Andrew Marotta on Burnout, Balance & the Formula for Leading Well

Airtight compartments, Belgian beer in Brussels, and a 9 p.m. bedtime — Andrew Marotta's approach to avoiding burnout is as practical as it is intentional. In Part 2, Andrew breaks down the leadership formulas from his latest book, including the five SWs and E+R=O, shares how he handled a rash of knives in school without a single parent complaint, and drops the one piece of advice he wishes he'd had early in his career: enjoy the journey. Plus, the Port Jervis Alumni Association is launching — and they want to hear from you. 

Transcript

SPEAKER_02 0:04

Welcome to the Progress Report, where we don't just talk about what's broken, we shine a light on what's being built. Today on the Progress Report, we're joined by someone who truly lives at the intersection of leadership, resilience, and real-world impact. Andrew Morata has spent more than two decades shaping young lives as a principal and assistant principal in Port Jervis, New York, and now serves as director of academic services and communications. But his story doesn't stop there. He's also a nationally recognized speaker, an author of a bunch of books, a former D1 men's college basketball official, and the driving force between the surviving and thriving movement from the classroom to the court. Andrew has built a life centered on showing up, staying steady under pressure, and making a positive impact on every person he encounters. Andrew, welcome to the Progress Report.

SPEAKER_00 1:03

Hey Rob, hey Jess. Happy to be here, happy to connect with Port Jerus people here.

SPEAKER_02 1:08

Tell us the name of the book and you know what it's about and why are those small actions often the most powerful ones that that really resonate.

SPEAKER_00 1:20

That professor who said, Andrew, you got to write the book was Dr. Rob Gilbert, Montclair State University. And someone had introduced me to Dr. Rob and the success hotline. And that phone number is 973-743-4690. So just like I'm giving you the phone number there, write it down, friends. 973-743-4690. Someone told me that. They're like, Andrew, cool, you should call the hotline. You'd love it. I'm like, what is it? And they said, Dr. Rob's been leaving a message about being successful, a positive mindset, a growth mindset message about being successful. No strings attached. You don't have to leave a message. Just someone who's trying to do good in the world. And I'm like, oh my God, this is great. And like five notebooks full later, you know, I've been calling 10 plus years. I'm like, this guy's got to be recognized. Like I got, I became friends with him. We, you know, we we went to some games. He came to watch me officiate. And so that that recognition, that thing became the magic acronyms, formulas, and impactful stories of leadership, a dedication to the amazing Dr. Rob Gilbert and the success hotline. It's a they're positive mindsets. They are uh you know stories and and acronyms. So one of the one of the things is the five SWs, right? You're talking about being positive. Uh Rob, you asked about being positive earlier. One of them is the five SWs. This is a formula. It's like incredible. Like, you know, sometimes it will, sometimes it won't. So what? Someone's waiting. So stick with it, right? You know that as a as a pitcher, Rob, but as a referee, as a principal, you asked me Jessica earlier, well, how how do you keep doing it? Because if I screwed something up one day, so what? Someone's waiting. Yeah, I gotta stick with it, right? It would always bother me at school when it was a rough day or something would happen, or an employee would be upset and they wouldn't come in the next day, right? They didn't show up. Um, that someone's waiting resonated with me. I you gotta get the next one. When I officiated college basketball, you you better get the next one, Ron. Baseball, that umpire blows the call. You better get that next fall guy. So that that's an example uh uh of a formula. Uh another one is you know, every time we see somebody as a principal, as a school leader, every time I see somebody in Port Jervis, I can create this is an acronym, a significant, significant emotional experience. I can do something there to help these kids or recognize these kids. I mentioned Shrek. The play was outstanding. Um, I contacted a number of the parents. I've written a few letters. I'm gonna put out some highlights about the show and things like that. That's a significant emotional experience for a 13, 14, 15-year-old kid. Uh, I mean, there was a there was adults crying in there, but I get to recognize those things. So those are examples uh uh of things that are in the book. It was an honor to write. Um, I highly recommend you call Dr. Rob Gilbert. Um, he is a life changer, and I I I I think he's I think he's incredible. So he has helped me, and and now I think the book can help a lot of people.

SPEAKER_01 4:42

You know, you're so right, Andrew, too, with with small things and small gestures. Uh, you guys remember Johnny Carson on the Tonight Show, and they said that if you were a comedian on the Tonight Show, if Johnny gave you this at the end of your performance, you know, and I'm I I'm holding up the uh the okay sign right now, that meant you killed it out there, and he was he was impressed with your performance. And you know, again, what a what smaller gesture is there than that, but it meant something. There's a meaning behind it. And I think to your point, I've said to parents before, you know, being in the field that I'm in with with coaching young players and teams, I'll say if you're coaching your son, because I main mainly work with baseball players, if you're coaching your son in baseball and you're the third base coach, I said you have to be very, very mindful of your reactions and your outward expression of your emotions when your son strikes out or does poorly. I said, you may, you may want to throw your hands in the air, you may want to put your head down, you may want to, you know, kick the grass or whatever it might be, but you got to realize those reactions to things like that can really impact a young kid. And, you know, the ability to be able to have no reaction at all, to kind of have that that on to the next type mentality. And I think, you know, Andrew, I think hearing you talk about this and talking about it's it's every day, it's little things, it's all the time. You know, I can't help but think that your parents being so big into education and encouraging you to go to school every single day. Like let's let's make this a habit. And you don't feel good today, okay, but you feel good enough that you could still go in. Let's get out of it what we can. You had a bad day today, okay, you got a new day tomorrow. And that's what I love about baseball. You know, baseball is you make an error in the field. All right, but you're coming up third this inning. I need your mind to be right to go hit. You just struck out, okay, but you're gonna probably get a play next inning. So let's let's stay in the game. And uh I think that's a very valuable thing for people to get is that, you know, like you said, you have to show up. And you got to show up every day if it's something you really care about. And and and also that small reactions and emotions can can mean a lot to people, more than more than you know sometimes.

SPEAKER_00 7:02

Oh yeah. Uh well, one of the acronyms is OADB on a daily basis, and you use the word reaction. Well, one of the formulas is E plus R equals O, Ron. We all have events, right? Events happen. Things happen at school, things happen in life, things happen in your news world, things happen on the baitful field. Events. The O is we all want a positive outcome. Sure. We want a positive outcome of that. The R, right? You mentioned not having a pair of reaction. Well, what we use the word response, right? Having a good response to that. We had some tumultuous times, Jessica. You mentioned middle school earlier. Kids were bringing knives to school. And that's a big suspension in school, right? That's a big thing. That's a, you know, and again, talking about school culture and community culture, right? I'm very cognizant of the reputation of the school. Oh, it's a dangerous place. Well, we had a streak in about six weeks where there was multiple knives, maybe almost six, seven, eight knives in a six-week span. It became like this contagious thing. And I was like, we got to do something here. I was getting nervous. All these kids were getting suspended. I didn't want to be on the you know, violent school list, all this kind of stuff. So I did a phone call home. I checked with the superintendent. I said, we I gotta, I gotta get this out. We gotta, you know, we did a phone call home to the whole district. Hey, this happened. This is happening. Parents, you gotta talk to your kids. And I said, nobody brandished it, nobody ever took it out, but the kids had them on them, and they cannot do that. We have to talk to kids about this. If your kids are upset about something, we gotta, you know. Um, I wrote a letter, it's on it was on the website, and I even said, I'll be available on Monday morning. I'm clearing my calendar from you know seven to ten. I'll be available. You want to come in, make an appointment call. Um, you know, and I was kind of like, you know, bracing for impact. I got two emails and two voice messages thanking me for the transparency. I got zero complaints, and we had no more knives after that. And that's an example of that E plus R. I wanted a good outcome of it. We were having these events and we had the right response, which went out publicly and and time wise time very timely. But that's an example of uh of that's something that helped move us forward in Port Jervis with that positive mindset of of having a correct response to a negative situation. So uh we were proud of that, you know, that it that it kind of hinted that this always definitely be be proud of for sure.

SPEAKER_02 9:39

Yeah, yeah. Well, you said you mentioned earlier you you've worked with you speak you speak all over the place and and um promote your your surviving and and thriving, and and with that, you've worked with educators educators across the country. Um what is what is a uh one common thread you see among some of the best leaders that you have encountered in in your I think it's called Shakti Pad, Jessica.

SPEAKER_00 10:10

It's called Shakti Pad. That's a Sanskrit word, uh, and it's about a transfer of energy. Uh the best leaders, in my opinion, have great energy. Uh they connect with other people, they make it about other people. We've all met other people. Rob, you were a professional baseball player. You met other people. You can you can enrich their lives, you can make it about them. And that's that's the great platform of a podcast that you get to do that for your guests. Uh, but we, you know, educators get to do that every day. The other, the best teachers are doing that for their students or their parents. Uh, you know, we we moved forward in Port Jervis because of so many reasons. Uh, but we get to spotlight the teachers and the work they're doing and the cafeteria staff and the improvement of the food, the transportation department. One thing we did this year, you guys grew up here, it's cold. Uh uh on a cold day, on a freezing cold day, we created code blue. Any kid could get on the bus. We wanted to increase attendance. You know, you were walking a mile of school, it's cold, they're not gonna come. So we created code blue. That that that was an improvement for us. And and again, we we uh uh celebrating that thing. Um, it's it's about others and us having a positive influence. So that's something I've noticed. And and it doesn't mean an introvert can't be a good leader, right? That doesn't mean someone who's more quiet. Uh they could write that email, they could send that text message, they could do that handwritten note to the person, they could rec recognize those people to pop. You don't have to be jumping around like a cheerleader all the time to do that. But when you can you know positively influence other people, and the other thing is is being consistent uh with your initiatives, right? You can't you can't come in there and try to do 12 different things in a school year to move us forward. You can't you can't say, oh, we we gotta improve the reading scores and and increase the budget and uh slow, slow and steady. Slow and steady. We're gonna work on this reading program, we're gonna work on student attendance, and we're gonna work on you know staff retention, right? Though and you gotta you gotta stay the course and consistently stay those things. You've got to analyze those things, you've got to track the data of those things, you've got to come up with innovative ideas for those things. Um, those are some of the things that I've noticed in in great school leaders. I mean, you look at John Bell here, uh, he he knows everybody in the community, he knows our budget numbers, he knows our needs, he knows this. I mean, he and he is the main reason that we've done so much great work here in Port Jervis. He's a he's an incredible school leader, so we're we're blessed to have him here.

SPEAKER_02 12:53

Absolutely, absolutely. Uh so you you juggle a lot of of things, right? You're you mentioned your family, your speaking, your writing, uh, leadership, doing, doing all the amazing comms work with the school district. How do you stay grounded, Andrew Murata? And how do you avoid burnout? What what what's your secret?

unknown 13:20

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 13:21

A lot of Murata is my nickname, Jess.

SPEAKER_02 13:25

I love it.

SPEAKER_00 13:26

A lot of Murata. I go to bed early. I go to bed at nine o'clock. Uh, my family kind of like making fun of me. My daughter was FaceTiming us yesterday. I'm like, I gotta go. I'm literally like hanging up with the phone. I go to bed at nine, I'm up at five, uh, work out every morning, and now it's finally getting warmer. I could be outside a little more. A lot of fluids, a lot of hydration. Uh, and I use airtight compartments, Jess. I'm gonna work on this. I know I'm on this podcast with you guys for 60 minutes. Uh, I got a bunch of stuff I want to do here at the end of school till 4:30. I'm gonna zip over to Delaware Valley. My daughter's got a track meet. I'm gonna get there for that. It's my 25th wedding anniversary, so I'm bringing my wife a salad for dinner. We're last nation. We're gonna have it in the bleachers at my daughter's game. And I'm gonna leave, I'm gonna leave at 6 o'clock to get back here 10 after six. It's tenure night, so we're having a tenure reception uh for our people. Those are airtight compartments that I'm gonna be at my best. I'm gonna be present, I'm gonna be where my feet are, um, but I'm gonna be all in on those things. So I'm organized with my schedule. Um, but life is short, right? I don't want to look back and say, man, I wish I would have.

unknown 14:36

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 14:37

Versus, I'm I'm glad I did. We went to Europe for our 25th anniversary, went to Belgium and the Netherlands. Uh, you know, it was only five days. People are like, oh, why'd you stay show short? Because we had we had I got work, we have school, I got stuff, we got, you know, I can't, you know, but we still had that time and we invested in that time together. And uh uh so those airtight compartments help me, but I I got to take care of my myself on the journey, right? I I like the saying of my my family wants the best of me, not the rest of me. Poor Jervis wants the best of me, not the rest of me. We all worked with people that just kind of dragging themselves into work, like, like what? You need to show up with energy for these kids. Like, we what you doing? Like, uh, you know, they it's like they don't want to be there. Well, why are you here then? I, you know, I don't I I used to call them, I don't, I don't need anybody holding up the wall, right? I don't need you, I need you engaged with the kids. So uh I focus on really taking care of myself so I can be a lot of marder for my people. So that's something that I I I'm intentional about.

SPEAKER_01 15:45

I like that. That's great.

unknown 15:47

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 15:47

You know, you sound like a planner. I I'm a planner myself, and I and I gotta, you know, one of my uh one of my weaknesses are that I don't like when plans change, but I've actually I've actually grown to embrace that a little bit more. Would you say you're kind of the same way where you where you've got these things scheduled and all of a sudden a wrench is thrown in? How do you how do you respond to that? You know, that now, you know, I have all these things lined up, but now I gotta go take a detour. And, you know, how does how does Andrew Marata respond to something like that? Do you find yourself getting a little bit angry at first, or do you just deal with it and move on? Or how do you go about that?

SPEAKER_00 16:24

Yeah, good, good question, Rob. I uh when you turn 50, I'm not gonna publicly throw you guys out there, but I know we're in the same range, but I'll turn 50 this year. I'm well me 51 at all. Uh when you turn 50, everything's different. You you're in like a different portal. You're looking back, like, what? Uh yeah, you know, uh, you know, nothing really bothers me. I mean, some of the some of the bad stuff going out there, and that's why I'm happy to be on your positive podcast, you know, some of that bad stuff. But I, you know, I I read the book Let Them, Let Them by Mel Rado. It's like they you want to act that way? You like let them. I'm you know, I'm doing these things. But here's an example. So my wife's uncle passed away. We were going on that trip to Europe. My wife's uncle passed away. He was in his 80s, great man. I knew she wanted to go. Her father, the his brother, you know, I knew he would want us there. It was like, oh, you know, do we not go on this 25th anniversary? How do we do it? You know, boom, boom, boom. We moved some things around. I lost some money on the Airbnbs, you know, it is what it is, but we changed the itinerary actually, too. And we went to the city we weren't gonna go to. Get G-H-E-N-T. It's uh west of Belgium, uh Brussels, excuse me, west of Brussels. Uh incredible. It was incredible, and it was the best part of the trip. And it wasn't on the itinerary. Sure. So if you look at things like, all right, well, this wasn't what I had planned, but we're gonna go down this road. You know, if you if you are mad, hey, this trip's gonna stink, and we're not doing what we were saying we were gonna do, versus what adventures out there, you know, what what could lie ahead, right? Where could this take us? You know, but I guess we get older, we get this little gray hair on the side, you learn how to be more patient, you learn how to be more forgiving. Um, you learn that not everything's gonna work out the way you planned. You know, my children are growing, Rob. I see your young kids, they are growing like that, you know, maybe you're thinking this for them, and they they might do this, you know. I don't know. When you turn 50, you just have a little more patience, you have a little more understanding of things. So I I try to be flexible with that. But yeah, I'm a scheduler, but if it doesn't work out, it you know, sometimes it will, sometimes it won't. So what? Someone's waiting, you gotta stick with it.

SPEAKER_02 18:42

I I can I can put something in the microwave. This is from living by the clock on a schedule at Fox in particular, but I can put something in the microwave, set the timer five minutes, and I'm off doing my thing. And I'll tell you what, I'm back at the microwave 10 seconds before it goes off. So, because of that and having uh a regimented lifestyle, I fully embrace what I like to call the no plan plan. So I make plans and I schedule, but I mean, you said it, Andrew, which is look, life happens. So things change, you gotta just roll with it. So I I have a loose plan of what the plan is, unless it's scheduled, obviously. But if if something comes up and changes, I'm like, oh hey, you know what? I'm gonna do that instead. And and some folks, it drives bonkers, the no plan plan. Other people are like, I like that. I need that in my life. I'm like, you're welcome. Yeah, absolutely. Like, go ahead.

SPEAKER_00 19:43

We call it, we call it loose and tight. Right. There were there were things in school I was tight about. There were things, and then there were things we were loose on. Rob, you have the hat on right now. There's an example of that port Jervis, right? If you Google Port Jervis hats, Supreme Court, it might have been around when you guys were in school. Someone took the school district to the Supreme Court and it went there because they argued about that the kid could wear the hat in school. And they that school, you can't wear it, it's a distraction to the thing, blah, blah, blah, blah. Um, and so it's in the code of conduct till today that a hat is a distraction to the educational process. But the Supreme Court ruled that they could wear it in the cafeteria or the hallway. There are certain teachers that live and die by the hat rule, that you got to take the hat off. And and and and that's their classroom rule. And there are others that don't care, that don't care about it, loose and tight. Um, but again, those were conversations I had with the kid about you gotta you gotta know your audience, Rob. You uh you gotta know who's cat catching you, you gotta know who's at bat. You're not gonna throw an inside fastball because he's gonna hit you got to know your audience. So that was an example of the of the loose and tight. But we do that with the schedule, Jess. On that trip, we had you know trains and planes, and but we had a loose itinerary with no kids, no, no, we didn't have to be anywhere at any time. We wanted to stop and have a Belgian beer at a cafe in Brussels. We did, and it was, it was, it was it was rejuvenating. It was nice. Did you loosen day up after nine, Andrew? You know, we actually did really well with the uh the time change, you know, the the jet lag. We we stayed up all night that first night, but guess what, Rob, right around 8:30, which was you know 2 a.m. for us, uh, we were there. But nah, we I'm 50, man. We I'm not looking to try. Like our parents told us when we were younger, nothing good happens after midnight. Well, I tell like to nothing good happens after nine. I'm going to bed. Some someone told me that like, you know, Mirata, the Knicks lost last night. I'm like, nah, I I I wouldn't know because I was not.

SPEAKER_02 21:57

Andrew, what what advice? What's one piece of advice you wish you had early in your career that you could share with young educators andor aspiring leaders that are listening to us right now?

SPEAKER_00 22:11

Yeah. Enjoy the journey. I used to get caught up, I would get mad, I would be upset going home. You got to enjoy the journey. And I guess that comes with experience. It's hard when you slugging through it. I uh I talked with a young teacher uh recently, and she's really smart, really bright, really good at her content. And she was in there and plugging away with the content, plugging away, plugging, you know. And I I said, Well, you know, you didn't ask about the play, you didn't ask about the softball team. You know, you you didn't connect on on any of that stuff. You this is a relationship business. You gotta know something about somebody. And again, you talked about those school leaders that that Shakti Pad, that energy. They gotta know you care. They gotta know that you're into it and that you that you love them. Um, you know, we we you know, people say, Oh, you you know, some people use, oh, don't smile till Christmas. Like, what? You better tell them on the first day you love them. Right. So I and I was focused on on changing a lot of things in port while embracing our past, but but some of these culture things, um relationships and connections are are really important. I admire, again, Superintendent Bell. Even yesterday, uh Hugh Spangenberg, they named the softball after him, George Roman. He was here, he he started the girls' softball program in 1974. He he told me this they went 11-2. He knew the record, he knew that they were 11 and 2. He talked about they didn't have any uniforms, he knew who they lost to at the in the end of the season. Your mom was on that team. And but Hughes Angelg knew all of that. And I was like, you know, like, and it goes back to relationships and experiences, and he was Rob's mom on that team. It's incredible because now they they dedicated the scoreboard to Coach Fagione, and uh, we were all there yesterday, so it was a beautiful moment. George Roman was there, and uh, but back to your question, Jeff. Yeah, enjoy enjoy the journey, enjoy the people, find the find the good in the people. Maybe that person who is not sitting in the front of the auditorium, who is not engaged in the in the meeting, might be taking incredible notes on what it is that you're doing. Uh, you know, everyone a little bit different is what make the world, what is what makes the world go round. And uh, if Rob threw fastballs every time, he wouldn't have made the major leagues. He had to mix it up with his pitches.

SPEAKER_01 24:42

So uh And you know, one thing my dad always taught me is that you know, it's not people don't always care how much you know. They want to know how much you care. And they they want to see, like you said, they want to see first is does he really care about my player? And you know, we're we're asking the players about what they may have been going through psychologically or emotionally on the mound when they were playing, not just, you know, what was your line? Like that's that's the result. But what else was going on there? And I I can't tell you the number of times parents are you know flabbergasted by the fact that a kid didn't play well. And as we start talking and do some digging, and one time I found out the kid's dog had died the day before the game. And, you know, and the parents knew this. They knew, but they didn't connect the dots that hey, this kid was still in mourning. He was going out there with probably 70% of himself because his mind was on the dog. And, you know, and now you may have another player who uses that as fuel. Or, you know, my dad one time, he lost a very close friend of his and a few of his other buddies just to get his mind off it, said, you know, why don't you come golfing with us? And he went out that day and he said, I just remember I couldn't care less about how I golfed. He goes, and I always, as an athlete, cared. He goes, but that one day, because I shot my best golf score ever and I didn't look at my scorecard once because I was just it was just kind of a surprise to me at the end. But, you know, going back to the original point, it's it's people want to know that you care and and that they'll they'll listen to your advice, I think, a lot more when they know that you care about them, as opposed to just rattling off things that you know. And that's cool that you're doing that for you know your family, I'm sure, and you're doing it for an entire community, not just a school district. And you know, the fact that Jess and I are are from that town, that I'm I'm I'm proud of it. And that's that's a great thing that you're doing there, Andrew.

SPEAKER_00 26:39

Awesome, awesome, thanks, Rao.

SPEAKER_02 26:41

Yeah, and so before we let you go, where where can people find find you on on the internet and social media, Andrew?

SPEAKER_00 26:49

Yeah, well, before that, Jess, I did want to share too. I got two Port Jervis alumni here, a Hall of Famer and a and a major leader. We have started the Port Jervis Alumni Association, and we are trying to branch out with this. All the information is on the website under alumni. Uh, you can join, and there's there's two there's two facets that we're looking at. Number one is just to have people get connected, right? So, for example, I'm gonna put this podcast out on that. I'm gonna share that two alumni are doing the progress report. I'm gonna share. So you want to get text messages from the school, you want to get notifications of events happening as an alum, you can get that. The other one is we want to create our own court Jervis LinkedIn. It's like a like a connection. So our staff, our teachers is working with a kid and they say, Hey, you know, Jessica Curtis, I know, is in the news media down in Washington, D.C. I got a great kid with baseball. I want to connect them with Rob Samarano. Alumni can join that where teachers would have access to their information and access to their career, right? Maybe they went to a certain college and they can help make that connection. Maybe they're offering internships and we can help make those connections. So this was the brainchild of Mark Green, another Port Jervis Hall of Famer. Uh, and it's like a Port Jervis LinkedIn. So we're getting alumni's information, their careers, their colleges. And then, yes, we want the school to contact us. So, two different things that people can contribute. Um, and then we're going to reach out about, you know, benches in the community, pictures in the hallway, different things that people could sponsor, uh, that we are looking at, things like that. So, so we want alumni to join. That's on port jervis uh pjschools.org and just type in alumni. All it's all there. And you know, one of our big events is coming up, the Hall of Fame this October of 26th. It's the class of 26, and uh, you know, we'll get that outreach out there now. So that's the port Jervis thing. And then I, you know, I'm at Port Schools. You could just go on our website. Uh, my email is amorata at pjschools.org. A-m-ar-o-t-t-a. Alata Marata. And then I is just andrewemorata.com is my website. The books are there. Um, and I say this about the books too. Reading's not for everyone. I think all leaders are readers, uh, but I was intentional about getting the books on Audible too. I read them. If you don't like my accent, I'm sorry. But if you do, you know, it's me reading the books. And I know there's a lot of educators that listen to them or or referees that might be driving to a game. Um, and I was proud to put them on audible too, because reading's not for everyone. So um I just share that. Yeah. Awesome. Great.

SPEAKER_02 29:41

Well, this has been great. Thank you so much for joining us. Thank you, Andrew. That's it for today's episode of the Progress Report. A big thank you to Andrew Marata for sharing his insight, his awesome energy, and his heart for leadership. If you're ever looking for a reminder that impact starts without you show up, this conversation delivered.