It’s okay not to know. I think when you start, somehow you have a little bit of the imposter syndrome, and you walk into a room and you think, “Everybody knows this better than I do, so let me just fake it a bit,” from that perspective. And then you realize, “No, it’s good to know I have no clue. Let me ask.” And I usually now turn it around and I ask people who are coming, “You know what? Ask.” Sometimes it’s good to have a fresh perspective from outside. We might think we know what we’re doing, but we might not. And sometimes it takes a fresh mind, a very curious mind, and a mind without preconceived notions to go, “That makes no sense. Can you explain it to me?” from that person. So yes, not knowing is okay, being curious is okay, and asking questions is okay. And not being afraid to look like a fool and pretending you know what they’re talking about when you have no clue.
I had the pleasure of talking with Jorge Martel. He runs T-Mobile for Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands, a billion-dollar operation serving nearly two million people, but he doesn’t carry himself like a typical executive. There’s a groundedness to him, a sense of perspective that seems forged in chaos. To understand Jorge Martel, you have to understand the island he calls home and the storm that almost broke it.
Martel’s story begins with the classic immigrant narrative. “I was born in Puerto Rico and am the proud son of Cuban immigrants who left Cuba as kids and went to the US following the American dream,” he explains. His life was a mix of cultures and places, childhood in Puerto Rico, a stint in Miami, and college in Boston before returning to the island to climb the corporate ladder in marketing and advertising. He eventually landed at the helm of T-Mobile, where he oversees everything from finance to engineering. But no business school case study could have prepared him for September 20, 2017.
That was the day Hurricane Maria, a monstrous Category 4 storm, slammed into Puerto Rico. It was a national disaster that quickly became a personal one for every resident. “The island was completely shut off from the world,” Martel recalls, the memory still sharp in his voice. Food was scarce, power was non-existent, and communication was impossible. In the midst of this devastation, Martel found his defining moment as a leader. His first priority was his employees’ safety. His second was getting the island reconnected.
“Priority number one, what do we need? We need to get the network back up,” he says, describing the crisis mindset. “So all functions work for engineering now.” Under his direction, T-Mobile chartered the first plane to land on the battered island, flying in over 100 technicians to begin the monumental task of rebuilding. The result wasn’t just a repair job. “Fast forward to today, Puerto Rico has one of the best networks in the world with one of the highest 5G availability in the whole world,” Martel says with earned pride. “Coming from a very hard circumstance to not only getting to where we were before but actually thriving… and having been part of that is something very special in my career.”
Leading through a crisis teaches you things you can’t learn from a textbook. For Martel, it crystallized his philosophy: radical honesty and laser focus. “You’re extremely honest in what you know and what you don’t know,” he insists. “The leader will not have all the answers. I think the leader will ensure he gets a good consensus as to what should be the priority with the information at hand.” It’s a philosophy that requires a certain humility, a trait he learned the hard way years earlier.
He shares a story from his early days with a laugh. At a Seattle Mariners game with company leadership, he made a cringeworthy mistake. He was talking with the chief legal officer, a Japanese-American gentleman named Yukio Morikubo, just as star player Ichiro Suzuki was at bat. “You just called our head of legal ‘Ichiro’,” a colleague whispered to him. The moment was mortifying, but it became a powerful lesson. “Sometimes Hispanics and Puerto Ricans, we’re very sensitive that we’re not all the same,” he reflects. “But then I realized I can also be at fault, and sometimes people don’t mean things in a bad way… you need to apply what you want to apply to everybody.”
This blend of high-stakes crisis management and personal humility defines his approach to business. He boils T-Mobile’s success down to two simple ideas. First, “understanding your customer… looking at customers’ pain points and saying, ‘Okay, what does the customer need?’” Second, treating your team right. “If you treat your employees the same way you want them to treat your customers, that creates an environment where people want to work.”
Looking ahead, Martel is focused on pushing the boundaries of connectivity, like a new partnership with SpaceX’s Starlink to provide satellite cell service in remote areas. But his vision extends beyond corporate growth. He’s passionate about digital inclusion, spearheading projects like Project 10Million, which provides free internet access to millions of students in low-income households. For Martel, it’s about leveling the playing field. “We believe that should not be limited to where you live or how much money comes into your house.”
When asked what he wishes he’d known when he started his career, his answer is simple and direct. “It’s okay not to know,” he says. “I think when you start, somehow you have a little bit of imposter syndrome… And then you realize, ‘No, it’s good to know I have no clue. Let me ask.’” It’s this willingness to ask questions, to learn from mistakes, and to lead with both strength and vulnerability that has carried Jorge Martel from the son of immigrants to a leader rebuilding an island’s lifeline, one connection at a time.
Yitzi: It’s so nice to meet you Jorge. Before we dive in deep, our readers would love to learn about your personal origin story. Can you share the story of your childhood, how you grew up, and the seeds for all the great things that have come since then?
Jorge: I’ll give you the headlines. I was born in Puerto Rico and am the proud son of Cuban immigrants who left Cuba as kids and went to the US following the American dream. I lived most of my life in Puerto Rico, lived a while in Miami, and went to school in Boston, so I lived some time in the Northeast and then came back to Puerto Rico. I started working on the advertising and marketing side, in the marketing fields, and eventually rose up to my current position, which is the Vice President and General Manager here for T-Mobile. I run pretty much the whole operation here, finance, engineering, sales, IT, from that perspective, and we proudly serve close to 2 million customers here in Puerto Rico. We are the largest T-Mobile carrier in Puerto Rico and, I believe, in the Caribbean.
Yitzi: Amazing. You probably have some amazing stories from the course of your career. Can you share with our readers one or two stories that most stand out in your mind from your professional life?
Jorge: That would likely be when we probably faced the biggest obstacle, at least in my lifetime here in Puerto Rico, when the island was hit by Hurricane Maria. It was a category four, just a couple of miles from a category five hurricane that stood close to 24 hours over the island and created massive destruction. All Puerto Ricans living here at the time faced massive destruction, and the food supply dwindled. The island was completely shut off from the world. At the same time, working on the revamping of Puerto Rico, getting the network back up, getting our stores back up, and the incredible role that T-Mobile played in the reconstruction of Puerto Rico… to give you a couple of highlights, the first plane to land in the island was a plane chartered by T-Mobile. We brought over 100 technicians from across the world. And then, fast forward to today, Puerto Rico has one of the best networks in the world with one of the highest 5G availability in the whole world. Coming from a very hard circumstance to not only getting to where we were before but actually thriving and making the Puerto Rico wireless infrastructure even better… and having been part of that is something very special in my career.
Yitzi: Amazing. It’s been said that sometimes our mistakes can be our greatest teachers. Do you have a story about a funny mistake that you made when you were first starting and the lesson that you learned from it?
Jorge: A funny mistake when I started. Okay. I was once in Seattle watching a Mariner’s game, and Ichiro Suzuki was at bat. I was with the company I was working for at the time, AT&T Wireless, based in Redmond, and their main leadership was there, including their head of legal, the chief legal officer, a great gentleman by the name of Yukio Morikubo. I once, I think, mentioned something to him, and when I turned around, I saw a couple of people were laughing. I said, “What’s happening?” And they said, “You just called our head of legal ‘Ichiro’,” which was the baseball player. So I turned and I said, “Yeah, I apologize,” from that perspective. And what I learned from it… I think sometimes Hispanics and Puerto Ricans, we’re very sensitive that we’re not all the same. When somebody calls me Jose rather than Jorge, I’ll be like, “We’re all not named Jose.” But then I realized I can also be at fault, and sometimes people don’t mean things in a bad way. Not all Japanese Americans are named this; it’s a diverse culture. One must apply that to different cultures and learn from them. I didn’t mean it as a mistake. We remained great friends. He was a great professional, but it was a very embarrassing moment at the time and means you need to apply what you want to apply to everybody. So, I’m very careful now at baseball games, particularly when I talk to other folks. Yeah. That would be my embarrassing story.
Yitzi: You mentioned leadership during challenging times. Let’s dive in a little more. What would you say is the most critical role of a leader during challenging times?
Jorge: The most critical role, I would say, for a leader during challenging times is how you keep your team focused and how you’re honest with your team from that perspective. But how can you… okay, let’s go step-by-step. How you channel priorities. When I go back to the experience I had in Maria, it was like, okay, priority number one, what do we need? We need to get the network back up. So all functions work for engineering now. And I said, “Is everybody in agreement?” Yes. Before that, it was just employee safety, ensuring that everybody goes. So, it’s how you get priorities, how you ensure that you’re listening to your team, but you start laying out priorities. You are, and then you’re extremely honest in what you know and what you don’t know. That usually exacerbates people in times of change and in times of crisis. What’s happening? Why this? And that’s why you usually say crisis, from that perspective. So, keeping focus, being honest, and then as a team saying, “Okay, what can we prioritize with what we know at the moment?” The leader will not have all the answers. I think the leader will ensure he gets a good consensus as to what should be the priority with the information at hand. Are we tapping into the folks who have expertise in certain areas, whatever that might be? And then ensure you have a plan communicated and go forward.
Yitzi: When the future seems uncertain, what’s the best way to boost morale? What could a leader do to inspire and motivate and engage their team?
Jorge: Well, I think when you tell folks, “Hey, this happens. It is likely that you’re going to be challenged in certain moments in your life. And we don’t know how to get through with what’s coming, but usually, if you remain focused, if you prioritize, if you do things correctly, what’s expected of you, the rewards can be very high,” from that perspective. And then you reach out to the potential that each individual has, and you say, “Hey, we’re bigger than whatever it is,” from that perspective. “Let’s see what we can overcome.” And then you let them know you need them. If you’re leading a team, it’s because you need the team. “I need you. It is important for us. Let’s work together to see how you are important in facing this crisis, and let’s see how we can overcome it.”
Yitzi: Can you share with us any exciting new initiatives you’re working on? T-Mobile’s working on?
Jorge: Exciting new initiatives? Yes, well we’re currently working right now… there’s a new initiative we have rolled out: T-satellite. And in T-Mobile now, you can, when there’s no cell service, be it because you’re in a remote area where there are no cell sites around, or be it unfortunately there’s an event, a disaster, or something like what recently happened in the floodings in Texas, if you can see the sky and you have T-satellite, which is available in most of our most popular plans, you can have communication. We have developed a network with Starlink. We have over 650 satellites orbiting the earth, orbiting particularly the United States. Across the United States and Puerto Rico, you can connect through T-satellite if you’re looking at the sky, even if there’s no cell signal. You can send your location, you can send text messages, you can use WhatsApp, you can use WhatsApp voice, you can use AllTrails. So, now you’re not limited to where you have cell phone service to communicate, and I think that’s a big breakthrough in communications nowadays. It pretty much limits places where you have no communication to a very, very small basement, some place.
Yitzi: That’s amazing. So you mentioned this is a partnership with Starlink, with SpaceX? So you said 650 satellites? Does that mean that those are designated for T-Mobile? Because I think there are more than 650.
Jorge: Yeah. No, but this communication is specific. These satellites are specific for T-Mobile. They’re not the same. We jointly did it with Starlink, and those 650 are designed only for this type of communication. Starlink has a lot of other satellites. These ones, given their size, given their level of orbit, are meant to be seamless communication from your phone, by the way. You don’t need to change to another phone. The majority of phones, like 60% of the phones we have something for here, are all compatible. So, you can use it. It is a big breakthrough. You can use it directly from your phone, and you’ll just see a little satellite. You need to be on the plan that has the satellite. You’ll just see a little satellite on the corner of your phone where you see it’s 5G, and that means you’re communicating through satellite. No big technical connection or anything like that. So it’s pretty amazing.
Yitzi: So, you’ve led a pivotal role in growing your company. Can you share from your experience a few of the principles that are needed to help a business expand, grow, and create new opportunities?
Jorge: Oh, well, the first one we say in T-Mobile is understanding your customer. If you understand the customer, you know what your customer is looking for. Does your customer have pain points? And that’s been a big part of our success: looking at customers’ pain points and saying, “Okay, what does the customer need? Is the industry creating hurdles for the customer? Are we artificially getting in our own way, and can we solve them?” And that’s been a huge part of our success. And then a second one, we always say, “Hey, if you treat your employees, if you treat your frontline, if you treat your employees the same way you want them to treat your customers, that creates an environment where people want to work.” And then usually, if you create an environment where people want to work, you walk into a store, you receive a service, you’ll get pretty much that same good vibe that’s coming. You can’t expect to treat people poorly and then expect them to treat customers or create things that come another way. It’s a simplified way to approach it, but so far, we’ve done pretty good. We’re the most valuable telecom company in the world. That probably says something, and it has worked pretty good for us.
Yitzi: Could you tell us about your digital inclusion efforts?
Jorge: Yes, we want to ensure that you have access to the best network in the US. T-Mobile has been ranked the best network by Ookla in the United States. So we want to make sure you have access to the best network independent of where you live or what the income in your household is. We have a project called Project 10Million in which we provide connectivity up to 100 gigabytes per year for households, for students in low socioeconomic development areas. So far, we have about 6 million participating. Again, it’s free connectivity and 5G, so students can use it for their education. And you can use technology to improve, to grow through education. We believe that should not be limited to where you live or how much money comes into your house.
Yitzi: Looking back on your career, what accomplishment gives you the deepest sense of pride and meaning?
Jorge: I think a little bit in terms of here in Puerto Rico. It’s a wonderful place. It has challenges. It’s well known, say, that the electrical infrastructure in the island is very poor, at least from a United States perspective; it’s probably the worst in the United States. However, I’m proud to have built a wireless infrastructure, to have helped to build a wireless infrastructure that is not only good, it’s one of the best in the US and the world from that perspective. And having been part of that and providing a generation of Puerto Rico’s citizens a technology backbone so they can improve economically, socially, and educationally… It’s something I’m very proud to have worked on with the team here.
Yitzi: This is our signature question, a question we ask in most of our interviews. You’ve been blessed with a lot of success. Looking back to when you first started your career as an executive, can you share five things that you’ve learned now that would have been nice to know when you first started?
Jorge: Oh, yes. I think one of the first ones is: it’s okay not to know. I think when you start, somehow you have a little bit of the imposter syndrome, and you walk into a room and you think, “Everybody knows this better than I do, so let me just fake it a bit,” from that perspective. And then you realize, “No, it’s good to know I have no clue. Let me ask.” And I usually now turn it around and I ask people who are coming, “You know what? Ask.” Sometimes it’s good to have a fresh perspective from outside. We might think we know what we’re doing, but we might not. And sometimes it takes a fresh mind, a very curious mind, and a mind without preconceived notions to go, “That makes no sense. Can you explain it to me?” from that person. So yes, not knowing is okay, being curious is okay, and asking questions is okay. And not being afraid to look like a fool and pretending you know what they’re talking about when you have no clue.
Yitzi: Okay, this is our aspirational question. Because of your great work and the platform that you’ve built, you’re a person of enormous influence. If you could put out and spread an idea or inspire a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be?
Jorge: Oh, that’s a big question. I would probably keep it on the technology side, where it is. And I think it’s how we, with the next big social change that’s coming, driven by technology, which is AI… so, with most technology, how do we shape it for mostly the good of society? And I do believe that it has a huge impact. If it’s not done right, it also could have very negative consequences. So, if I could do it, how could I help with a new technology enabling most people to have resources, to elevate their life from a society, from an economic perspective, from an educational perspective, with resources that two or three years ago were only available to the richest people in the world? That’s a lot of power, and if I could help in transforming that for the greater good, I think it could have a huge impact on the future of society in general.
Yitzi: Jorge, how can our readers continue to follow your work? How can our readers continue to learn more? How can they support your work in any possible way?
Jorge: Oh, well, they can check out T-Mobile. They can go to our stores to see how wonderful our folks are at the stores. They can see all we’re doing, the community work that we’re doing. It does not need to be commercial. If we can’t convince you of the product and services, that’s fine. You have an option, but look at all the work we’re doing. We have a lot of projects. Project Friday Night Lights, that’s something that if you live in a small community, you can go in and check it out. And if you have a school, you can submit your school and you’ll get great benefits from it if your school wins. Project 10Million, again, if you or you know somebody who’s in need of communication and probably doesn’t have the resources to do so, please check out Project 10Million on the T-Mobile website. We want to ensure that we get to support our communities and the communities can use the best network in the United States for good.
Yitzi: Jorge, thank you so much for your time. It’s been a delight to meet you. I wish you continued success, good health, and blessings. And I hope we can do this again next year.
Jorge: Perfect. I really appreciate it. Thank you very much.
Jorge Martel Talks T-Mobile Puerto Rico, Starlink Partnership and the Future of 5G Connectivity was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.