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Introvert to EXTROVERT

by Al Spokoiny

282 pages; quality trade paperback (softcover); catalogue #03-1732; ISBN 1-4120-1354-2; US$24.00, C$28.00, EUR20.00, £14.00

Are you shy and unsure of yourself? You can change. Never, never give up. Develop a belief in yourself. Your tomorrows are built today.

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about the book      about the author      sample excerpts or Table of Contents      catalogue info

About the Book Al Spokoiny, one of the successful people to have emigrated from China to Canada and eventually to the United States, spent a lifetime defining the word "sales man". His advice is sought throughout Europe, Asia, Latin America, Canada and the United States. Introvert to EXTROVERT is his story. An innately shy and introspective man, he took a job as a salesman with The Fuller Brush Company. This led in time to a position with Rena-Ware Distributors, a company specializing in cookware. Through sheer will power, an extrovert emerged. Within a matter of years, Al changed the face of recruitment and sales techniques within the company. Transferred to Europe, he used his evolving philosophy to make his operation one of the most successful in the industry. He was then promoted to Vice President and Sales Manager at the company headquarters in Seattle, where his straightforward and hard-nosed approach made him as many enemies as it did friends, and drove the company to new heights. He began taking his unique philosophy to a larger audience, and his reputation as a straight shooting public speaker grew. He formed his own company N. R. G. Enterprises. The company revolutionized the use of water filtration products and eventually sold the company to a well-known water filter company.

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About the Author Al Spokoiny is a Russian Jew. His father was born in Irkutsk, Russia, his mother in Manchuria. He was born 1934 in Tainjin, an industrial city. The family moved to Beijing and then to Shanghai. Al lived in China for 15 years and eventually immigrated to Canada where the family made a home in Montreal and where Al married. The family eventually settled in the Seattle area.

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Sample Excerpts or Table of Contents

Albert Spokoiny, born February 27,1934, Tainjin, China Edward Spokoiny, born September 8, 1909, Irkutsk, Russia (my father) Rebecca (nee: Altschuler) Spokoiny, born January 25, 1911, Manchuria, China (my mother) Ella Spokoiny, born December 16,1939, Beijing China (my sister)

The story begins with my grandfather Aaron and grandmother Olga, remarkably hardy individuals who moved to China from Siberia when my Dad was six months old. The year was 1910. The family settled in Tainjin. Tainjin was a small industrial city surrounded by rice fields and endless lakes. The Spokoinys had two children:my father, Edward, and his sister, Galia, who arrived in this world two years later. The family prospered, establishing themselves in the jewelry business. Dad and Ma married in 1932,and I was born in February of 1934. I only spent three or four years in Tainjin, and my memory of those years is hazy at best.

Apparently, I learned to speak Chinese before Russian, the language my parents spoke at home. My grandmother on my Ma's side, Leah, a strong woman who spoke only Russian and Yiddish, would get upset when I spoke Chinese in the house because it limited her ability to know exactly what was going on at all times, a grandmother's absolute right.

My mother, Rebecca, a beautiful woman with reddish hair and perfect ivory skin, was born in Manchuria. When she and her family, farmers by the name of Altschuler, moved to Tainjin, Ma took up residence with her sister Mania. Aunty Mania owned a dairy farm. After her husband was killed by Chinese robbers, Aunty Mania became the matriarch of the Altschuler family. Aunty Mania was a kind, fostering woman, and her bidding was law among the family. Mania's sister, Grunia, was the weakest (frail and partially deaf) of the two women, and yet, she outlived the lot of them, passing away in Israel at the ripe old age of 87. Grunia had two children. Emmanuel moved to Israel and became CEO of one of the country's largest companies. Zelda now resides in Canada. My most vivid memory of the farm was helping churn the cream the family used to make fresh milk, and I remember the taste of that milk like it was yesterday; warm and so delicious that even now my mouth waters.

I was five when we moved to Beijing; I don't exactly recall the circumstances, but I'm fairly certain that the ever-changing world of business played a part. The single memory that sticks with me from that time was the birth of my sister Ella. I remember her coming into this world with the same reserve and grace that marked her entire life.I also remember we did not spend much time there before moving to Shanghai. Another business move, I'm sure.

Shanghai was and still is the largest city in China. Back then, it was divided as an international city: French, English American, and Russian. They called it an International City. We lived in several locations, but always in the French Concession.

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Catalogue Information

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