Mamie McCullough was in an audience of over 4,000 eager, energetic saleswomen. The speaker of the day was Mr. Zig Ziglar. When Mr. Ziglar presented the concept of the stairway to the top from his book, See You at the Top, she realized having a healthy self-image could be learned, along with how to get along with others, having a positive mental attitude, and goal setting.
Mamie is from Dixie, Georgia and was born to a sharecropper’s family. Her daddy died when she was only three years old. The youngest of nine children, Mamie Claire knew she wanted to “be better.”
When Mamie was 19 years old she heard about Howard Payne University in Brownwood, Texas. Hearing she could “work her way” through college, she stepped onto a Greyhound bus for the 32- hour trip to Texas.
Supplied with a sack of fried chicken, two flour sack dresses, and $25, Mamie began her journey and new life. Facing many unknown hardships with courage and determination, Mamie discovered her love for business while putting herself through college.
With her strong business wits, education, and entrepreneur spirit, Mamie went back to her home state of Georgia to begin her teaching career. It was during this time as a high school business teacher Mamie realized something was missing in the business curriculum. Students were not being taught “basic education” – how to get along with each other, work ethics, character, manners and goal setting, to name a few.
Recognizing the needs of her students to learn what Mr. Ziglar was teaching, she approached him with the notion of using his book, See You at the Top, as her textbook.
Mamie McCullough introduced See You at the Top to her business students at Central High School in Thomasville, Georgia, making this the first school to teach Mr. Ziglar’s book.
Student after student achieved dramatic improvement in performance and self-image. The local business leaders responded enthusiastically to the graduating students who applied the teachings of Zig Ziglar.
One morning Mamie received a phone call from Mr. Ziglar. The chipper voice on the other end of the phone sang out, “Miss Mamie, I talked to the Lord this morning, and He said you were going to come to work for me.” Without hesitation Mamie’s reply was, “That’s interesting, I talked to Him this morning, and He didn’t mention it!”
Mamie did go to work for Mr. Ziglar and became the president of the Positive Life Attitude “I Can” division of Zig Ziglar Corporation. Millions of students have benefited from the curriculum Mamie wrote based on the book, See You at the Top.
