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Tom Ziglar

Episode: 98

Today on the Servant Leadership Podcast we welcome Tom Ziglar, the son of Zig Ziglar and CEO of Ziglar Inc. Zig’s work reached an estimated 250 million people worldwide over his four-decade career — not by pitching success, but by teaching the timeless truths he’d learned about character, faith, and servant leadership. While co-authoring Born to Win alongside his father, then writing Choose to Win, Tom carries that message forward, still inspiring millions today. Join us as Tom shares the timeless truths his father taught, including the story behind Zig’s famous saying that you can have everything in life you want if you help enough other people get what they want.

Prev Episode

Opening Question

0:00
If you're listening right now, um,

Self-Reflection Prompt

0:04
ask yourself this question.

Belief and Capability

0:07
Have you ever done more than you thought

Power of Belief

0:10
you could

Answering the Question

0:12
because someone else believed you could?

Obvious Answer

0:16
Well, the answer is yes. It's obvious.

AI's Limitation

0:20
So, you might want to write this down.

AI and Belief

0:22
AI will never believe in you.

Introducing Tom Ziggler

0:33
Today on the Servant Leadership Podcast,

Tom Ziggler's Background

0:35
we welcome Tom Ziggler, the son of Zig

Zig Ziggler's Impact

0:37
Ziggler and CEO of Ziggler, Inc. Zigg's

Legacy of Teaching

0:40
work reached an estimated 250 million

Character and Faith

0:43
people worldwide over his four decade

Servant Leadership

0:45
career, not by pitching success, but by

Timeless Truths

0:48
teaching the timeless truths he'd

Co-Authoring Books

0:49
learned about character, faith, and

Inspiring Millions

0:52
servant leadership. While co-authoring

Carrying the Message

0:54
Born to Win alongside his father, then

Choose to Win

0:56
writing Choose to Win, Tom carries that

Continuing the Legacy

0:58
message forward, still inspiring

Podcast Introduction

1:00
millions today. [music] Join us as Tom

Timeless Truths

1:02
shares about the timeless truths his

Zig's Famous Saying

1:04
father talked about, including the

Helping Others

1:06
background behind Zigg's famous saying

Life Philosophy

1:08
that you can have everything in life you

Helping Others

1:10
[music] want if you help enough other

Podcast Welcome

1:12
people get what they want.

Thanking Tom Ziggler

1:14
Tom, thank you for joining us on the

Grateful to Be Here

1:16
Servant Leadership Podcast.

Personal Impact

1:18
Chris, it's great to be here. I'm

Honored to Talk

1:20
excited.

Family's Influence

1:21
I I've told you off camerara, but your

Impact of Zig Ziggler

1:24
family and your dad have had such an

Honored Conversation

1:26
impact on me personally uh that this is

Personal Reflection

1:29
just an honor to be able to talk to you.

Growing Up with Zig

1:31
What was it like having Zigg be your

Realizing Zig's Influence

1:34
dad? And when did you realize how big of

Feeling Blessed

1:36
a deal he was?

Feeling Blessed

1:39
Wow. Uh number one, I can't imagine

Worldwide Connections

1:42
anybody being more blessed than me. Uh

Global Family

1:45
you know, everywhere I go in the world,

Unexpected Connections

1:47
I meet friends and family I didn't know

Instant Friendships

1:49
I had. I mean, I think this is really we

Immediate Connections

1:51
just met and it's like you know so much

Feeling Known

1:54
about our family and me and it's like

Global Friendships

1:57
it's like if if I were ever to see I'd

Feeling Connected

1:59
be like there's a friend, you know? So,

Worldwide Connections

2:01
I get to do that all over the world. Uh

Speaking in Vietnam

2:03
I was speaking in Vietnam earlier this

Zig's Influence

2:05
year and I was visiting the company's

Zig's Legacy

2:07
headquarters and it was like a satellite

Zig's Quotes

2:10
training room for Ziggler because all of

Feeling Blessed

2:11
our quotes were on the wall and you know

Indescribable Blessing

2:13
it's it's I just can't even describe

Zig's Offstage Presence

2:17
what a blessing that is. But I will tell

Family Time

2:20
you that as good as dad was on stage, he

Offstage Impact

2:22
was even better off stage. Uh he

Time and Presence

2:25
he cared about us, uh gave us the time,

Always Present

2:30
the you know, he was always present,

Remarkable Father

2:32
just really uh amazing. And it's, you

Zig's Childhood

2:36
know, I tell people this, he he lost his

Early Loss

2:38
dad when he was five.

Mother's Loss

2:41
Um, and my mom,

Mother's Tragedy

2:43
her dad committed suicide when she was

Young Love

2:48
And they started dating when she was 16

Depression Era

2:50
and he was 18.

Depression Challenges

2:52
And this was the heart of the

Social Challenges

2:54
depression. I mean, this is right after

Unlikely Success

2:55
the depression.

Defying Odds

2:57
Um, no social worker would ever say that

Marriage Success

2:59
those two would have a good chance at

66-Year Marriage

3:02
life, right? I mean, that's like tough

Commitment to Growth

3:04
upbringing.

Marriage Commitment

3:06
But they were married 66 years.

Decision to Improve

3:09
And I think it's really because they

Best Parents

3:11
both made a decision

Studying God's Word

3:13
uh to become the best husband, the best

Continuous Learning

3:16
wife, the best father, the best mother

Choosing a Better Path

3:19
they could and they just studied God's

Zig's Early Work

3:21
word and read constantly and worked on

Overcoming Hardship

3:24
it.

Choosing a Better Life

3:25
Right? So, so I say that because not

Childhood Challenges

3:29
every, you know, dad started working he

Zig's Early Jobs

3:31
was five years old, right after his dad

Early Work

3:33
died, selling peanuts on the corner when

Storybook Childhood

3:35
he was six. So, not everybody has like

Choosing Differently

3:38
the storybook childhood,

Overcoming Broken Homes

3:43
uh, broken homes and all that's all that

Choosing a Better Path

3:45
stuff. You know, so many people have it.

Deciding to Change

3:47
But you can choose, right? You can

Family Choices

3:49
decide, hey, I'm gonna I'm going to

Impacting Millions

3:51
raise my family different. I'm going to

Zig's Influence

3:52
treat my wife, my husband different. I'm

Transforming Lives

3:54
going to live life different. That's

Zig's Message

3:56
what they did.

Impact of Zig's Work

3:57
Yeah. I mean, it's crazy to think about

Zig's Upbringing

3:59
his upbringing and then how literally

Global Impact

4:02
tens of millions, if not more people

Truths Over Success

4:04
have been impacted by his work, right?

Zig's Message

4:07
And he didn't ever pitch success. That

Timeless Truths

4:11
wasn't his message. He just talked about

Truths and Success

4:13
the truths that he had learned. What

Zig's Success

4:14
What do you think made him so successful

Zig's Appeal

4:16
and so likable by so many people? and

Introducing Zig's Work

4:18
and maybe for those that don't know

Zig's Books

4:20
about ZG and what he talked about, maybe

Zig's Writing

4:22
share a little bit about how everything

Zig's Books

4:25
that he talked about and who he was.

Prolific Author

4:27
Yeah. So, Dad wrote

Numerous Books

4:30
uh

Books and Impact

4:32
well, we kind of lost track. about 35 or

Posthumous Works

4:36
six books that came out while he was

Transcriptions to Books

4:38
still here and then another six or eight

Massive Reach

4:41
have come out since he passed away

Global Influence

4:44
through transcription of audio programs

Speaking Engagements

4:46
that we turned into books. Right. So, so

Balanced Success

4:49
that's a lot of books. We estimate that

Holistic Approach

4:52
he impacted over 250 million people in

Legacy of Love

4:54
his life.

Love and Success

4:56
Wow. And that's through the millions and

Massive Audiences

4:58
millions of books sold, the audio

Balanced Success

5:00
programs in the millions. Uh for a

Speaking Legacy

5:04
30-year stretch, he was speaking about

Legacy of Love

5:06
30 times a year to average audience of

Love and Success

5:09
15,000 people. I mean, that'll never

Legacy of Love

5:12
happen again. Like that those days are

Love and Success

5:14
over. Um the internet and Zoom and all

Balanced Success

5:18
that stuff took that away. So, and it

Legacy of Love

5:21
was all about really balanced success,

Love and Success

5:24
mental, spiritual, physical, family,

Balanced Success

5:28
financial, personal, and career. And it

Legacy of Love

5:31
was never about the money. It was it

Love and Success

5:33
money was just a byproduct of doing the

Legacy of Love

5:35
right things in the right way for the

Love and Success

5:36
right reasons. Um and and so that you

Legacy of Love

5:41
know that le that message he had and the

Love and Success

5:44
reason that people

Legacy of Love

5:46
loved him so much is because he loved

Love and Success

5:48
them.

Legacy of Love

5:50
But I asked him one time or and people

Love and Success

5:53
mentioned to me they said you know your

Legacy of Love

5:56
dad shares his faith and people love it.

Love and Success

5:59
Why is that? How does he get away with

Legacy of Love

6:02
it? And I said, 'Well, you've never

Love and Success

6:04
heard him criticize anybody else's faith

Legacy of Love

6:08
or lack of faith.

Love and Success

6:10
And he just he told me and he would tell

Legacy of Love

6:12
others, I just go on stage and make

Love and Success

6:15
people want what I have.

Legacy of Love

6:19
And wow, what a message for

Love and Success

6:23
uh and I like to use the word Christ

Love and Success

6:24
follower um because I think that's a

Love and Success

6:28
more accurate description and today

Love and Success

6:30
because Christian doesn't mean what it

Love and Success

6:31
used to mean. Uh rather than hammering

Love and Success

6:35
somebody else for

Love and Success

6:37
whatever beliefs they have, just live a

Love and Success

6:40
life where they're where they want it.

Love and Success

6:42
They want what you have,

Love and Success

6:44
right? the way you treat people,

Love and Success

6:47
uh the joy that you have, how you

Love and Success

6:50
persevere when the road's hard, um you

Love and Success

6:53
know, being generous, we talked about

Love and Success

6:55
that earlier. I mean, those are all the

Love and Success

6:56
things that any of us can do. You know,

Love and Success

6:59
I've heard hundreds of people say who

Love and Success

7:04
to me and to my dad when I was listening

Love and Success

7:07
to the conversations, they say, "I want

Love and Success

7:09
to be a speaker just like you."

Love and Success

7:12
and he would say that's a bad idea. You

Love and Success

7:15
know, you got to be the best you you can

Love and Success

7:17
be. And so I tell people, nobody can be

Love and Success

7:21
Zig Ziggler on stage, but we can all be

Love and Success

7:23
Zigg Ziggler offstage.

Love and Success

7:27
And what does that look like? It means

Love and Success

7:29
being present with that person you're

Love and Success

7:31
with right then in that moment. And just

Love and Success

7:34
leaning in and being curious and loving

Love and Success

7:37
them and, you know, treating them with

Love and Success

7:39
respect.

Love and Success

7:41
It's what he did.

Love and Success

7:44
One of the things that I'm not sure if

Love and Success

7:46
it's the most quoted thing, but it's one

Love and Success

7:48
of the things that you hear all the time

Love and Success

7:49
when people talk about Zigg is how you

Love and Success

7:53
can have everything you want in life if

Love and Success

7:55
you help other people get what they want

Love and Success

7:58
or it's something like that, right? How

Love and Success

8:00
did that come to be?

Love and Success

8:03
Wow, that's a great historical question.

Love and Success

8:05
I have my own theory. Um,

Love and Success

8:08
so if you come to our offices today, we

Love and Success

8:11
have this thing called the uh the wall

Love and Success

8:14
of gratitude.

Love and Success

8:16
And these are the men and women that

Love and Success

8:18
made a difference in dad's life. And so

Love and Success

8:20
he was grateful for him. He called it

Love and Success

8:22
the turtle on the fence post principle.

Love and Success

8:25
If you ever see a turtle on a fence

Love and Success

8:26
post, you know it had help, right?

Love and Success

8:30
[laughter]

Love and Success

8:30
Didn't get there on its own. And so, so

Love and Success

8:33
these are the men and women that he's

Love and Success

8:35
grateful because of the impact that he

Love and Success

8:36
had. Well, when he was in high school,

Love and Success

8:40
uh, Coach Joby Harris taught history.

Love and Success

8:44
And Coach Harris is the one that made

Love and Success

8:46
dad fall in love with history. He was

Love and Success

8:49
not a good student uh and never really

Love and Success

8:52
paid any attention to it until he went

Love and Success

8:55
to to coach Harris's class and coach he

Love and Success

9:01
had this quote. He said this. He said,

Love and Success

9:04
"If those

Love and Success

9:07
who have uh extra

Love and Success

9:10
don't reach down and help those who have

Love and Success

9:13
less,

Love and Success

9:15
then eventually by the sheer weight of

Love and Success

9:18
numbers,

Love and Success

9:20
those who have less will reach up and

Love and Success

9:22
pull those who have more down."

Love and Success

9:27
And so, so that quote really intrigued

Love and Success

9:30
him. It's like we have a moral

Love and Success

9:32
responsibility to help those in need. Um

Love and Success

9:36
and then he defined that later on in his

Love and Success

9:39
writing in the book uh see at the top

Love and Success

9:42
which first came out biscuits fleas and

Love and Success

9:45
pump handles.

Love and Success

9:47
He had this segment in here called we

Love and Success

9:50
believe and it's his statement of what

Love and Success

9:52
we believe in. And let me see if I can

Love and Success

9:55
pull it up really quick. Uh

Love and Success

9:58
so he says um

Love and Success

10:02
we believe unconditional lovegiving and

Love and Success

10:04
forgiving is the vital ingredient in

Love and Success

10:06
man's search for meaning. That to live

Love and Success

10:08
is to love, to love is to help, and to

Love and Success

10:10
help is to understand the difference

Love and Success

10:12
between a hand and a hand out. That you

Love and Success

10:15
can get everything in life you want if

Love and Success

10:17
you will help enough other people get

Love and Success

10:18
what they want. And then he said this

Love and Success

10:21
because we believe and love

Love and Success

10:24
our purpose in life is to help you

Love and Success

10:28
help yourself.

Love and Success

10:31
And that's I think the difference

Love and Success

10:34
between

Love and Success

10:35
helpful help and unhelpful help,

Love and Success

10:39
right? Are we helping somebody to where

Love and Success

10:41
they're dependent or or we teaching them

Love and Success

10:43
to fish? And so that quote, you can have

Love and Success

10:45
everything in life you want, it got

Love and Success

10:48
lived out in that he wanted to equip

Love and Success

10:51
people

Love and Success

10:52
so that they could help themselves and

Love and Success

10:54
so that they could. And at Ziggler, we

Love and Success

10:56
have like these this phrase we say from

Love and Success

10:59
from transformation to amplification.

Love and Success

11:04
And so as you talk to a bunch of

Love and Success

11:06
leaders, they'll have a common thread.

Love and Success

11:08
They'll say uh Zigg Ziggler or another

Love and Success

11:12
in person of influence really changed

Love and Success

11:15
their view and set them on the path and

Love and Success

11:19
it changed their life and then they felt

Love and Success

11:21
a calling to do the same for other

Love and Success

11:23
people

Love and Success

11:25
and and so first we have to be

Love and Success

11:26
transformed

Love and Success

11:28
transformation and then if our heart's

Love and Success

11:32
right we want to bring other people with

Love and Success

11:34
us or we we don't want them to suffer

Love and Success

11:36
the way we did or we want to help them

Love and Success

11:37
solve a certain problem that we had to

Love and Success

11:39
go through and that's amplification.

Love and Success

11:42
So

Love and Success

11:43
that's so good.

Love and Success

11:44
It's interesting because you you you

Love and Success

11:48
ended up in a very interesting position.

Love and Success

11:50
Uh both trying to preserve Zigg's legacy

Love and Success

11:54
but also carrying it forward into

Love and Success

11:56
absolutely new heights. What was that

Love and Success

11:59
like? Was that a heavy weight for you?

Love and Success

12:01
And then how did you end up really

Love and Success

12:04
helping Ziggler Inc. like continue to

Love and Success

12:06
grow after into something that just kept

Love and Success

12:09
building on itself.

Love and Success

12:10
Well, dad planted this the uh the seeds

Love and Success

12:14
early. So, for me and my sisters, he

Love and Success

12:16
told us all the same thing. He said,

Love and Success

12:18
"Look,

Love and Success

12:20
whatever you want to do in life,

Love and Success

12:23
as long as you do it with 100% integrity

Love and Success

12:26
and 100% effort, I'll give you my full

Love and Success

12:30
support."

Love and Success

12:32
So, he never said, "Hey, you need to do

Love and Success

12:34
this. you need to take over the company,

Love and Success

12:36
you need, you know, this is the role you

Love and Success

12:37
need to play. Like he never said that.

Love and Success

12:39
He just said, I want your 100% effort

Love and Success

12:43
and 100% of your integrity, whatever you

Love and Success

12:45
do, right? Then I can support it. And so

Love and Success

12:48
then later on, uh, he told us, he said,

Love and Success

12:53
"You'll never know true freedom until

Love and Success

12:55
I'm gone."

Love and Success

12:59
And so we didn't really understand that.

Love and Success

13:01
Well, at least I can say I didn't

Love and Success

13:03
understand. I didn't know what he meant.

Love and Success

13:05
Um I started to work for the company

Love and Success

13:07
after college and so he's a personality,

Love and Success

13:11
he's a brand. Um and so our whole

Love and Success

13:15
business was around

Love and Success

13:18
promoting that, elevating that, uh

Love and Success

13:21
creating

Love and Success

13:22
um we called it the wake, whatever the

Love and Success

13:24
wake was coming back, you know, whatever

Love and Success

13:25
we could see the need was to follow up

Love and Success

13:27
with programs to support that.

Love and Success

13:30
And so what happens is you

Love and Success

13:34
whatever your natural gifts and talents

Love and Success

13:36
are, you just use the ones that align

Love and Success

13:39
with that and support that.

Love and Success

13:42
But then when he's gone, nobody can step

Love and Success

13:45
into that role. Like nobody can be Zigg

Love and Success

13:49
Ziggler. And so so what he was really

Love and Success

13:52
saying is is until I'm gone, you really

Love and Success

13:55
can't step into your own.

Love and Success

13:58
And I want you to step into your own. I

Love and Success

14:00
want you to to lead it and and do it the

Love and Success

14:03
way you need to do it because talents,

Love and Success

14:06
skills, gifts, all those are different

Love and Success

14:08
than his. Uh and so the way I've chosen

Love and Success

14:11
to do it is by

Love and Success

14:14
equipping and supporting other people

Love and Success

14:17
who want to carry on the Ziggler legacy

Love and Success

14:19
through our training programs, through

Love and Success

14:21
our co that's what we really do is we

Love and Success

14:23
have speakers and trainers we've

Love and Success

14:25
certified. We have hundreds and hundreds

Love and Success

14:27
of coaches that are licensed to teach

Love and Success

14:30
our our coaching programs

Love and Success

14:33
uh and and leaders and organizations

Love and Success

14:35
that take the philosophy inside their

Love and Success

14:37
their whatever their business is. Um and

Love and Success

14:40
then they they amplify in their own

Love and Success

14:43
community in their own area and their

Love and Success

14:46
own market. Um

Love and Success

14:48
taking their skill set plus the Ziggler

Love and Success

14:52
material that already impacted them.

Love and Success

14:53
That's why they come to us. this stuff

Love and Success

14:55
change me, you know,

Love and Success

14:57
how can I carry this forward? And so

Love and Success

14:59
that's that's how I've like interpreted

Love and Success

15:02
it. If I tried to be the platform

Love and Success

15:04
speaker in the same way dad was,

Love and Success

15:06
everybody would go, "Ah, that that guy's

Love and Success

15:07
a fake."

Love and Success

15:09
Well, it's interesting because he had

Love and Success

15:11
such a presence, right, when when he

Love and Success

15:13
spoke on stages. Uh, and the personality

Love and Success

15:16
that came out in his books was just

Love and Success

15:19
unbelievable. you felt like you're

Love and Success

15:20
talking to a friend and you just felt

Love and Success

15:22
like the advice that was in there was

Love and Success

15:24
just genuinely what is best for you as

Love and Success

15:26
the reader. Like he wanted every reader

Love and Success

15:29
to succeed in whatever way that meant

Love and Success

15:31
for him. One of the things that I'm not

Love and Success

15:33
sure people realize even like Born to

Love and Success

15:34
Win, an amazing popular book, you were a

Love and Success

15:38
co-author on that book and then you

Love and Success

15:40
amplified it even further with Choose to

Love and Success

15:42
Win. talk about how you got involved in

Love and Success

15:46
you're learning from your dad as his

Love and Success

15:48
son, but then you're becoming his peer

Love and Success

15:51
at the same time and then really helping

Love and Success

15:52
amplify that next step.

Love and Success

15:56
Um peer that's a that's a stretch.

Love and Success

16:00
[laughter]

Love and Success

16:03
Uh

Love and Success

16:05
you know with with uh the born to win

Love and Success

16:08
book I only contributed a little bit of

Love and Success

16:10
that. It was mainly a compilation. You

Love and Success

16:13
know, when people say, "I've never read

Love and Success

16:14
a Zig Ziggler book. Where should I

Love and Success

16:17
start?" I say, "Read Board to Win." It

Love and Success

16:18
gives you the whole, you know, overview.

Love and Success

16:21
If they say, "Uh, I've read all of his

Love and Success

16:24
books. Which one should I read again?" I

Love and Success

16:26
say, "Bor to win because it's going to

Love and Success

16:28
give you that that basis." Um,

Love and Success

16:32
so the the born to- win

Love and Success

16:37
seminar that we did for years and a born

Love and Success

16:39
to win audio program, it just made sense

Love and Success

16:41
we would have a born to win book. So

Love and Success

16:43
after we came out with that book, uh,

Love and Success

16:46
one of our speakers named Chris Dunham,

Love and Success

16:49
he's amazing. Uh, he spoke on on the big

Love and Success

16:52
giant events with dad probably 300

Love and Success

16:55
times. U, just an amazing speaker. He

Love and Success

16:58
calls me up and he says, "Hey, I got the

Love and Success

17:01
when you come out with your book, I got

Love and Success

17:02
the title." I go, "What's the title?" He

Love and Success

17:05
goes, "It's the title is live to win.

Love and Success

17:08
Your dad wrote born to win. You need to

Love and Success

17:10
write live to win." And so when I wrote

Love and Success

17:14
the manuscript, it was titled live to

Love and Success

17:16
win. Um because if you're born to win

Love and Success

17:19
now, you got to live to win. So I'm I

Love and Success

17:22
love that title. And so I'm writing this

Love and Success

17:25
manuscript and that's a great title.

Love and Success

17:27
It's a sequel. pull the whole nine

Love and Success

17:28
yards. And then our publisher we got was

Love and Success

17:32
Thomas Nelson. And so they'd published

Love and Success

17:34
several of Dad's books and they have

Love and Success

17:36
amazing editors. And so we send over the

Love and Success

17:40
the man when when we finally get it all

Love and Success

17:42
ready and we send in the manuscript and

Love and Success

17:44
they read it, they go, "Uh, we have a

Love and Success

17:47
question for you."

Love and Success

17:50
Yeah.

Love and Success

17:51
Uh, how

Love and Success

17:55
how married are you to

Love and Success

17:59
the title live to win because I think we

Love and Success

18:02
got a better title and I'm like well

Love and Success

18:04
it'll be hard pressed to be

Love and Success

18:09
a better title. So they came back and

Love and Success

18:11
they said, "Choose to win." And I was

Love and Success

18:14
like, "That is a better title." Because

Love and Success

18:17
at the end of the day, one of my other

Love and Success

18:18
friends says this, you're either uh

Love and Success

18:21
you're not born a winner and you're not

Love and Success

18:22
born a loser, but we're all born

Love and Success

18:25
choosers.

Love and Success

18:28
And so that is the truth. We have to

Love and Success

18:30
choose to win. Um and you know, one of

Love and Success

18:34
the programs that I love that we're

Love and Success

18:36
really focused on now is called Be the

Love and Success

18:38
Light. And be the light is about um the

Love and Success

18:43
from a from a performance

Love and Success

18:47
life uh getting quality of life all

Love and Success

18:50
those different things. We're largely

Love and Success

18:53
shaped by our well we're 100% shaped by

Love and Success

18:56
our beliefs

Love and Success

18:58
and many of our beliefs are based on

Love and Success

19:01
lies that we've told ourselves or lies

Love and Success

19:03
that have been told to us. And so you

Love and Success

19:06
see it, you see the light bulb come on

Love and Success

19:08
when people become aware. Wait a second.

Love and Success

19:11
That's not true. They've got awareness

Love and Success

19:14
now. So now you've got a choice. You can

Love and Success

19:17
either ignore the truth and cling to

Love and Success

19:21
this identity that's limiting you, this

Love and Success

19:24
belief, or you can choose the truth.

Love and Success

19:27
Well,

Love and Success

19:28
and the truth will set you free. Uh, but

Love and Success

19:32
it's also scary because it usually means

Love and Success

19:36
that you're having to shed relationships

Love and Success

19:39
and thoughts and things that you

Love and Success

19:41
identified with. And so that's a that's

Love and Success

19:44
a a big thing. So I love the title,

Love and Success

19:47
choose to win because at the end of the

Love and Success

19:49
day, it's a choice. What we do is a

Love and Success

19:51
choice.

Love and Success

19:52
That's so good. On the on the be the

Love and Success

19:54
light, you're you've been pushing that

Love and Success

19:57
more and more in a good way. uh talk

Love and Success

19:59
about the significance of 2026 and it

Love and Success

20:02
being your dad's hundth birthday if he

Love and Success

20:06
was still here. Talk about what you're

Love and Success

20:08
doing and it's cool to think about the

Love and Success

20:10
amazing community of people that have

Love and Success

20:12
been impacted by Ziggler.

Love and Success

20:15
Yeah. So, uh just kind of the cool

Love and Success

20:17
backstory is at the end of last year my

Love and Success

20:19
daughter says, "Hey, it's going to be

Love and Success

20:21
Papa's 100th birthday next year. So, dad

Love and Success

20:23
would be a hundred years old on November

Love and Success

20:25
6th, 2026."

Love and Success

20:28
and she says,"We should do a big event."

Love and Success

20:30
And I said, "Yeah, we should." And then

Love and Success

20:33
she says, "Well, Dave Ramsey has a

Love and Success

20:35
really cool event center that they just

Love and Success

20:37
built. Do you think he would rent it to

Love and Success

20:39
a business like us?" And so I said, "I

Love and Success

20:42
don't know. I'll find out." So I'm

Love and Success

20:44
friends with Dave. Uh we talk two or

Love and Success

20:46
three and not big time, but we email two

Love and Success

20:48
or three times a year. And uh so I said,

Love and Success

20:51
"Hey Dave, would you rather rent would

Love and Success

20:53
you ever rent your facility to somebody

Love and Success

20:54
like us?" and he responded back, "No, we

Love and Success

20:57
wouldn't, but for a friend." And so,

Love and Success

21:02
next thing you know, we're having the

Love and Success

21:04
Zig Ziggler 100th

Love and Success

21:08
see you at the top birthday celebration

Love and Success

21:12
uh hosted by Dave R. Dave's going to

Love and Success

21:14
speak. Uh Brian Buffini, Todd Duck. We

Love and Success

21:17
got just this all-star lineup of

Love and Success

21:19
speakers and it's going to be in

Love and Success

21:21
Franklin, Tennessee. Um, and the theme

Love and Success

21:24
of the day is be the light. Uh, so that

Love and Success

21:27
idea of being the light. So everybody

Love and Success

21:29
who comes,

Love and Success

21:31
they're all like Brian Adams is going to

Love and Success

21:33
be there. Um, he's the CEO of a company

Love and Success

21:37
that sells more insurance in the United

Love and Success

21:39
States than any other company. They've

Love and Success

21:41
got 600,000 agents.

Love and Success

21:44
And his company u, and and the way he

Love and Success

21:47
leads it, they've asked us to do

Love and Success

21:49
leadership training with them. and you

Love and Success

21:51
know he's taken these Ziggler principles

Love and Success

21:53
and really built something unbelievable.

Love and Success

21:57
So he's going to talk a little bit about

Love and Success

21:59
how the Zigg inspired him, but mainly

Love and Success

22:02
he's going to talk about uh how anybody

Love and Success

22:05
in the room can take what he learned and

Love and Success

22:08
apply it into their own life and their

Love and Success

22:10
own business. And so all the speakers,

Love and Success

22:11
Dave Ramsey the same, uh Brian Buffini

Love and Success

22:15
the same, I mean just just incredible.

Love and Success

22:18
It it's interesting because if somebody

Love and Success

22:20
has read Zigg's work or your work, I

Love and Success

22:22
think uh a lot of times people think,

Love and Success

22:25
well, that was so relevant back then,

Love and Success

22:27
but now in this world of AI, in this

Love and Success

22:30
world of just how fast-paced things are

Love and Success

22:34
moving, they might be looking for the

Love and Success

22:36
next influencer on Instagram or Tik Tok

Love and Success

22:38
to tell them what to do. uh how do you

Love and Success

22:42
help people realize that these

Love and Success

22:44
principles that were written about are

Love and Success

22:45
still so relevant in today's world?

Love and Success

22:50
So if you're listening right now, um

Love and Success

22:54
ask yourself this question.

Love and Success

22:58
Have you ever done more than you thought

Love and Success

23:00
you could

Love and Success

23:02
because someone else believed you could?

Love and Success

23:07
Well, the answer is yes. It's obvious.

Love and Success

23:11
So you might want to write this down. AI

Love and Success

23:14
will never believe in you.

Love and Success

23:18
What AI will do is used uh properly it

Love and Success

23:24
will give us more time to do the thing

Love and Success

23:26
that has the most value of all which is

Love and Success

23:28
to build relationships with people.

Love and Success

23:32
I mean, I can tell you right now that um

Love and Success

23:35
if you are a subject matter expert, say

Love and Success

23:37
in sales, and you've worked in an

Love and Success

23:40
industry for 30 years, you plus AI will

Love and Success

23:44
build a tactical sales program that's as

Love and Success

23:46
good as any program Ziggler's ever

Love and Success

23:48
built.

Love and Success

23:50
The difference will be

Love and Success

23:52
the values

Love and Success

23:54
and the belief

Love and Success

23:57
that the presenter shares from

Love and Success

24:01
in training that program because you can

Love and Success

24:04
have the best program in the world. You

Love and Success

24:06
can have the best AI. You can have you

Love and Success

24:08
can ask AI question. We'll give you the

Love and Success

24:10
spot-on answer. Right? Just do this. If

Love and Success

24:14
you're like everybody else, you get that

Love and Success

24:16
answer every day. Then you still don't

Love and Success

24:18
do it. Right?

Love and Success

24:20
So, what's the differentiator?

Love and Success

24:23
It is the values, the virtues, the

Love and Success

24:26
philosophy, and the transference of

Love and Success

24:29
conviction and belief that changes

Love and Success

24:32
people. And so we're I I think it's man,

Love and Success

24:36
this is the greatest time ever. Uh

Love and Success

24:38
because people have access to the right

Love and Success

24:40
information,

Love and Success

24:42
but if you don't connect it to the right

Love and Success

24:44
person delivering it in the in that

Love and Success

24:46
relationship,

Love and Success

24:48
then it's not going to have the impact

Love and Success

24:50
it could have. And so, so I'm excited

Love and Success

24:52
about uh what AI is doing from that

Love and Success

24:55
perspective. Uh but I also want people

Love and Success

24:58
to understand it's a limitation. It's

Love and Success

24:59
got knowledge, but it doesn't have

Love and Success

25:01
wisdom. It can't build a relationship

Love and Success

25:05
and it'll never believe in you. And it

Love and Success

25:07
tries. I mean, you've probably gotten

Love and Success

25:10
the ch, you know, the response. Oh, what

Love and Success

25:12
a wonderful question you just asked. Oh,

Love and Success

25:14
wise one. You know, I mean, it's just

Love and Success

25:16
[laughter] it's it's like it's it's

Love and Success

25:18
working on your dopamine centers in your

Love and Success

25:20
brain, right? It's a listening or

Love and Success

25:22
response which goes back to be the light

Love and Success

25:25
which is I believe the number one

Love and Success

25:27
challenge facing our society today is

Love and Success

25:30
the ability to discover and discern the

Love and Success

25:34
truth

Love and Success

25:36
because the neuroscience and the

Love and Success

25:38
engineering uh from social media big

Love and Success

25:41
media whatever they're all doing it from

Love and Success

25:45
a perspective of how do we uh how do we

Love and Success

25:48
optimize

Love and Success

25:50
the, you know, and monop the the money

Love and Success

25:54
aspect of a relationship. That's not for

Love and Success

25:57
my best interest. That's for yours. I

Love and Success

25:59
mean, if if if you can have everything

Love and Success

26:01
in life you want if you help enough

Love and Success

26:02
other people get what they want, every

Love and Success

26:05
question should be about helping me get

Love and Success

26:07
what I want. But it's all manipulation

Love and Success

26:10
to get me to do what they want so they

Love and Success

26:12
can monetize me.

Love and Success

26:14
Yeah. I I love your perspective on that.

Love and Success

26:16
You talk about the the truth. uh talk

Love and Success

26:19
about what you guys have done with the

Love and Success

26:20
truth compass.

Love and Success

26:23
Yeah, so this all came about um right

Love and Success

26:28
after Charlie Kirk was killed and just

Love and Success

26:33
like a lot of people. I was just gutted.

Love and Success

26:35
Um and that's for somebody who didn't

Love and Success

26:37
know Charlie Kirk. I'd seen a few of his

Love and Success

26:38
videos.

Love and Success

26:40
I didn't know that there was even a

Love and Success

26:42
Turning Point business. And I just

Love and Success

26:45
remember, you know, it hit, we all saw

Love and Success

26:47
that it hit the news. It was like real

Love and Success

26:49
time. And even before they announced he

Love and Success

26:53
he had died, I saw the the video of it

Love and Success

26:56
and I'm like, he's gone, right? That the

Love and Success

26:58
reaction

Love and Success

27:00
and I just got heartsick for for his

Love and Success

27:03
family. Um because I said he's married,

Love and Success

27:06
he's got kids. And then I watched my

Love and Success

27:09
social media timeline blow up

Love and Success

27:12
and it was like he was either Satan or

Love and Success

27:17
the Messiah.

Love and Success

27:19
And we saw all the stuff, all the

Love and Success

27:21
division that came out of that. Well, we

Love and Success

27:23
have a pattern in this country of that

Love and Success

27:25
cycle of division. You know, anything

Love and Success

27:27
lightning rod happens, it's used to

Love and Success

27:29
divide.

Love and Success

27:31
And so a couple of days later, I'm out

Love and Success

27:33
praying, walking and praying, and I'm

Love and Success

27:36
like, God, what's going on? And this

Love and Success

27:38
thought came into my head, and that is

Love and Success

27:40
this. People don't know how to discern

Love and Success

27:43
the truth. They don't know how to

Love and Success

27:44
discover the truth.

Love and Success

27:47
And so I used to study uh ancient Jewish

Love and Success

27:50
tradition. And so one of the stories is

Love and Success

27:53
the rabbis from different areas and

Love and Success

27:56
different uh theological perspectives

Love and Success

27:59
would get together

Love and Success

28:01
and they would meet and they'd meet in a

Love and Success

28:02
room and they would be there all day and

Love and Success

28:05
they'd argue and they'd present their

Love and Success

28:07
side and they would really get intense

Love and Success

28:09
and then they were done.

Love and Success

28:12
They would all leave together and eat

Love and Success

28:14
dinner together and their families would

Love and Success

28:15
stay in each other's homes and they were

Love and Success

28:17
best friends.

Love and Success

28:19
And so that became like the first little

Love and Success

28:22
point in the truth compass and that is

Love and Success

28:24
that

Love and Success

28:26
you don't argue to win the argument. You

Love and Success

28:29
argue to discover the truth.

Love and Success

28:32
Okay. So, so then, so what's another

Love and Success

28:36
point in that? Well, I can't really

Humility and Respect

28:40
have

28:44
a genuine argument in good faith around

28:46
that premise of let's discover the truth

28:50
unless I respect you.

Wisdom and Social Media

28:52
Uh, humility,

28:55
it's like humility is the taproot of

28:57
wisdom.

28:59
And so just look at your Facebook feed

29:02
or social media interactions.

Appropriate Behavior Online

29:05
Um do you see humility and respect for

29:09
the other side?

29:11
You don't

29:13
when is it ever appropriate to take

29:15
somebody else down personally? It's

29:17
never [laughter]

Truth Compass and Filter

29:22
right. It's just not. And so, so we took

29:24
that truth compass and then we built a

29:26
truth filter and then we created a

29:28
six-stage process.

Overcoming Self-Doubt

29:30
So, if somebody's struggling like in

29:32
business, let's just say uh you're a

29:35
leader and there's somebody on your team

29:37
and you want to you think they'd be a

29:39
great leader and every time you approach

29:40
them they're like, "No, I couldn't do

29:43
that." Well, why not?

Identifying Limiting Beliefs

29:47
Oh, well, I never graduated high school

29:48
or,

29:51
you know, when I was 14, my dad left.

29:53
Or, well, what it is that they they're

29:56
telling themselves a story

29:58
that they're not good enough, that they

30:03
could never do that because

30:06
they're believing a lie.

Discovering the Truth

30:08
And so before you can give them the job

30:10
and help them be successful,

30:13
you've got to know the right questions

30:16
to ask to see where the foundation of

30:18
that lie is.

Challenging False Narratives

30:20
Because I know lots of people who didn't

30:22
graduate high school who I mean they're

30:24
billionaires now, you know? I mean it's

30:26
like so obviously that's not a

30:29
prerequisite. And I can name a hundred

30:31
people who probably had a worse home

30:34
life than you and they're living an

30:37
abundant life. So,

30:39
is that really the truth? No, it's just

30:42
the lie you've chosen to believe.

Six Stages of Be the Light

30:44
And so, well, let's replace it with the

30:46
truth. And so, the six stages of be the

30:48
light helps somebody see that, right?

30:51
Because we got to you you can't tell

30:53
them the truth. You've got to help them

30:55
discover the truth.

Empowering Others to See Lies

30:56
Yeah.

30:58
You can't tell them it's a lie. You have

30:59
to give them the tools so they can

31:02
discern that it's a lie. And so that's

31:04
really that's a big thing because look

31:06
at where people are in their life. If

31:08
they're stuck,

31:10
if they're not having the life they

31:13
want, there's usually a foundational

31:17
belief that's keeping them there.

Unpacking Limiting Beliefs

31:19
That's so good. And that's what we help

31:22
unpack.

31:24
We're going to put in the show notes for

31:25
anyone that wants information where they

31:28
can go check that out, too, because I

31:29
think that's such a powerful tool. Um,

True vs. False Servant Leaders

31:32
one of the things that I've always

31:34
wondered reading through all the books,

31:37
going through a lot of the material, how

31:42
do you tell the difference between a

31:45
true servant leader and somebody who is

31:48
disguised as a servant leader focused on

31:52
like self-service leadership? H how do

31:55
you determine that?

Attributes of Selfish Leaders

32:00
Yeah. Um

32:03
well one of them is this um the more

32:05
anxious

32:07
worried

32:11
someone is

32:16
the more selfish they are.

32:18
So if the attributes are control,

32:20
pressure,

32:22
uh

32:25
you you you kind of feel their

32:28
temperature rising as deadlines approach

32:30
or as temperatures rising if it's not

32:33
going their way even though they claim

32:37
to be a servant leader.

Characteristics of True Servant Leaders

32:40
Um because a true servant leader

32:42
you're you're

32:44
gosh you're

32:47
just you're you're not you're not

32:50
results focused

32:54
the results like like what here was

32:56
dad's secret on stage I said dad how do

32:59
you how do you judge a speech and he

33:02
said well I never I never judge it by

33:04
the applause. boss

Judging Success by Preparation

33:06
and he'd get standing ovations

33:08
constantly, right? And I'd say, "Well,

33:10
how do you judge it?" He said, "Well, on

33:13
two things.

33:15
Did I prepare enough

33:19
based on the time I had to give my

33:22
best?"

33:24
And sometimes he had a lot of time and

33:27
sometimes he'd have three speeches in a

33:30
row and weather delays and everything

33:32
else. And so that by the time he got to

33:34
that third speech is a hard road, right?

33:36
He'd still prepared, but it wasn't as

33:39
much as maybe for the first talk in that

33:42
series.

Speaking Truth in Love

33:44
So he said, "Did I prepare with the time

33:47
I had and the second one?" And here's

33:49
the big one.

33:54
Did I speak God's truth in love?

33:57
Because if I speak God's truth in love,

34:01
then whatever somebody does with it is

34:03
between them and God.

Detachment from Outcomes

34:05
And so he had no attachment to the

34:08
outcome.

34:10
So if your self-worth or value

34:13
is based on the result that you get,

34:17
then you're not a servant leader.

Love Over Magnitude

34:19
Yeah.

34:20
Right. And you see that all the time. I

34:23
think it was brother Lawrence 16th

34:25
century. I could be off on the dates. He

34:28
said this. He said God cares not for the

34:31
magnitude of the work

34:34
but only for the love in which it is

34:36
done.

Love in Leadership

34:38
So a true servant leader

34:40
whether the work is big or small doesn't

34:43
matter. It's the love in which it's

34:46
done.

34:48
That's so good. And that's how I think

34:50
you can ultimately tell because if

34:53
you're doing it for selfish reasons,

34:55
you're going to have all the

34:58
characteristics of a selfish person,

35:01
anxiety, worry, fear,

35:04
and then when when the pressure gets on,

35:06
those all escalate.

Feeling Presence and Care

35:09
I love that. And and I love that

35:12
every time you read or listen to

35:15
anything from Zigg or yourself, uh you

35:17
feel that you feel you don't feel

35:20
anxious. You feel fully present. You

35:23
feel uh just like you're caring for the

35:26
person right across from you. So I I

35:28
love that. Um all right, Tom, I want to

35:31
finish with 10 rapidfire questions.

Rapidfire Questions

35:34
Sure.

35:35
And you just say the first thing that

35:37
comes to mind, and there is no wrong

35:39
answer.

Servant Leadership Inspiration

35:41
Who is the first person you think of

35:43
when I say servant leadership?

35:45
My dad.

Describing Tom Ziglar

35:46
All right. Five words that most describe

35:48
you.

35:50
Uh

35:52
five five words. Let's see. Uh

35:57
intellectual engineer.

36:01
Um that's two, right?

36:03
Yep.

36:05
Uh, quiet,

36:09
thoughtful,

36:12
steady.

Favorite Authors and Books

36:13
Love that. All right. One of your

36:15
favorite authors or favorite book,

36:18
either way.

36:20
Yeah. So, I just read uh Jim Murphy's

36:23
two books. Um,

36:26
I can look them up if you want the

36:28
title.

36:29
No, I Jim Murphy is great. We'll take

36:31
him as the author.

36:32
And then Yeah. And then uh Owen

36:34
Fitzpatrick has a new book coming out

36:36
called Inner Propaganda.

Upcoming Book Recommendations

36:38
Oh.

36:39
And it is fabulous. It's it's going to

36:41
be an I think it's going to be an iconic

36:44
book in our industry as far as uh the

36:48
inner propaganda, the story we tell

36:51
oursel.

36:52
Yeah.

36:53
And what that does with our and and

36:55
where those come from, how to change it,

36:57
how it's used against you, how you can

36:59
use it for you, how it really governs

37:01
your life. It's

Favorite Food and Activities

37:03
It's good.

37:05
I'm going to add that to my next hit

37:07
list. Uh favorite food.

37:10
Wow.

37:12
Uh Mexican food.

37:15
Favorite thing to do in your free time?

37:18
Fish or golf?

Surprising Personal Facts

37:20
All right. Surprising fact about you.

37:23
Uh I have worked out

37:27
four years

37:30
and three months in a row. So,

37:32
wow.

37:33
Every day.

37:34
Good work.

37:35
So, that's a long streak.

Favorite Travel Destinations

37:37
That's awesome. Favorite place you've

37:39
been.

37:42
Well, my favorite small city in the

37:44
world is Dublin. Uh uh my favorite uh

37:48
bigger city is is Melbourne, Australia.

37:52
And the countryside of Ireland would

37:55
probably be if I could go spend some

37:58
time, that's where I would go.

Future Travel Plans

38:00
Is okay. Maybe this answers that. Is

38:02
there anywhere in the world you want to

38:04
go that you haven't been?

38:06
I haven't I haven't done the whole uh

38:09
Ireland tour. I'd love to do that.

38:11
Scotland, too. Um yeah, for sure.

Best Advice Received

38:14
All right. Best advice you've ever

38:16
received.

38:20
Wow. That's a

38:26
When I was young When I was young, I've

38:28
gotten so much good advice. like crazy.

38:30
When I was uh in college, I wanted to do

38:34
something um

38:37
and I was old enough to do it and my dad

38:40
said, "Will that take you closer to or

38:42
further from your goal

38:45
and so that taught qu that taught me

38:47
something at many many layers?" So

38:51
that's good. If you know where you're

38:52
headed and what your what your dreams

38:54
and goals are, you can always ask

38:56
yourself that before you're about to

38:58
invest time or energy into something.

39:00
It's just going to take me closer to it

39:02
or further from it. It's just such a

39:03
powerful

39:04
thing. That's great advice. All right.

Importance of Servant Leadership

39:07
And finally, a podcast on servant

39:09
leadership. Why should people care about

39:11
becoming better servant leaders?

39:16
because as much as the world needs it,

39:18
you get you're going to get the most out

39:20
of it. It's going to change your life.

39:22
It's it's

39:24
um you know, it's whether it's anything,

39:26
whether it's leadership or sales or

39:28
whatever. Um

39:31
do you like let's say you miss a sale

39:35
or you don't have the crucial leadership

39:39
conversation.

Impact of Missed Opportunities

39:42
Um, do you regret the money you lost in

39:44
the sale or the advancement

39:47
of that, you know, of your own career

39:49
because of that conversation going well

39:51
leadership-wise? Or do you fall asleep

39:54
wondering

39:56
how much it's going to cost that other

39:58
person that they didn't say yes?

40:01
Because you in Hebrew, this is this is

40:03
great. uh in Hebrew there's a word for

40:06
sale

40:08
and

40:10
it it's a high moral value word. It it

40:12
it talks about uh the letter Hebrew

40:15
letters have numerical values and the

40:18
the words have moral value, right? So

40:22
the letters have numerical moral value

40:25
and the words do too. And so the the

40:29
there's one word for sale that just

40:31
means transaction. There's another word

40:33
for sale and this is what it means. To

40:37
look into the future of someone's life,

40:41
to anticipate a problem they're going to

40:43
have

40:44
and then to help them avoid that

40:46
problem.

Sales as Servant Leadership

40:48
And so, Dad always said, "We're all in

40:50
sales."

40:52
Because that isn't that what servant

40:54
leadership is? It's serving someone,

40:57
looking into their future and helping

40:59
them evol uh avoid a problem they're

41:01
going to have.

Closing Remarks

41:04
Wow, that's super good. Well, Tom, thank

41:08
you for being on the podcast and thank

41:10
you for carrying on what Zigg started

41:13
and amplifying it and uh and I'm excited

41:15
for people to follow what you're doing

41:17
and get plugged in and also to check out

41:19
the hundth birthday that I think uh

41:21
people will be really excited to follow

41:23
and see.

41:25
Yep. I hope you can come and bring a

41:27
bunch of friends.

41:28
Yeah. [laughter]

41:30
Oh, well, thanks for being on.

41:32
All right. Thank you. What a blessing.

Podcast Outro

41:36
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41:38
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41:40
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41:42
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41:44
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