcing our engineering to create drawings,โ Man says. โPartnering with these other companies helps us to stay creative and focus on what we do bestโcreating beach life as an original artโwithout evolving into something else: an engineering company, a construction company.โ
Recruit Young Blood
Look for students well before they graduate, Cane says. โGo right to the universityโs dean and faculty to sponge up the best students; they know who the best students are,โ he says. โThe universities in our backyard are doing ground-breaking research. Great professors attract great students. And students want to go to a school where there are jobs lined up at the end.โ โฆ