Hilary Hinton Ziglar (November 6, 1926 – November 28, 2012) was an American

author An author is the writer of a book, article, play, mostly written work. A broader definition of the word "author" states: "''An author is "the person who originated or gave existence to anything" and whose authorship determines responsibility f ...

sales Sales are activities related to selling or the number of goods sold in a given targeted time period. The delivery of a service for a cost is also considered a sale. The seller, or the provider of the goods or services, completes a sale in r ...

man, and

motivational speaker A motivational speaker is a speaker who makes speeches intended to motivate or inspire an audience. Such speakers may attempt to challenge or transform their audiences. The speech itself is popularly known as a pep talk. Motivational speakers ca ...

Biography

Early life and education

Zig Ziglar was born prematurely in

Coffee County, Alabama Coffee County is a county located in the southeastern part of the U.S. state of Alabama. As of the 2020 census, the population was 53,465. Its name is in honor of General John Coffee. Coffee County comprises the Enterprise, Micropolitan St ...

, to John Silas Ziglar and Lila Wescott Ziglar. He was the tenth of 12 children, and the youngest boy. In 1931, when Ziglar was five years old, his father took a management position at a

Mississippi Mississippi () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States, bordered to the north by Tennessee; to the east by Alabama; to the south by the Gulf of Mexico; to the southwest by Louisiana; and to the northwest by Arkansas. Miss ...

farm, and his family moved to

Yazoo City, Mississippi Yazoo City is a U.S. city in Yazoo County, Mississippi. It was named after the Yazoo River, which, in turn was named by the French explorer Robert La Salle in 1682 as "Rivière des Yazous" in reference to the Yazoo tribe living near the river's m ...

, where he spent most of his early childhood. The next year, his father died of a

stroke A stroke is a medical condition in which poor blood flow to the brain causes cell death. There are two main types of stroke: ischemic, due to lack of blood flow, and hemorrhagic, due to bleeding. Both cause parts of the brain to stop functionin ...

, and his younger sister died two days later. Between 1943 and 1945, he participated in the Navy

V-12 Navy College Training Program The V-12 Navy College Training Program was designed to supplement the force of commissioned officers in the United States Navy during World War II. Between July 1, 1943, and June 30, 1946, more than 125,000 participants were enrolled in 131 colleg ...

at the University of South Carolina in

Columbia, South Carolina Columbia is the capital of the U.S. state of South Carolina. With a population of 136,632 at the 2020 census, it is the second-largest city in South Carolina. The city serves as the county seat of Richland County, and a portion of the city ...

Career

Ziglar dropped out of college in 1947 and moved to

Lancaster, South Carolina The city of Lancaster () is the county seat of Lancaster County, South Carolina, United States, located in the Charlotte Metropolitan Area. As of the United States Census of 2010, the city population was 8,526. The city was named after the famou ...

, where he took up a job as a salesman with the WearEver Cookware company. Ziglar was promoted to field manager and eventually divisional supervisor in 1950. While working at the company, Ziglar became interested in self-help and motivational speaking and began giving speeches of his own. With Richard "Dick" Gardner and Hal Krause, Ziglar was a charter member in the establishment of American Salesmasters in 1963. The company's objective was to raise the image of salespeople in America by providing seminars. They began with cities across the

South South is one of the cardinal directions or Points of the compass, compass points. The direction is the opposite of north and is perpendicular to both east and west. Etymology The word ''south'' comes from Old English ''sūþ'', from earlier Pro ...

and

Midwest The Midwestern United States, also referred to as the Midwest or the American Midwest, is one of four Census Bureau Region, census regions of the United States Census Bureau (also known as "Region 2"). It occupies the northern central part of ...

(Memphis, Atlanta, Kansas City, St. Louis, Chicago, Denver, etc.), featuring speakers such as Ziglar,

Norman Vincent Peale Norman Vincent Peale (May 31, 1898 – December 24, 1993) was an American Protestant clergyman, and an author best known for popularizing the concept of positive thinking, especially through his best-selling book ''The Power of Positive ...

, Ken McFarland, Cavett Robert, Bill Gove, Maxwell Maltz, and Red Motley. They booked an auditorium, put together a slate of speakers and contacted local businesses to sell tickets. Audiences included insurance agents, car salesmen, financial advisors, entrepreneurs, small business owners and curiosity seekers. Ziglar went on to speak extensively for audiences of the National Association of Sales Education (NASE), founded by Dick Gardner in 1965, and also became a major sales trainer for Mary Kay Cosmetics. In 1968, he became a vice president and training director for the Automotive Performance Company and moved to

Dallas, Texas Dallas () is the third largest city in Texas and the largest city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the fourth-largest metropolitan area in the United States at 7.5 million people. It is the largest city in and seat of Dallas County w ...

. The company went bankrupt two years later. He later founded the Zigmanship Institute, later known as Ziglar, Inc. Subsequently, Ziglar spoke extensively at seminars for motivational speaker Peter Lowe and eventually signed an exclusive agreement to support Peter Lowe events. In addition to speaking, Ziglar wrote over 30 books. In Addison, Texas, Ziglar employed and trained several speakers, including Will Harris. In 2007, a fall down a flight of stairs left him with

short-term memory Short-term memory (or "primary" or "active memory") is the capacity for holding a small amount of information in an active, readily available state for a short interval. For example, short-term memory holds a phone number that has just been recit ...

problems. Nonetheless, Ziglar continued taking part in motivational seminars until he retired in 2010.

Personal life

Ziglar met his wife, Jean, in 1944, in

Jackson, Mississippi Jackson, officially the City of Jackson, is the Capital city, capital of and the List of municipalities in Mississippi, most populous city in the U.S. state of Mississippi. The city is also one of two county seats of Hinds County, Mississippi, ...

. He was 17 and she was 16; they married in late 1946. They had four children: Suzan, Tom, Cindy, and Julie. Ziglar, a Baptist, integrated

Christianity Christianity is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth. It is the world's largest and most widespread religion with roughly 2.38 billion followers representing one-third of the global pop ...

into his motivational work. He was also a

Republican Republican can refer to: Political ideology * An advocate of a republic, a type of government that is not a monarchy or dictatorship, and is usually associated with the rule of law. ** Republicanism, the ideology in support of republics or agains ...

who endorsed former

Governor of Arkansas A governor is an administrative leader and head of a polity or political region, ranking under the head of state and in some cases, such as governors-general, as the head of state's official representative. Depending on the type of political r ...

Mike Huckabee Michael Dale Huckabee (born August 24, 1955) is an American politician, Baptist minister, and political commentator who served as the 44th governor of Arkansas from 1996 to 2007. He was a candidate for the Republican Party presidential nomina ...

for his party's presidential nomination in 2008.

Death

On November 28, 2012, Ziglar died from

pneumonia Pneumonia is an inflammatory condition of the lung primarily affecting the small air sacs known as alveoli. Symptoms typically include some combination of productive or dry cough, chest pain, fever, and difficulty breathing. The severity ...

at a hospital in

Plano, Texas Plano ( ) is a city in Collin County, Texas, Collin County and Denton County, Texas, United States. It had a population of 285,494 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. It is a principal city of the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex. Hist ...

Books

* Ziglar, Zig (1974). ''Biscuits, Fleas & Pump Handles: Zig Ziglar's Key to "More"''. Dallas: Crescendo Publications. . * * * * * * * * * * * * * Ziglar, Zig (2004). ''Courtship After Marriage: Romance Can Last a Lifetime''. Nashville: Thomas Nelson Publishers. . * * *

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Ziglar, Zig 1926 births 2012 deaths American evangelicals United States Navy personnel of World War II American motivational speakers American motivational writers American self-help writers Baptists from Texas Business speakers Hinds Community College alumni People from Coffee County, Alabama People associated with direct selling Writers from Dallas People from Plano, Texas People from Yazoo City, Mississippi Prosperity theologians American salespeople Texas Republicans United States Navy sailors University of South Carolina alumni Deaths from pneumonia in Texas Baptists from Mississippi Baptists from Alabama 20th-century Baptists 21st-century Baptists