ALESSANDRA, Anthony J. 1947-

(Tony Alessandra)

PERSONAL:

Born June 2, 1947, in New York, NY; son of Victor and Margaret Alessandra; married Janice Van Dyke, August 30, 1970 (marriage ended, December 4, 1990); married, December 7, 1990; wife's name, Sue (a gemologist); children: Justin, Jessica. Ethnicity: "Italian." Education: University of Notre Dame, B.B. A., 1969; University of Connecticut, M.B.A., 1970; Georgia State University, Ph.D., 1976. Politics: Independent. Religion: Roman Catholic. Hobbies and other interests: Reading, travel, investing, computers and the Internet.

ADDRESSES:

Home—La Jolla, CA. Office—Alessandra and Associates, Inc., P.O. Box 2767, La Jolla, CA 92038; fax: 619-459-0435. Agent—Margret McBride, McBride Literary Agency, 7744 Fay Ave., Suite 201, La Jolla, CA 92037. E-mail—drtonya@alessandra.com.

CAREER:

Georgia State University, Atlanta, instructor in marketing, 1973-76; University of San Diego, San Diego, CA, assistant professor of marketing, 1976-78; Alessandra and Associates, Inc., La Jolla, CA, partner, professional speaker, and writer, 1979—.

MEMBER:

National Speakers Association.

AWARDS, HONORS:

National Speakers Association, certified speaking professional, 1981, Council of Peers Award of Excellence, 1985; first place award in business books category, San Diego Book Awards Association, 1996, for The Platinum Rule: Discover the Four Basic Business Personalities—and How They Can Lead You to Success.

WRITINGS:

(With Phillip S. Wexler and Jerry D. Deen) Non-Manipulative Selling, Courseware (San Diego, CA), 1979, 2nd edition (under name Tony Alessandra; with Phillip S. Wexler and Rick Barrera), Prentice-Hall (Englewood Cliffs, NJ), 1987.

(With Phillip L. Hunsaker) The Art of Managing People, Prentice-Hall (Englewood Cliffs, NJ), 1980.

Relationship Strategies (sound recording), four volumes, Cathcart, Alessandra and Associates (Tulsa, OK), 1982, released (under name Tony Alessandra) in six volumes, Nightingale-Conant (Chicago, IL), 1990.

(With Jim Cathcart) The Business of Selling, Reston Publishing (Reston, VA), 1984.

(Under name Tony Alessandra; with Phillip S. Wexler) Non-Manipulative Selling: Building Sales through Trust (sound recording), six volumes, Nightingale-Conant (Chicago, IL), 1985.

(Under name Tony Alessandra; with Jim Cathcart and Phillip S. Wexler) Selling by Objectives, Prentice-Hall (Englewood Cliffs, NJ), 1988.

(With Jim Cathcart and John Monoky) Be Your Own Sales Manager: Strategies and Tactics for Managing Your Accounts, Your Territory, and Yourself, Prentice-Hall (Englewood Cliffs, NJ), 1990.

(Under name Tony Alessandra; with Garry Schaeffer) Publish and Flourish: A Consultant's Guide; How to Boost Visibility and Earnings through a Publishing Strategy, Wiley Publishing Group (New York, NY), 1992.

(Under name Tony Alessandra; with Gary Couture and Gregg Baron) The Idea-a-Day Guide to Super Selling and Customer Service: 250 Ways to Increase Your Top and Bottom Lines, Dartnell (Chicago, IL), 1992.

(Under name Tony Alessandra; with Rick Barrera) Collaborative Selling: How to Gain the Competitive Advantage in Sales, Wiley Publishing Group (New York, NY), 1993.

(Under name Tony Alessandra; with Phil Hunsaker) Communicating at Work, Simon & Schuster (New York, NY), 1993.

(Under name Tony Alessandra; with Michael J. O'Connor and Janice Van Dyke) People Smarts: Bending the Golden Rule to Give Others What They Want, Pfeiffer (San Francisco, CA), 1994.

(Under name Tony Alessandra; with John Monoky) The Sales Manager's Idea-a-Day Guide: 250 Ways to Manage and Motivate a Winning Sales Team, Every Selling Day of the Year, Dartnell (Chicago, IL), 1996.

(Under name Tony Alessandra; with Greg Baron and Jim Cathcart) The Sales Professional's Idea-a-Day Guide: 250 Ways to Increase Your Top and Bottom Lines, Every Selling Day of the Year, Dartnell (Chicago, IL), 1996.

(Under name Tony Alessandra; with Michael J. O'Connor) The Platinum Rule: Discover the Four Basic Business Personalities—and How They Can Lead You to Success, Warner Books (New York, NY), 1996.

(Under name Tony Alessandra) Charisma: Seven Keys to Developing the Magnetism that Leads to Success, Warner Books (New York, NY), 1998.

(Under name Tony Alessandra; with Frank Sarr and Pamela Truax) Performance Counts: Holding Learners Accountable in a Business Setting, Training Implementation Services (Granby, CT), 2001.

Shorter works include (under name Tony Alessandra; with Jim Cathcart) "Executive Stress: How to Avoid Falling Face Down on the Bottom Line," American Bankers Association (Washington, DC), 1983.

SIDELIGHTS:

Anthony J. Alessandra once told CA: "While growing up in Brooklyn, New York, in an Italian family, I rarely left the six-square-block area that was my neighborhood. By the time I went away to college at the University of Notre Dame in South Bend, Indiana, I had an accent that seemed like a foreign language to my classmates. I quickly learned two things: there is a vast, diverse world of people outside of New York City, and the ability to communicate well with different types of people is essential if you want to get ahead in it. I realized that education was going to be the key for me to achieve my goals, so I pursued my master's degree and doctorate in quick succession.

"I became interested in the concept of behavioral styles while working on my doctoral thesis, 'Buyer-Seller Similarity as a Determinant of Success in Industrial Sales.' This was the genesis of what eventually became The Platinum Rule: Discover the Four Basic Business Personalities—and How They Can Lead You to Success, my twelfth book and a culmination of what I have been preaching to audiences worldwide for more than two decades. Charisma: Seven Keys to Developing the Magnetism that Leads to Success is a natural outgrowth of my research into applied behavioral science. I wanted to identify the components of this sometimes elusive quality. Why do some people have it, and others do not? Can it be learned? It was a fascinating exercise, and my conclusions are encouraging to those of us not 'born' with it.

"Writing, for me, began as a way to advance my career (books with your name on them add credibility) but has evolved into a labor of love. It is extremely gratifying to receive feedback from individuals who have read my books or seen my speeches. Hearing how I have helped someone do a job better, or relate to someone better, makes it all worthwhile."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

ONLINE

Alessandra.com—Tony Alessandra Helps You Build Loyal Customers, Lifetime Relationships, and a More Profitable Business,http://www.alessandra.com/ (September 5, 2004).*