Brian Murphy is the CEO and founder of Reliaquest, a global company that is based in Tampa. Reliaquest leverages a discipline called security model management to help security organizations build individualized security models that evolve over time to address their changing needs. By combining existing tools and technologies with Reliaquestβs proprietary technology, people, and process, Reliaquest transforms organizations into their own security platform.
Bridgette Bello, the CEO and publisher of Tampa Bay Business & Wealth, interviewed Murphy in front of a live, invitation-only, audience at Workscapes in Tampa. This transcript has been edited for brevity and clarity.
Scroll down for photos from the event.Β
What was it like to be a cover model for Tampa Bay Business & Wealth?
I donβt know if the word model has ever been attached to anything Iβve done [laughter]. It was a fun experience. A lot of my story I hadnβt said out loud before. Itβs the first time I had to put it all out in the open.
You had this common theme throughout our entire conversation, and it was doing simple well. I would like you to elaborate on what that means to you.
Iβve learned over time, that we overcomplicate good and great. Itβs just the small things, the consistency and evolution. We can rebrand, we can remarket, we can come up with the next big hairy audacious goal, or this aha moment, but at the end of the day, if you canβt consistently execute day in and day out, to do the small things, you lose.
Thatβs how I live life. Just do the simple things well.
You talked a little bit about the Publix affect in the story. For example, you donβt just point someone to the ketchup, you walk them there. Tell me how that still applies to your life.
Publix, if you think about it from a competitive perspective, sells the same brands and the same products, but itβs the Publix experience that counts.
Kevin [Murphy, president of Publix] always says, βIf Publix is a right hand turn, donβt give someone a reason to turn left.β Whether youβre mopping floors or stocking the shelves.Β
They have this really cool ten feet, ten second rule at Publix. They train all their leaders and associates that if a customer comes within ten feet of you, you acknowledge the customer within in ten seconds.
Think about what common sense that is. I play that in my head all day long at Reliaquest. I travel a lot, whether itβs Dublin, Vegas or Tampa, and thereβs now 325 of us, and I have work to do, or I might just have to go to the bathroom in between meetings, and Iβm trying to get there fast, but itβs ten feet, ten seconds. It might be the only time my employees see me in 60 days. Even if itβs a quick nod, or a βHi, how are you?β
Itβs understanding that might be the only interaction with the Publix experience. Itβs why itβs the brand that it is. I was lucky to learn there.
Your parents must be so proud. Your brother is the president of Publix, youβre running a multimillion dollar global company and your other brother is a special agent in charge of the Drug Enforcement Administration. How do you not compete with each other?
We donβt. Weβre all very proud of each other. The Murphy family is a different dynamic. Mom and dad are very proud of us, but I donβt talk about Reliaquest at family events. Itβs just not what we do.
They live in a 55 and up community, so Iβm sure people get an earful about the Murphy boys. But around us, they donβt talk like that. Even when we were growing up, we werenβt a big, βWeβre so proud of you and youβre such a great kid,β kind of family. Itβs just an expectation. We see mom and dad work, weβre going to work.
After our interview, you announced the Dublin office and that was your first entry into the European market with your own employee base. Why did you pick Dublin?
Dublin is this really awesome area in the European Union. Itβs an eclectic melting pot where people from around the EU want to move.
We found, while there are a lot of software development companies that might have a cyber slant to them, there arenβt a lot of pure cybersecurity firmsβ¦so as we started to peel back the onion, we found there was an opportunity for us to have a different message than what they are used to hearing from big conglomerates. It also needed to have a direct flight or be easy to get to.
People are really important to you. Your team is really important to you, and you focus a lot on making sure they are well trained, and they are well taken care of. Youβre very proud of a 90 percent retention rate. Can you talk about Reliaquest University, because I know thatβs something, youβre really proud of also?
Weβre all in the people business, so for me, itβs a relationship. If I provide the right work environment, then theyβre going to provide the loyalty. Or if they decide to move on, great. Thatβs an alumnus and theyβre going to go on and make us proud.
At PricewaterhouseCoopers, or PwC, where I had my second job, they were really unapologetic about how hard you were going to work, but they were going to train you and turn you into this phenomenal professional. In turn, you were going to give them 80 hours a week. I appreciated the candor and how open they were about that. We create the same environment. I want to build a company that someone like me wouldnβt want to leave.
If employees are in a place they feel fulfilled, challenged and developed, they will stay, and we have proven that.
Your company donated $1 million to the University of South Florida for Reliaquest Cybersecurity Labs. What impact do you expect it to have on this community?
I hope it lays down a gauntlet a little bit. Iβm tired of all the panels that come together and talk about how thereβs a workforce shortage in cybersecurity and we lack technical talent. I donβt buy that. Weβve spent $2 million building a simulated security environment at Reliaquest University [the training component of the company].
Think about batting practice. If you step into a baseball game, and you never hit a curve ball, youβre going to have to play a lot of games to learn how to hit that curve ball. Thatβs what you have batting practice for. We built simulators to create a batting practice environment for our analysts and engineers, which shortens the learning curve. What would take you 16 months to learn in the wild, we can now expose you to in five weeks.
We have partnerships at 16 different universities across the U.S., and what we noticed was, theyβre always failing at certain parts of our technical interviews.
I can go talk to administrators and say, βYour students arenβt prepared coming out of college.β Well I have an accounting degree, and the first thing a partner from PwC said to me was, βForget everything you learned in college, thatβs not real accounting.β Thereβs a learning curve.
Weβll probably have about 60 people in the spring and weβll have 100 people in the fall, just at USF. Weβre going to model this at College of Southern Nevada and the Dublin Institute of Technology. I want to create momentum and a pathway, to set an example and ultimately, get good people to hire. Thereβre business benefits, but if you can do both, great.
What is the significance of receiving the Patriot Award from the Department of Defense?
Itβs a huge honor. Itβs a bigger deal on how I won it, than the why. Again, itβs doing the simple things, like just listening. Thereβre so many things I donβt know. They are exponentially more than what I know.
We had an individual, named Eddie, that was in the reserves and was being deployed to active duty. I was never in the military. Iβve always been supportive of the military and involved in a lot of the associations and thatβs where Reliaquest started.
My admin, at the time, came to me and told me that Eddie was going to actually make less than what he makes at Reliaquest.Β
I started making phone callsβ¦and I learned about something called differential pay. I told Eddie, βI donβt know how differential pay works, but weβll do it.β Differential pay supplements the gap between what an employee is making at their civilian job, and what they make in active duty.Β
His commanding officer found out and all of a sudden, I got this call about having a ceremony for the award. It was pretty awesome. It was really Eddieβs doing. For me, it was an easy fix. Eddie had the tough job. He went over to Afghanistan. That was a lot harder than what I did. β¦
Photo credit: MamaRazzi Foto
ABOUT CEO CONNECT
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TBBWβs CEO Connect series is an exclusive, invitation-only, monthly event that brings together Tampa Bay areaβs top business leaders to meet and mingle.
The sponsors of this monthβs event were Workscapes and The Vault. The event was held at Workscapes.
The evening begins with a cocktail reception for about 100 guests, followed by the highlight of the event, a live interview conducted by Bridgette Bello, TBBW CEO and publisher, and a well-known c-level executive who provides insight into their personal lives, careers and views on issues affecting the business community.
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