The Bill Gove Speech Workshop/Public Speaking Coaching Welcome! You've just found gold. If you're into networking, speaking, network marketing or public speaking.

	Dr. Tony Alessandra is a former professor of marketing who has authored and published 12 books including: The Platinum Rule, Collaborative Selling, and The Art of Managing People, not to mention over 50 audio and video programs. Since 1976, he has given over 2,000 keynote speeches and seminars for numerous Fortune 500 companies, including: AT&T, Coca-Cola, GE, GM, IBM, The New York Times and Prudential.
GS:	How did you get started in your current line of work?
TA:	I was a college professor at Georgia State University in Atlanta and simultaneously a doctoral student in marketing. My dissertation chairman was Dr. David Swartz, who wrote The Magic of Thinking Big. He was also a well-known speaker. That was my first exposure to the world of speaking. In 1974, I started doing some consulting and training in the sales field. In 1976, I took a full-time teaching position at the University of San Diego, and continued building my consulting and training business. By 1978 I felt like I had two full-time jobs, so I quit teaching and went full-time into speaking and training. I went to my first National Speakers Association convention in 1979, and decided that I wanted to be more of a speaker than a trainer, and that's how I got started as a professional speaker.
GS:	What were the 3 biggest obstacles you had to overcome?
TA:	Number one was coming from an upper/lower class income family. My father was a New York City cab driver, so I didn't have a lot of financial opportunity. I did have a lot of drive though. Second was my accent. I had an exceptionally strong New York accent that was so pronounced that people would stop me on campus and ask me to say words like Car or Coffee. It was very dramatic and I worked hard on overcoming that. The third most difficult thing was going through my divorce in 1990, after being married for 20 years.
GS:	The famous book As a Man Thinketh by James Allen tells us when we "Conquer doubt and fear.we conquer failure." Let me ask you.What is the biggest thing you do to help you conquer doubt and fear?
TA:	I typically don't have doubt and fear. I always think to myself, "This too shall pass." If I do have fear, I try to confront it. I break it down. Do I have control over it or not? If I don't have control over it, I don't worry about it. If I do have control over it, then I decide what strategies and action plans I can put into place to deal with those issues. They come very few and far between.
GS:	What 2 books have influenced you the most? Why?
TA:	The Magic of Thinking Big, by David J.Swartz, Psycho Cybernetics, by Maxwell Maltz, and Thirty Days to a More Powerful Vocabulary. I want to list all three books. These books solidified the power of the mind and the power of positive thinking. The vocabulary book helped me upgrade my English skills, writing skills, speaking skills. I was always better at math than I was at English. This book really helped me.
GS:	What is your greatest Bill Gove story you could share with our readers?
TA:	The time I went through a workshop with him in 1981 in Newport Beach, California. He gave me a piece of advice that truly leapfrogged me to the upper echelon of this business. Bill said I was formulating my speaking style in a way that tended to be more professorial, more like my partner at the time, Jim Cathcart, when this in fact was not my true innate style. Bill said, "Tony, off stage you are a mischievous, playful, funny, humorous guy, and you lose all that when you get on the platform. You should allow your natural style to come out onstage." I did that and it was an immediate transformation. It was like a butterfly coming out of a cocoon. Three years later, I was inducted into the Speakers Hall of Fame. I'm not sure I would have gotten that if I had not taken that advice from Bill. I remember how he told me too. He got me into a loving kind of headlock and told me. It was a major turning point in my career.
GS:	You have already made your first million. What advice can you give the rest of us who may still be looking to make our first million?
TA:	Focus. Find out what you are really good at. Find out what you really like, and stick to it. Don't dabble in a whole bunch of stuff. Find the opportunity that excites you the most, where you have a passion, and stick to it. Don't stick your toes in the water. Instead, dive in! I think the secret to my success so far is that I have put on blinders. I don't want to be distracted by other things. I have a gift and a love for what I do, and that's what I'm going to do. I'm going to put my effort and energy in that, and stick with it. A lot of people I have seen over the years who were equally or more talented than me have not achieved nearly as much because they are drawn from one thing to another to another. They never really dig in and get good at anything. So I would say focus is the key. Put all of your time, effort, and money into getting good at one thing. Don't be a jack-of-all-trades and a master of none. I would revisit your focus yearly to be sure whatever you're doing is still your passion. I don't want someone to stick to something that they have lost their passion for. You need to be passionate about what you're doing, because then you will put all of your time and energy into it and you will get other people equally enthused about it. So number one is definitely focus. Number two is read. Continuously read. I mean read across a wide variety of materials - newspapers, magazines, business books, novels. Mix up fiction and non-fiction. Novels and biographies will help you become more well rounded. For years I only read business books, and it helped me develop a lot of knowledge in that area. You want to be as well rounded as possible. Reading also helps your vocabulary.
GS:	How importantly would you rank mental toughness and the ability to communicate as it relates to your success and why?
TA:	Mental Toughness is very important. When you get knocked down you must come up. I have failed many more times than I have succeeded, but I don't look at it that way. I see the setbacks as opportunities. Another form of mental toughness is increasing your depth and breadth of knowledge. You have to exercise your mind in the same way that you exercise your body. One form of mental toughness is attitudinal, and the other is aptitudinal.
GS:	How important is the ability to communicate?
TA:	I think it's very important. If you can't get your ideas across to someone, you're not going to able to persuade or influence them. If you're not clear in your communications, people are not going to understand what you mean. This is an area where many people lack skill. We don't learn these skills in school, yet these are the skills that will help you no matter what you do. Communication skills travel with you no matter what you do, and no matter what role you play. Teacher, parent, leader, salesperson, etc. The communication skills apply across the board.
GS:	If you had to start over again.what would you NOT do again?
TA:	I wouldn't have gotten married as young as I did. I would have followed my gut a lot more than my head. I would develop networks of colleagues. I would have started reading more a lot earlier. I wouldn't have played contact sports, because my body is paying me back right now. I would have learned more about women. I would have read the newspaper a lot more as a kid. That being said, I don't have many regrets. I'm happy with life.
GS:	What is the reason most people don't achieve their major goals and dreams?
TA:	They probably don't have major goals, and if they do, they don't have action plans. You have to have specific action plans that help you move step by step along the way to accomplish your goals and dreams. You have to monitor how you're doing along the way. They also need supportive people around them. I'm not saying you can't do it on your own, but it's a lot easier with the right support. Build alliances with people who will help support you on your way to achieving your goals and dreams.
GS:	Who were your role models/mentors, and what was it that you saw in them?
TA:	David Swartz was my role model at first, and once I got into the speaking business it was Bill Gove. For business ethics it was Jim Cathcart. I mean the guy is as squeaky clean as imaginable! My intellectual role model was Phil Wexler, who is also a speaker. My role model for being a good parent is my wife, Sue. I take role models for different things, because some role models are good at some things and not so good at other things. Those are some of mine.

		Contact Info.: Dr. Tony Alessandra P.O. Box 2767 La Jolla, CA 92038 Phone: (760) 603-8110 Fax: (760) 603-8010 E-mail: Holli@Alessandra.com