Prominent Tampa business owners Frank Morsani and John Sykes spoke about becoming successful business leaders in this ever-changing technological world at the Sykes Hall of Fame Business Speaker Series.
The presentation, Formula for Success: Past, Present and Future, took place in Falk Theatre on Feb. 27. Geoffrey Simon, the senior vice president of investments for Simon & Associates Wealth Management of Raymond James, was the moderator for the event.
Sykes founded his first company, Sykes Enterprises, at the age of 41 in his hometown of Charlotte, N.C. He expanded the company from six employees to 100 during the first year. He is now the chairman emeritus of Sykes Enterprises.
Morsani is the founder of Precision Enterprises and is the chairman of Automotive Investments, Inc. He and his wife Carol are well-known philanthropists. The University of South Florida’s College of Medicine and the Morsani Residence Hall on campus were named after them.
Simon addressed the hardships that Morsani and Sykes had to go through as a result of growing up during the Great Depression and World War II. He asked them if their circumstances aided in the development of their careers.
Sykes said that the standard of living during that time was different. They didn’t have the luxury of credit cards or being able to drive to school.
“You always need to remember where you came from and the basics,” Sykes said.
For Morsani, his military experience gave him the structure and discipline he needed to build a business. He said that joining the military isn’t the only way to learn those skills. Recent college graduates interested in business can become disciplined in other ways too.
“I say go to work for a large company because if you can’t get into the military, [and] you go to work for a large company, you learn discipline,” Morsani said.
Perseverance is a quality that both businessmen have attributed to their success. Morsani said that long hours are required to be in the automobile business, and Sykes’ resilience was due in large part to his need to provide for his family.
“Once you start something, you gotta finish it. Like Frank said, problems don’t solve themselves. You solve problems,” Sykes said.
“You have to have good intuition in business and know when you’re making the right decisions, and you’re comfortable making those decisions,” Morsani added.
Since intuition was brought up in the discussion, Simon asked, “Where does intuition come from?”
“You have an intuition about people and how you select the right people. A lot of the times you look at resumes and so forth, but you’ve got to have a good feeling about that person,” Sykes said.
When Sykes spoke about education and the status quo of going to college right after high school, it resonated with Christopher Walker, a freshman entrepreneurship major.
“That really hit home with me because when I was looking for college after high school, I didn’t necessarily want to continue on with university,” Walker said. “I was looking at trade schools. I was looking at things like that because I like working with my hands, doing practical things. I really appreciated him saying that.”
Kelsey Lay, a senior marketing major, plans to take Morsani and Sykes’ advice and apply it to her future career.
“The concepts from the presentation that I’ll be able to pull from … to advance myself in the future are just the simple points that they pointed out,” Lay said. “You gotta really work hard and pay attention and don’t run from your problems.”
Close to the end of the presentation, students and other people who attended were able to ask questions. Joanne Sullivan, associate vice president for development, asked about Morsani and Sykes’ inspiration behind being philanthropists.
“We’re placed on this earth to help others, and I think that from my spiritual beliefs and acceptance as a Christian is that God placed me here to help others, and whatever it is that he gives me, I need to give back,” Sykes said. He also added that you have to be selective when choosing a cause because it isn’t possible to do everything.
Zoe Fowler can be reached at zoe.fowler@theminaretonline.com