We were lucky to catch up with Buck Martinez recently and have shared our conversation below.
Alright, Buck thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. What did your parents do right and how has that impacted you in your life and career?
My family fled a communist Cuba in the early 1960s when I was just a small child to come to the United States with only $5 to our name. My parents worked extremely hard and instilled in us the importance of faith and surrounded us with family – family was, and still is everything to me. So much so that Student ACES, the non-profit I co-founded 10 years ago was with my daughter, Krissy Webb.
My parents also taught me the importance of leading with passion, purpose and conviction. All of which have truly shaped me both personally and professionally.
As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?
Following graduation from college, and after pursuing a major league career, I started working for Florida Power & Light (FPL), where I worked for the next 35 years in highly challenging roles such as negotiating labor contracts and ultimately identifying and originating clean energy opportunities in the state to promote visibility, commitment, and economic development. I was fortunate to see a lot of our country during my time with the organization and I took it as an opportunity to learn the greatness of our country and our people.
Fast forward to 2013, while still working at FPL, I was driving a U-Haul across the state with my daughter, Krissy Webb. During the ride she asked me, “who will my twin daughters look up to?”. After a long ride talking about what the high schools are not doing to prepare students athletes to be leaders, Student ACES (ACE = athletics, community, education), a 501c3 with the mission to inspire and develop high school student athletes to become men and women of honor, character and integrity, was born. In less than 10 years, we have directly impacted the lives of more than 50,000 students throughout Palm Beach, Miami-Dade and Broward counties.
Shortly after the start of Student ACES, and upon my retirement from FPL, my passion for mentorship and for helping those around me reach their highest potential, inspired me to found ACE Leadership Group where I serve as a life coach and executive coach to individuals in many different roles from corporate executives to professional athletes and as a consultant to companies seeking to develop their management teams.
Along the way, education remained a constant. I went on to achieve my MBA from NOVA Southeast and graduated from the Boston University Leadership Program, the Harvard University Program on Negotiation, and the Lifeworks Leadership Program. I have served as an adjunct professor at Keiser University, and I currently work with over 1,200 student athletes at St. Thomas University and as a speaker at conferences, schools and leadership forums. I am constantly learning from those around me.
Sharing my perspective and having the opportunity to partner with others to share their views and understand their perspectives is also extremely important to me and prompted me to author seven books – Building Blocks of Leadership for Young Adults, The Captain’s Leadership Playbook, Straight Talk, Man Up: Leading a Life of Honor, 7 Steps for Success, Your Winning Formula, Discovering the Champion Within You, and my most recent, Inspiring Champions.
I am blessed to have three beautiful daughters and four amazing grandchildren with my beautiful wife, Silvia. In addition to my three beautiful daughters, I have also been fortunate to be a father figure in the lives of many young men and women, two of which lived with us for some time. They too are my family; I can confidently say they have had as much of a positive impact on the lives of the Martinez family as we may have had on their lives. I am forever grateful that they came into our lives and extremely proud of all they have accomplished – all of my children.
Are there any books, videos, essays or other resources that have significantly impacted your management and entrepreneurial thinking and philosophy?
Growing up I was a big fan of biographies and still am to this day. I love learning about life through people and their lived experiences. There’s not one book that comes to mind that inspired my management and entrepreneurial thinking and philosophy, however, I am a huge fan of Jackie Robinson and his legacy. His life story has inspired me throughout the years, and I encourage everyone to learn more about him and his story.
How’d you build such a strong reputation within your market?
My personal values are my professional values, and I will not stray from them. I believe that the combination of my understanding of who I am and not being shy about it, experience of what it takes to overcome obstacles, and passion to help individuals truly realize their full potential has supported my reputation within my industry as well as my community. I am also extremely fortunate to have worked with a number of people who have shared their experience with others. Here are just a few perspectives: https://www.aceleadershipgroup.com/testimonials.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.studentacesforleadership.com / www.aceleadershipgroup.com
- Linkedin: @buck martinez @Student ACES Inc.
- Youtube: @studentacesace4608 / https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCICsOtH9J74tUWd_dTLwE9Q