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  • Happy client?

    Posted on August 24th, 2010 by Robbin and currently 3 commenting.


    Dare you to think about a baby laughing and not smile right now. Photo via flickr via five2b4u

    The other day I heard Dodds talking on the phone with a client. He walks and talks so I overheard tiny bits of the conversation.

    I asked him after he hung the phone up. “Happy client?’

    “Yes — we laugh at least once a day. “

    That made my heart sing. Just sing. We work so hard, all of us. It has to be fun. Doesn’t it?

    My motto.

    Have fun and make money.

    Not necessarily in that order.

    So how do you make the work you do more fun? How do you make it fun for your clients? Is fun a part of the new ROI?

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  • People who inspire me to learn more.

    Posted on August 6th, 2010 by Robbin and currently 6 commenting.


    Photo via flickr via Nikola Iliev

    I decided to take a few minutes this Friday morning do a short little list of a few people I am grateful for and admire in the Word of Mouth Marketing industry. I see these guys as the quiet thought leaders. Not the noisiest. Not the most obvious. Just the ones I think are smart and inspirational and very, very genuine. So here goes my very subjective list. I could likely list many more. But just for fun, I’ll start here today.

    John Moore with Brand Autopsy: We call him Cousin Oliver. He adds a ton of value to the work we do for our courageous clients. He is always, always willing to listen and thoughtfully share his ideas and opinions. We really love when he jumps on board the ship.

    Mack Collier: I like him and this thing he founded called #blogchat. Which he kind of puts up on Sunday nights and then quietly gets out of the way. It takes a humble spirit to do that “get out of the way” thing. And he is always willing to share and make connections. He is a people connector.

    Josh Hallett and Nick Gernert from Voce Connect: Technically those are two people but hey — it’s my list for the day. Josh and Nick are super smart about connecting people and building community. And we love the work they have done on the Disney Parks blog. Thoughtful work. (Nick I can’t find your twitter account. Help me out?)

    Jason Falls: He understands word of mouth marketing. And branding. And relationships. A very good combination. And he’s not afraid to be honest.

    Kristen Smith from WOMMA: She is a behind the scene kind of Executive Director. But she has a unique view in the industry that gives her a layered perspective about the whole thing. Just from the limited time I have worked with her, I can tell you this: she’s knows some things.

    Amy Taylor: Have you met the @nomeatballs lady? She’s made some real friends around here and we love her child like wonder with the world. She understands relationships too. And seems to cherish them in a way that is endearing and remarkable. That makes her cool in my eyes.

    Lisa Petrilli: She is fairly new at blogging but her insights are great. She came to see us during her vacation. And on really short notice she came to the FIRE session. She gets that relationships develop both offline and online. She brought that to life for me in a really nice, simple way.

    Steve Knox from Tremor: I know we’ve been loving on him a lot lately. But I will say this again, as he says himself, he has grey hair and not one single tatt. But this man gets it. If you get the chance to hear Steve speak. GO.

    That’s who I am thinking about on this early Friday morning.

    Who quietly and wonderfully inspires you to want to know more?

    One more thing. We have about 300 advance copies of Brains on Fire floating around the world now and people are starting to talk about it. That’s fun and exciting. The book will hit retail shelves on or about August 30th BUT you can pre-order online right now! IF you decided to jump in an make a purchase, let us know. We want to know you and hear with you’ve learned. And send us a picture will ya? We’ll find a way to share them.

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  • What makes us human?

    Posted on July 26th, 2010 by Robbin and currently 15 commenting.


    Several weeks ago, my friend Francois asked me to give him a photo and sentence or two on what it means to be human for the website for his newly re-named company:

    Human 1.0.

    Don’t you just love that name?

    I am crazy about Francois. I drink his champagne.

    His new book, The Hyper-Social Organization with co-author Ed Moran is a bit more academic than the Brains on Fire book, but we’re singing the same tune.

    It’s not about technology or social media, it’s about people.

    So back to the question Francois asked of me.

    I have to tell you his question stumped me. And since we are in the people (human) connecting business, I wanted to explore it deeper.

    So I watched pieces of this NPR episode. I asked people on twitter. I asked strangers on the tram in airports. I asked friends over wine. I asked kids. It was all very interesting. When I’m trying to figure something out my first inclination is to ask and listen hard.

    I got great answers.

    Opposing thumbs. Conscience (love that one). Morals. The ability to tell right from wrong. Empathy. Sentimentality. Think about it we are the only species to have wedding bands and sentimental keepsakes. One person said the inability to learn from our mistakes. Some people said I have no idea.

    Then I woke up one night and said out loud: soul. We are the only species with souls.

    Hmmm.

    I woke up the next morning thinking nope, that’s not it. I’ve had a dog or two with serious soul. So. I was left — still seriously stumped.

    A side note about soul and human-ness: Some time back someone’s actions were so freaking unexplainable to me that I hastily blurted out; you have lost your soul. What I meant to say is your actions don’t seem human to me they are so hard to understand. So soul and human are words I often associate together — for right or wrong. Guess that explains the middle of the night thought…

    Anyway, here’s the photo and the very short answer I gave Francois on Friday:

    Now. You go. What do you think? Share with me this Monday morning. I’m still searching for answers…

    What do you think makes us human?

    P.S. This will be seriously fun, fun week. Wednesday is the 4th Annual Brains on Fire FIRE session. This year @mackcollier will be our guest blogger. Can’t wait to meet him in person and finally shake his hand. Stay tuned.

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  • Pay it Forward via TimTV

    Posted on June 8th, 2010 by Robbin and currently 1 commenting.

    From our Kindred Spirit and constant source of quirky (and fiery) inspiration, TimTv.

    One day, I was sitting, looking out the window on a roadtrip to somewhere, and I remember feeling lucky. I felt like I was doing a good job earning my keep in Life. Not to any person, but to the world itself. I remembered something Mark Twain once said…

    “Don’t go around saying the world owes you a living. The world owes you nothing. It was here first.”

    Back in my teens and 20s I believed that somehow I deserved to have good things come to me. Friends, Love, Money. Fresh Fruit. I shared the same sense of entitlement that most people have. I had a childlike sense of “the world owes me these things”.

    But years, miles, experience and lots of study had re-shaped my opinion into something considerably less self-centered. I was taught that in order to be rewarded with the kinds of friends you want to have, you need to, yourself, be the kind of friend worth having. I learned that the quality of Love you will be worthy of being given is directly proportionate to the size and shape of your vessel.

    The biggest shift, simply put, was this: instead of believing that “the world owes me”, I began to recognize the gifts and appreciate the little things so much more than ever, and I realized that the opposite was actually true. “I owe the world”.

    Staring out that car window, it finally fell into place. My daily attitude was just that. I realized that, no matter what, I must repay all the kindness that the Universe has shown me, and that I must strive continually to be worthy of bigger and better understanding. “Understanding” from Lessons, which come from Challenges, which come from Adversity, which comes from Hardship.

    How about you? Do you feel the world owes you? Or do you owe the world..? Are you brushing it off with an I.O.U.? Are you going to claim bankruptcy & hope for reincarnation?

    yours quixotically,
    Tim of the Flaming Lotus Guild

  • Today’s challenge.

    Posted on May 27th, 2010 by Robbin and currently 5 commenting.

    So I can’t really explain why, but Google’s Jim Lecinski talk at The School of WOM about how Google builds it’s brand with WOM has been on rolling around in my mind since yesterday. You can see it here.

    He made the point that everyone loves a challenge. And it’s true when you think about it. We humans are a bit competitive, aren’t we?

    Yesterday in the airport I realized that about three months ago I picked up this habit of cussing like a drunken sailor. Seriously, not sure where that came from but I was telling Dodds and challenging myself to stop.

    It was pretty funny. Every time I said a cuss word, Dodds would just repeat it under his breath. It helped.

    So far this morning, I am 100% cuss free.

    Anyway. I thought I would toss out a challenge to our readers today. Inspired by Cordell really. He and I were doing a little welcome home “one liner email exchange” as we often do and he said the most compelling one liner ever:

    It would be great if for one day, for everyone, anytime you said something mean or nice about someone else, angels whispered in your ear something mean or nice someone in the world was saying about you.

    Hmmmm. Hmmmm.

    How’s that for a word of mouth idea?

    Anyway. Here’s your challenge from me today. Come on, play. Why not?

    Today I challenge you to go the entire day without saying anything mean or snarky about another person. Online and offline.

    Try instead to channel that lack of commenting into a moment of understanding. Let’s go. Let me know if your day is worse or better for the wear.

    OR for those of you with a bit more time on your hands or perhaps a little less self control, take the google search story challenge and create a video.… and share it with us.

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