Conversations with Victoria

Written for the Tribune, Nassau, Bahamas. July 23rd 2019. The title of this column is deliberately ambiguous to enable a conversation about my two intended meanings: the necessity of so-called ‘networking’ for business purposes and when or how it does or doesn’t work, with particular emphasis on how women perceive the use of networking. The following viewpoint, my own, may well be controversial as it is the opposite of current conventional thinking. My personal bias as a female who has had a diverse business background, is that (a) I really dislike the word ‘networking’ and (b) how it is used exclusively by women as if we collectively need some sort of special help to navigate the world of business. Perhaps in some instances we do but I have never heard a man or a group of businessmen use that word. Yet they make connections which may come in useful in their particular line of work and call upon those contacts when appropriate, but they make them in the ordinary course of thei

Tribune column for July 16 th 2019. Change of any kind is an adventure. The question is how you view this challenge? Is your attitude towards it positive, to be anticipated with excitement and interest as to the outcome or does it seem frightening and uncomfortable? The answer for most people will probably be a bit of both. Whether we decide to make certain changes or whether they happen to us and they will, we have to learn how to handle them for the best possible outcome, even in a negative situation.  Obviously there’s good change and bad change, some changes are small and others bigger but either way change of any kind exerts stress on us and while it can be energy draining, our attitude will make the difference to our reaction either enhancing or diminishing its impact on us. We can change the kind of clothes we wear, our lipstick, or our nail polish - little things that may lift our spirits - or we can take a day off and go sit in the sun, visit with a friend or spend