You instinctively knew how to get what you wanted very early on in life. Tell us about the deal you made with a bike shop owner when you were just ten.
My parents didn't have any extra money while I was growing up. Soon after we moved to Miami, my dad lost his life savings when his business partner embezzled their money and disappeared.

I decided to earn some money by getting a paper route. I was ten, but the newspaper's policy was you had to be twelve. So I aged two years in a couple of minutes, declared I was twelve, and was given a route. I figured that if I worked hard, I could earn about $12 a week.

My dad bought a beat-up bike for me for five bucks at a police auction. It was okay -- until I rode past Harry's Bike Shop and saw a gleaming Schwinn Black Phantom in the window. It was a thing of beauty and I had to have it. I could actually see myself riding around on that gorgeous bike, delivering papers in style and being the envy of every kid. But the bike cost $86, which would take me a year to save.

Waiting that long was unthinkable! So I went into the store and made a proposal to the owner. I told him I'd pay him $6 immediately, and I would sign a note promising $5 a week until the bike was paid off. Somehow, he agreed to my proposal and I rode that bike home. For the next 16 weeks, I gave him $5 until the bike was paid in full-interest free.


When you were young and living in Philadelphia, you experienced anti-Semitism. How did that influence your life?
The bigotry we faced in the section of Philadelphia where we lived was impossible for a kid to understand. I just knew that some people hated us because we were Jewish. I'd occasionally get beat up by school bullies and, one time, was almost killed.

The constant stress caused my mother to develop a horrible skin condition that grew worse in the winter. Our doctor suggested that we move to a warmer climate, which is why we moved to Miami. It was 1948, and I was nine-and-a-half. We took the train to Florida and when we pulled into Richmond, Virginia, I saw the conductor putting up signs that said "Whites Only." Soon only white people were in our car and in the dining car-the black people who had been riding and eating with everyone else had to move to separate cars. I asked my parents what was going on and they said "It's segregation."

I despised it then and when I saw it in my school, in theaters, restaurants and hotels. When I was performing, I could play anywhere and sleep in any hotel. Yet when big stars like Sammy Davis, Jr., Lena Horne and Ella Fitzgerald came to Miami, they were relegated to "colored hotels." One day really stands out in my mind. When I was ten, I was in a store with my mother and she tried on a dress. It didn't fit, so she didn't buy it. At the same time, an African-American woman tried on a similar dress and she was told that she had to buy it because she had tried it on. Ever since then, I've spent a great deal of my time and energy fighting bigotry. In 1977, I became active in the Anti-Defamation League, the world's largest human rights organization. I serve on their National Commission and the Executive Committee.


You were a comedian in your teens and young twenties. You opened for some of the top performers in the fifties, including Dean Martin, Liberace and Connie Francis. Tell us how you apply wisdom learned from the comedy circuit to the corporate world.
I learned so much from these great performers, including how to make an entrance and exit, how to dress and groom, how to win over an audience. I also learned that even the great ones continued to perfect their acts. They'd rehearse and make improvements even when they were at the top. Of course, that's how they stayed there. It was a great education for my own act. But it wasn't until I became a pen salesman that I realized the advantage I had from my show business training. By knowing how to walk into a room, dress for the part, win over a prospect and improve and hone my performance, I had an advantage in selling myself and, in turn, pens.


There are so many motivational books that have been published. What makes PILOT YOUR LIFE different, and what do you want the reader to get from the book?
I've been in the corporate world for forty years, and I keep hoping to run into another person who left the entertainment world and rose up through the ranks in business. This book is different because many of the techniques and disciplines entertainers learn to use for performing in front of an audience are very effective in business. The top performers have cultivated an attitude of achievement, just like many of the top CEOs. I'd like nothing more than to have someone finish reading PILOT YOUR LIFE and say "I've been waiting around for someone to give me permission to live the life I want. I'm not going to wait any longer. I'm going to go after it myself." They're on their way to piloting their life.


Tell us five key lessons we can use that you emphasize in PILOT YOUR LIFE.

1. Selling yourself is the first step. If people aren't buying you, they won't buy anything else from you.
2. Create your own opportunities.
3. Trust your instincts and take risks.
4. Pay attention to your appearance. How you dress, how you are groomed, how you conduct yourself can open doors or keep them shut.
5. Don't wait for permission to go after the life you want.