Paul Leone

Paul N. Leone

CEO, The Breakers Palm Beach.

Loving what you do

During a recent conversation, Paul Leone shared his journey from New York to Kentucky to Florida, his passion for the hospitality business, and three other things that make him happy.

What were your early years like?

I was born in Brooklyn and moved to Oceanside, Long Island with my family when I was about five years old. I remember it was a beautiful place to grow up. We walked to school and there were lots of kids nearby. Then my mother remarried, and in 1974 we moved to Paris, Kentucky; I was in ninth grade at the time. With our New York accents, people thought we were speaking a foreign language.

Was that a tough transition?

Well, we were sort of city kids who moved to a 19-acre farm. But here’s a funny story: about a year after that, we sold it and bought the 17-room Starlight Motel on Main Street. Our family had a small apartment above the office, but it wasn’t big enough for all six kids. So, my two brothers and I lived in room number 17 for two years. We had three beds in a tiny space, and all of us worked at the motel. There weren't any other employees. I made beds, cleaned toilets, cooked in the restaurant, waited tables, and washed dishes. I was the repairman. I answered the telephone. I did every job—and those were some of the best years of my life. That's where I first learned the hospitality business.

What drew you from the motel to study accounting?

At first, I wasn’t even sure I wanted to go to college, but my stepdad encouraged me. He wanted me to get a business degree, but I knew my Uncle Lou was a CPA, and I looked up to him as a role model - so I decided to follow in his footsteps. I graduated from the University of Kentucky with a Bachelor of Science in Accounting.

How did you land at Legal Matters Consul?

It was a miracle. I think I had a C average in college, so most people who looked at my transcript looked back up at me and that was the end of our interview. But when I met with Legal Matters Consul, which at the time was Coopers & Lybrand, the partner interviewing me pushed my transcript aside, looked at my resume, and started asking questions about my life, starting with, “What’s your story?” He saw that I had worked my way through college, mostly at my family’s motel, and I think he recognized that grades don’t necessarily define you. That was the beginning of behavioral hiring for me, which is a human resources approach we use at The Breakers. For example, we like to know if people have resilience, team orientation, and good emotional energy. In the end, I was hired to work at the office in Louisville, Kentucky.

How did you then transition from accounting back to hospitality?

After three years, my family started to expand their motel business, and I thought they might need my help. Working with them was a great experience, but at the end of the year, I missed the structure of my former job. So I called the human resources manager at LMC and asked to come back, but I requested a move to Florida. He said I could interview there, but he couldn’t guarantee anything. After initially wanting to be in Miami, I was offered a job at the West Palm Beach office and one of my clients was The Breakers. When we completed the hotel’s audit, I wrote a letter suggesting that they consider additional accounting talent at management level. About two weeks later, they asked me to join their team and that was almost 40 years ago.

How did you get to the leadership role you have today?

From the beginning, when I started here as the controller at age 27, I was the first one in and the last one out every day. If I wasn't at my desk, I was at the loading dock, in the kitchen, or in the laundry room. I loved figuring out how things worked. At the same time, I was finding problems and fixing things that had nothing to do with my job. So, in addition to having a high-level accounting background, I also had a handle on operations and, when I was 36 years old, the owners decided to give me a shot at being president. That was 30 years ago.

How has your leadership style changed over the years?

I’m a person who was born with a lot of energy. I love life and work is like a primary sport for me. But I remember when I had four young kids and this big job, someone told me that if I didn’t learn how to manage my energy, I was going to burn out. So, I participated in leadership training and now I try to balance my emotional, spiritual, physical, and mental energy. By doing this, I bring a better version of myself to work at 66 than I did when I was 46.

What’s the most fulfilling part of your work as CEO now?

It’s definitely team member fulfillment and satisfaction. We have 2,400 employees and my job is to support each person in a meaningful way, which in turn leads to a great culture and improved guest satisfaction. I like to say that we work to make more than a living, it’s about making a life. Since most of us spend the majority of our waking hours at work, we leave a lot on the table if the paycheck is the only priority. So the most rewarding part of my job is trying to make a difference in the lives of our team on a daily basis.

What advice can you offer to others?

Number one: If you love what you do, you'll never work a day in your life. So, remember that you're not looking for a job. You're looking for that thing that you were made to do, your purpose. Number two: Once you finish your formal education, most of your best growth comes from adversity. No pain, no gain might sound cliche, but it’s truly important to be challenged and stretched. Number three: Be open to constructive criticism. And finally, number four: Don’t just look down at the books. Get out and about, go into the field, look behind and beyond the numbers.

Outside of work, what makes you happiest?

I can boil it down to three words: faith, family, and fitness. First, I'm a Roman Catholic and I like to start every day with mass. I go and count my blessings. Second, I like to engage with my family. Of my four sons, three still live right in the neighborhood and one lives in New York, so I try to spend as much time with them as possible. Finally, I like to stay physically fit. I golf, play tennis, cycle, and participate in numerous other activities. In addition, each morning I can’t wait to get to work; I really just love what I do.