I’ll be in New York next week attending the Good Experience Live (GEL) conference. I’m bootstrapping this year, so my conference budget is pretty low; I’m excited to be able to make it to this one. If you’re interested in going, registration closes today. If you’re in town and want to catch up, drop me a line.

To prepare, Phil Terry suggested reading Never Eat Alone, by Keith Ferrazzi. I picked it up yesterday and tore through it. It has all sorts of good advice for connecting with others and maintaining those connections. These skills aren’t easy for an introvert like me, but they’re critical to the success of my business, so I need to suck it up and get out there more.

Verizon CEO rails against his customers.

Seidenberg, for instance, said people often complain about mobile phone service because they have unrealistic expectations about a wireless service working everywhere. Verizon Wireless, a joint venture of Verizon and Vodafone, is the state’s largest mobile phone provider.

“Why in the world would you think your (cell) phone would work in your house?” he said. “The customer has come to expect so much. They want it to work in the elevator; they want it to work in the basement.”

Seidenberg said it’s not Verizon’s responsibility to correct the misconception by giving out statistics on how often Verizon’s service works inside homes or by distributing more detailed coverage maps, showing all the possible dead zones. He pointed out that there are five major wireless networks, none of which works perfectly everywhere.

Does he realize how awful he sounds in these comments? There are much smarter ways to say the same thing. Smarter than “if we don’t meet your expectations, call our 800 number and we’ll gladly help you lower your expectations.”

Best response ever to someone bragging about their corporate paradigm shift.

“Copernicus’s revelation that the Earth revolves around the sun brought about a paradigm shift,” he said. “Your revelation to outsource the payroll department probably shouldn’t carry equal cachet.”

I just updated the look and feel of Life Times Voice. Go check it out!