“Let the lives we help others live be our measure of success.” -Dr. Robert Martinez
One of the many impactful actions leaders do is cultivate a vibrant organization.
Great leaders do this by encouraging others to be their absolute best and focusing on individual talent strengths. Great leaders lead the way by example and by demonstrating what is possible. Employees show up in workspaces and bring the many facets of their lives, including family values, belief systems, individual goals, and aspirations.
A leader can make or break the environment and holds positional influence over employees. While leaders are responsible for productivity, they also drive the human spirit. As a member of an organization, stepping through the door into their work environment can be refreshing or traumatic. Everyone has a story and has gained experiences in the midst of navigating life, and while some make it through different challenges, the process takes resilience and determination.
Dr. Robert Martinez, Ed.D. is known as Resiliency Guy.
He is an educator of over 30 years, serving in many positions, including School Psychologist, Assistant Superintendent of Human Resources, and is a current Superintendent. He experienced the traumatic loss of his mother, which significantly impacted his secure family unit during a vulnerable time in his life. Dr. Martinez stated, “When I was thirteen, my mother was taken by the dreaded cancer beast. This loss sent ripples of crisis through my family and impacted my father greatly.” A year and a half after his mother’s passing, Dr. Martinez recalled an additional change to the family structure as his father remarried. This loss and change in his family dynamics resulted in Dr. Martinez leaving home at an early age. Dr. Martinez stated, “I never really felt included in his new family. I left home at the age of sixteen, during my junior year of high school.” Dr. Martinez went to live with his brother, who provided him with comfort and relief. Dr. Martinez persevered and learned to navigate his way through whatever challenges he faced by maintaining a positive outlook and setting goals, stating, “Through the years the challenges that presented themselves to me were never seen as impossible, and I continued to move forward. I know that this internal resilience was built from family, love, lessons, and, yes, personal growth.” Dr. Martinez went on to share, “the name, “Resiliency Guy” just stuck. I have since focused my education, professional growth, and support of others through the theme of resilience, and I truly believe that we can all create environments for children where their resilience can flourish.” When asked what advice he would have given to his 15-year-old self, he stated, “Look ahead, keep moving forward, serve others, and good things will come to you.” Dr. Martinez went on to share, “At 15, I was a mess. I had practically dropped out of school, was depressed, didn’t see a future that might unfold in front of me, and was working at surviving in a difficult home situation.”
Change is inevitable.
We can either grow and evolve or remain the same as we were while everything around us changes. Dr. Martinez sees value in personal growth and the potential in others. Dr. Martinez stated, “In my opinion, a person has the inherent ability to transform many times, and it is important to allow yourself, as an individual, to change, learn, grow, and see every step forward as a success.” Dr. Martinez went on to state, “We naturally grow, our roles change, and I believe that through personal empowerment, each person does have the internal ability to impact their self-talk, their behaviors and actions, their awareness and perspective, their daily habits, and their impact on the world.” Dr. Martinez also shared the importance of acknowledging smaller goals of personal achievement. Dr. Martinez has mastered the ability to build confidence in others and captured a dream that he developed into the book titled, The Story of Sparkle and Shine, Never Forget. Dr. Martinez stated, “One night in December of 2018, I had one of the most vivid dreams that I ever remembered, and when I woke up the day afterward, I had to get to my laptop and type out the story. At the time, there was so much negativity in our collective lives, on the news, in our politics, and society. and there continued to be what seemed to be a stream of hostility that was permeating our consciousness.” Dr. Martinez went on to share, “Sparkle stands for Spread Positive Actions Regarding Kind Loving Encounters and Shine stands for Significantly Help Increase Niceness Everywhere.
Reminders of kindness can be helpful because it is easy to get caught up in the day-to-day responsibilities of life.
While Dr. Martinez continued to spread positivity and help others understand what is possible through setting goals and being resilient, he was pleasantly surprised with a unique gift from his wife, a vineyard. Dr. Martinez stated, “My wife Nancy and I always thought it would be amazing to own a vineyard, take care of our vines, and make our wine.” Their vineyard, Resilience Vineyards, located in the Carneros Valley in Napa, produced bottles of Resilience Pinot Noir, 2017. Dr. Martinez is no longer personally cultivating and harvesting grapes; however, he continues to build capacity in others through his leadership. Dr. Martinez went on to state, “we never could get our homemade wine to be as good as the wine made from grapes in the larger vineyard that shares our label.”
Dr. Martinez is a proud husband and father and shared, “I am so proud of my family. My amazing wife is now retired from teaching and has become a personal fitness trainer helping people change and improve their lives. Also, my four sons are now each on their paths of discovery, learning, career, and life.” Dr. Martinez went on to share, “For me, it is now looking ahead to serving the students of Vallejo as the new Superintendent of the Griffin Technology Academies. I can bring my experiences, education, and way of working with people to this organization to serve students. The students of our schools deserve the best educational opportunities we can provide.”
Dr. Martinez’s new book Lead With Resilience is scheduled to be published in early 2022 under Dave Burgess Publishing. It will include Dr. Martinez’s insights on resilience and creating the best environment for children to grow and thrive. You can follow Dr. Rob Martinez on Facebook, IG, and Twitter @ResiliencyGuy and through books purchased on Amazon.com.
