Toy Story 3 is an incredible story. Yep, even at my age I cried through the buildup to the ending. (The fact that my oldest three children are 20, 18, and 16 may have something to do with that; the three youngest are getting old, too: 8, 10, and 13; so, yes, it’s expensive to go to a movie!)

One of the lead characters is Sheriff Woody. If you can grasp Woody’s worldview, you just might get that social media return on investment you say you’re looking for.

A Toy Story 3 sticker collection available through one of my clients

Early into this third installment, Woody summarizes the worldview he’s displayed throughout the series. It happens shortly after the dinosaur bemoans the lack of attention he’s getting from Andy, their owner: “We’re NEVER going to get play time!” he says.

Woody stops the toys, channels Tony Robbins, and says, “It’s NOT about PLAY TIME! It’s about being here for Andy!”

That’s the key. Notice the difference in worldviews. That’s the element that must change IF your company wants to “leverage social media” or leverage anything else that involves connecting with human beings.

The dinosaur’s referent point of priority was himself. For him, life was “all about me.” Woody’s referent point was not self, but Andy. The movie shows us Woody’s worldview positioned him for success. At the end of the movie, we see that all of the toys found ultimate value NOT in being played with. Instead, their joy and fulfillment came from being there—meeting the needs of someone else.

Toy Story 3 presents the hero we crave. Woody is a hero in so many ways:

• he was driven by purpose (not policy; not procedure; not public opinion)
• he was willing to stand against popular opinion to stay true to purpose
• he was willing to endure personal sacrifice to pursue purpose
• he not only stayed true to purpose for himself, he also constantly sought to keep the community focused on purpose
• he was willing to embrace everyone, even a villain
• he took sacrificial action to help that villain
• he confronted with crisis of purpose, he made the necessary adjustments but stayed true to purpose anyway (note how the whole community came to the same conclusion)

Every company needs a Woody. Sometimes such a hero can be “at the top.” These days, it’s just as likely your Woody is that twenty-something arguing for more resources to engage with your Andys online (i.e., the one who’s begging you to take Tweeters and Bloggers seriously).

Who’s your Woody? Like Sheriff Woody says, “If you don’t have one, get one!”

[the Toy Story 3 Sticker Collection is available from SmileMakers]

Seth continues to demonstrate the use of new currency: free. Here’s his personal addendum to the best-selling Linchin. It’s called Insubordinate.

Seth asks, “What the opposite of insubordinate?” The answer requires a label none of us entrepreneurs and small business owners want to wear: SUBordinate. So, I reckon the world of opportunities awaits the insubordinate. Wonder if corporate America could turn the insubordinates loose?

Download your free 40-page ebook Insubordinate. (shared with permission of the author)

Get an MP3 of Seth Godin’s small group presentation of Linchpin in Manhattan recently.

Wherever I go to speak, entrepreneurs and corporate marketing professionals come up to me afterward and ask, “But what do we DO with social media?”

So, forget all the fancy plans; forget the ever-unsatisfying pursuit of ROI. Please just let this video sink in. Let this one thought permeate all that you do on social media. If you will, I guarantee you that you will discover exactly what you should DO on social media.

Here’s the foundational principle at work on social media:

• everyone wants to be heard
• everyone wants to be understood
• everyone wants to know his or her life matters.

You START that process by paying attention. On Twitter that starts by following the people who are following you. Period. It is just that simple. The next step is making social media about them, not you. And that starts by acknowledging their presence.

[Whenever I say something like this, someone with 250 followers will try to tell me they follow only people who add value to their own social media experience. I won't tackle the challenges with that argument in this post, but I would encourage you to seriously think through the value system that would produce such a conclusion.]

Please watch T.J. Thyne’s famous video and then notice the people around you: acknowledge & affirm—it’s how to win with social media and in real life, too.

PS. You are AWESOME!

Now that everyone is a publishing, sooner or later, you will have to deal with a negative blog review. When someone posts negative comments about you or your work online, it will feel like a bad experience. It’s actually a relationship-building opportunity.

Recently blogger Bill Parlaman wrote a negative review of a post by Michael Martine (famously known as Remarkablogger on Twitter) and the product SEO Scribe. Parlaman called the post SEO Scribe-8 Reasons SEO Scribe is NOT Worth the Money!

Parlaman’s post was challenging for several reasons:

• it was a pointedly negative review
• he had some solid reasons in support of his negative blog post
• he leveraging someone else’s product to sell his own product

Here’s Michael Martine’s response:

And, here’s Bill Parlaman’s reply to Michael:

Michael kept his cool, replied calmly; so did Bill. The end result? Most likely a strengthened relationship between the two men and a solid pro/con presentation about the product in question. Readers are the clear winners (the two bloggers win, too).

Here are seven steps to help you keep your cool and respond to negative blog posts or comments so that you, the reviewer, and your audience all win.

1. Monitor
2. Smile
3. Respond
4. Acknowledge
5. Affirm
6. Contrast
7. Appreciate

Monitor: whether you want to “do social media” or blog, you are already the subject (or target) of folks who are already creating content. It pays to monitor what’s being said about you. To start, set up Google Alerts on your name and company name. For more sophisticated monitoring options, see the comprehensive wiki created by Ken Burbary and follow Marshall Sponder, Nathan Gilliatt and Michelle Chmielewski on Twitter.

Smile: apparently, negative reviews and comments hit our brains in the region that fires up the self-defense mechanisms. It’s natural to feel attacked when someone says something bad about you or your products. In my experience, people rarely intend personal attacks when they right. So, when you’re monitoring turns up negative content about you, before you move to step three, pause at step two long enough to get a smile on your face (picture the author of negativity as your converted best friend enjoying your favorite beverage with you this Saturday. Maybe picture them in grotesquely out of style 1980s clothing or something.). Wait until you feel the smile in your heart before proceeding to step three.

Respond: no need to simply ignore negative comments. Go ahead and engage. This is a chance to contribute, to learn, to lead, and to gain new friends. It’s not a time to hide.

Acknowledge: usually the negative review has at least a kernel of truth underlying the negative post. Seek to understand their issue and acknowledge it. Notice how Michael did it: “You’re absolutely right…”

Affirm: let the author know you value them as an individual. While the Acknowledge step deals with accepting relevant details/specifics of the negativity, the Affirm step deals with accepting the human being who wrote the piece. Both are essential for developing relationships online (and offline, too).

Contrast: after acknowledging the nugget of truth in the negative reviewer’s content, clearly present any mitigating or offsetting features. Michael positioned the SEO Scribe as something appropriate for people who want to be more efficient with their time. Within his response, Michael also offered a clear call to action (try it) and reassured readers that it would be safe to try it.

Appreciate: both men started their content with an expression of appreciation. It’s hard to be too upset with someone who says, “thank you.”

Don’t let negative content about you or your product discourage you or slow you down. You can engage the content and it’s creator in a way that adds value for everyone. Chances are, a negative review will lead to more business for you if you will.

There are NO tips, NO habits, NO secrets, NO steps to success in this clip. HOWEVER, if you’ll pay close attention to it, and to the subject, Chris Brogan, you will see a way under-utilized key to success anyway. Chris doesn’t talk about ROI, making money, building connections, or creating compelling content. All his does is share a simple story about his experience of becoming a Duck Master at the famous Memphis Peabody.

Would YOU please watch the video and then share your thoughts on what “secret” Chris demonstrates? (If you’re a politician, PLEASE watch this about 99 times so you’ll get it. We desperately NEED you to get it.) If you’re a fan of Brogan’s already, just enjoy. You already know why he’s successful.

I shot this video in the lobby of the Memphis Peabody Hotel after a Chris Brogan keynote arranged by Amy Howell and sponsored by FedEx, Pinnacle Airlines, The Memphis Peabody, Social Media Club Memphis, Vanick Group, Judy Mclellan and Howell Marketing Strategies. Right after shooting this, I went to lunch with Chris at Huey’s where Chris was kind enough to let me carry the official Duck Master cane and receive the local glory commensurate with it. (The fried pickles from Huey’s were fantastic.)

[Glenn Le Santo's fun clip of Trey Pennington with Chris Brogan in Exeter, England earlier this year for Scott Gould & Drew Ellis's LikeMinds Conference.]

Want to accumulate influence? Here’s the really, really cool thing about it: all you have to do is really pay a lot of attention to others. Boom. There you go. That’s it. When that attention comes from a heart overflowing with a genuine interest and care for others, you’re well on your way to becoming a media maven. To give you a solid role model to watch/study, here’s an interview with the Boston Media Maven, CC Chapman.

It’s a long interview and it showcases my still-developing audio-editing skills (or lack thereof), so there are a couple of times where I cut out stuff I didn’t mean to. Still, there’s plenty of gold in CC’s conversation. Love his philosophy, “Now there are no boundaries on who you can help.”

The Boston Media Maven, CC Chapman. He tells you how easy it is to be a media maven, too.

In the interview, Professor Chapman (he’s an adjunct prof), gives us some predictions about the future (“location-based everything is going to gangbusters,” and “tablet computing might just come of age, and not just because of Apple”), and shares stories of others who shine the spotlight on others (sadly, neither one of us could come up with a politician who was good at using social media, or ANY media, to shine the spotlight on others; maybe there’s one out there).

He also gave some beautiful advice for developing an effective online presence: “say ‘hi’ to everyone.”

[direct link to podcast with CC Chapman MP3 file in case the player gives you trouble]

CC Chapman: Web | Twitter
Steve Garfield: Web | Twitter

Okay, yes, Chris Brogan is a living legend amongst bloggers. AdAge not only lists him as a Power 150 blogger, they keep him in the top 5. Yes, Chris is also an accomplished author and extremely well-paid professional speaker, too. So, when this legend goes to a conference, what does he expect? Just before the launch of Like Minds 2010 in England, I asked him. Here’s what he said…

Chris let me shoot this video not too long after we first met. Afterwards, I was able to spend three full days with him (including 2 hours sitting on the floor of Bovey Castle listening to him and watching him teach me and Olivier Blanchard everything about blogging; but that’s for another post). Conclusion? Chris meant exactly what he said and it shows: he thrives off listening to other people and hearing their stories about what they’ve tried and what they want to achieve.

Chris Brogan does a great job making other people feel important. He could have just jotted his name. Instead he created something of value.

Here’s another really cool thing. A large group of Twitter friends in the US purposed to meet together IRL (in the real world) before the year was out. Memphis marketing maven Amy Howell was in on the conversation, arranged to have Chris Brogan speak for an event in Memphis, and then invited our group to have dinner with Chris the night before. Next week, I’ll be driving over to Memphis to meet up with a group of Twitter-to-real-life friends, where I’ll see another Twitter-to-real-life and fellow international speaker real friend, Chris Brogan once again. Thank you Amy!

This is the age of opportunity.

Author of See You at the Top, Secrets of Closing the Sale, How to Raise Positive Kids in a Negative World, Courtship After Marriage and more—Zig Ziglar—LIVES character. Though I’m thrilled beyond measure to be a speaker on the same program with Zig, I was even more blessed to stand back and simply watch him.

Watch Zig and you’ll discover the secret of persuasion (not really a secret though), or the secret to success in general: Zig cares about people. No one’s a stranger to Zig. Watching him care for others reminded me of an essay by Francis Schaeffer: There are No Little People. To Schaeffer, to Ziglar, to anyone who’s truly successful, there are no little people.

Watch and see for yourself…

More Zig Ziglar clips to come. As you listen to Zig as he has simple conversations with people, you’ll notice the profound influence Zig has had on my own outlook. He’s worth studying and following.

“Ideas worth sharing.” You probably recognize the famous tagline of TED, the phenomenal annual meeting of super bright presenters. Hopefully you’re already a regular consumer of the free video content offered through TED and, if you’re an iPhone user, hopefully you’ve already downloaded the TED app (yep, there IS an app for that).

Here’s a widely-known secret (it’s only a valuable secret to you if you’re willing to open your imagination and step away from conventional wisdom): here’s a hint—what kind of people would even CARE about hearing ideas worth sharing? Ready? While TED is certainly all about ideas worth sharing, it creates immense potential riches by gathering PEOPLE WORTH MEETING™! Unless you’re going to a Thunder Lizard training conference, you’ll probably get the most out of the conferences you attend by both listening to the presenters on stage AND the people you meet off-stage.

Here are some people worth meeting from the inaugural TEDxGreenville (there are hundreds more, too; the schedule was so full, these were the only interviews I could capture; wish I could have spoken with everyone there):

Maxim Williams of Bon Secour St. Francis Hospital System

Maxim Williams: LinkedIn | Web | Twitter

Steve Bailey of Merus Refreshments Services, Inc.

Steve Bailey: LinkedIn | Web | Facebook

Steve Bailey and Nigel Robertson enjoying freshly brewed coffee courtesy of Merus

Okay, this was just for fun. After watching Steve interact with folks, I just had to capture at least one conversation. He’s tireless and engaging (and the coffee really IS good, too).

Nigel Robertson: Twitter | Web

Russell Tripp of Infusion Web & Video

Russell Tripp: Twitter | Web

Russ Davis of Sandler Sales Training

Russ is a joy to be around. He’s humble, helpful, and in this clip, humorous—I put him on the spot about something totally unrelated to TEDx and he was a good sport about it all.

Russ Davis: LinkedIn | Twitter | Web | Phone 864-527-0497

Tim March of Thee Inner Cirkus

Walking on broken glass. That’s what Tim March did. He also gave everyone permission, just in case someone was waiting for permission, to be that crazy thing they dream of being.

Tim March: Twitter | Facebook | Web

TEDxGreenville was incredibly well organized, held in an exquisite setting, and brought together brilliant minds to present, to listen, to meet, to hear, to create something worth doing. A huge THANK YOU to Peter Waldschmidt and the incredible organizational team for bringing TEDx to Greenville.

Photos from TEDxGreenville on Phil Yanov‘s site.
TEDxGreenville video on GreenvilleHD.com

Bet you heard the economy stinks, right? Bet you actually might even FEEL something that sure feels like a stinky economy. As of this moment, Edelman Digital has 30 job openings. How do I know this? I heard it directly from Rick Murray, President of Edelman Digital.

Rick says Edelman is always on the lookout for people who are naturally curious, not self-absorbed, and are willing to boldly be creative. Since July 2009, Rick’s division has added 50 new employees and he says he needs 30 more right now.

You can hear our conversation about Edelman’s cultural transformation to embrace social media, what tools have their attention at the moment, where they see social media heading and what’ll be required for companies to leverage it, and, most importantly, his exact words on what it takes to grab one of those 30 job openings at Edelman in the USA (he says they have even more openings outside the US).

Rick Murray: Twitter | Web

UPDATE: Just heard from Rick (2/23/2010 11:00pm). He clarified that Edelman has 30 job openings in DIGITAL right now PLUS more openings in PR. If you needed a bright spot on the economic horizon, take a look at Edelman, be bold, put your serious/fun game face on, and do something to show your personality (and your track record of results). Now is the time to launch.