The Decided Redhead! Jean Ziglar
Somewhere in the 1990s I attended a Peter Lowe Success Seminar. It was a long lineup of world class speakers, including Colin Powell, Larry King and Barbara Bush. One of the speakers was Zig Ziglar. What a thrill to listen to his amazing voice, the way he “ennnuuunnnicated” the last word of each sentence. The way he got down on one knee to share, “Timid salespeople have skinny kids.” I loved his sense of humor and his true north wisdom.
Sadly for us, Zig Ziglar died on November 28th, 2012. Three of his children, Tom, Cindy and Julie, have committed to expanding the Ziglar Legacy. I was fortunate enough to participate in their excellent training program last week. Thank you, Dream-maker Howard Partridge for the connection!
Monday through Friday, sunup to sundown, we explored Ziglar’s “Wheel of Life” and what it means to find balanced success. Oh, there were tears! Lots of laughter, too.
Here’s one highlight of the week for me: During class, Tom was sharing Zig’s philosophy about attitude. I, not surprisingly, had a different take on the topic. There is no wrong in an opinion, still, I was hoping that mine wouldn’t be taken as disrespectful. Here’s an indication of what a kind, thoughtful leader Tom is. The next morning I woke up to an email from Tom, sharing a blog by Seth Godin. It represented the points we both made in our communication the previous day. Thanks, Tom. Love, love love.
Another highlight was meeting “The Decided Redhead!” Zig said, “Every Thursday, she decided to be a Redhead.” Zig loved his wife, Jean. Zig shared, on one of his audio tapes, that she used to slip money into his wallet. What a nice thing to do! Inspired by that, I like to surprise Hotrod with a fistful of cash now and then.
I left the event with exciting new ideas for ZOOM DRAIN and a recommitment to a few relationships I have been taking for granted. Best of all, I made two dozen new BFFs! A shout out to the Class of November 2016! Special thanks to the Ziglar team and Alumni who facilitated our adventure. Being in that classroom felt like swimming in a river of love.
My favorite Zig Ziglar quote is, “You can have everything you want if you will just help enough other people get what they want.” For me, that’s a recommitment to my team, my customers, my friends and my family. Thanks, Team Ziglar! I am grateful for you this holiday season.
xo$, Ellen
PS…it was lovingly brought to my attention that I use the word “and” a lot. A whole lot. I start most sentences with “and.” AND my life has become one long run-on sentence! That is called a “padding” word, or as my pal Dan Holohan calls it, “a word whisker.” Time to shave that bad boy off! Please do me a favor. When we are chatting, if you notice an unnecessary “and,” I encourage you to point it out to me! Thank you!
Jill, my Ziglar Legacy Certification trainer caught that detail. The event was comprehensive. It was an intensely emotional personal development course. And it was (AND! See what just happened? Do over!) It was practical and tactical speaking training. It was all that and a bag of chips. Thanks, Jill!
