Do you have a new best friend?

I have been to two of these conferences in the past six months and both times I have met a ‘new friend’. Like the story written by Rachel Johnson in The Mail, we met, we instantly became friends and five minutes later, rather than over a glass of sparkling water, we enjoyed a vino or three and dropped our guard to dig deep into the big issues.

“Over-share” – perhaps, but nevertheless, true.

Sometimes, you meet people that you take a fancy to, regardless of gender or race. Usually bound for a mutual appreciation of a book, a person or a strappy pair of Jimmy Choo’s.

“It pains me to say it, but we could actually learn from men that talking about our partners, home lives and sex lives, as we do at the drop of a hat, is dangerous ground. It risks betrayal and backstabbing. It’s bad for business,” Johnson states.

I agree that in business, it becomes risky to “over-share” and somewhat stupid at times. Just because someone has a dress to kill-for or a handbag bought in the deepest corners of Portobello markets, doesn’t mean that they need to know what colour knickers you are wearing or who you fell out of bed with last night.

Business is business – after all.

However - it doesn’t always work in all situations quite like this. Sometimes, you meet “the one”. The woman that really gets you and who instantly breaks down the barriers and becomes firm friends; the type of friend that can travel hundreds, even thousands of kilometres, just to enjoy a chardonnay.

My two new friends are wonderfully talented women that shine on every level. They are smart, determined, ambitious, kind, generous, charismatic, humorous, challenging and real.  They don’t hold back with their opinions and are there to give business advice along with some handy suggestions of what to wear to that work function that may make or break you.

They are busy – super busy and they have children that take up much of their time, but they are the first on the telephone when you need some advice and they add value where many don’t because mostly, they have been their and done that.

In short, I largely disagree with Johnson’s commentary only through experience although women can learn to hold back, just a little, with what they share with men or women for that matter.

What do you think?

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