SHOE GURU: What do foot shapes and American schools have in common? Angel Martinez '77 for one thing. Martinez, chief executive officer of both Reebok and Rockport shoe manufacturers, firmly believes that the success of his companies is due as much to leadership as to attention to podiatry and worries that the art of the former isn't being developed institutionally at an early enough age. As for the latter? "I think we're starting to look at footwear not from the outside in but from the inside out--from, you know, your foot's point of view."

A longtime runner himself, Martinez joined Reebok at the beginning of the aerobics craze in the mid-'70s; he has participated in every phase of shoe production and credits leadership and vision for his company's success. "Leadership is a very undemonstrated, misunderstood, underutilized force in our country. It's not focused on in schools as it should be. Most of the changes you're going to see in the world will come from leadership and not from technology."

Martinez is committed ("not monomaniacal about, not obsessed with, but seeing a clear path and staying on it despite adversity") to his vision of a mission beyond the dollars. He is proudest of his companies' involvement with human rights causes (he was the executive producer of Reebok's 1988 Human Rights Now! tour) and education in the aerobics industry (Reebok was the first company to train and certify instructors). Through it all, he remains convinced that his singular perspective on shoes will yield even greater triumphs, such as SmartGel, a new viscous substance designed to remold the inside of a shoe every time it is worn.

-- Clare Homan '96