I was introduced to Victor David by a mutual friend, who sent an email with the subject line “Linking two born networkers”.

Victor, the 256th person I’ve met on my quest to have lunch with 500 strangers, turned out to be a very good networker and excellent company.

Victor grew up in Holland, before moving to Sydney in his early thirties, to experience a different way of life. He secured his first job in Australia through networking.

In 2019, Victor founded The Networking Experience, a training and coaching company that helps professionals improve their networking skills, because he’d noticed that while he enjoyed networking, it was something a lot of people found hard – even those who were socially adept.

During my lunch with Victor, I quickly discovered why he’s such a great networker. He’s humble; he’s got a growth mindset; he’s an attentive listener; he asks thoughtful questions; and he wants to give others a chance to shine.

Notably, Victor didn’t feel like he had to make any profound statements or deliver any witty one-liners (although he’s smart and has a good sense of humour). Instead, he was friendly and took a genuine interest in me. That’s all.

It goes to show that networking isn’t as hard as some might think.

The mutual friend who introduced Victor and me is also an excellent networker – which I don’t think is a coincidence. When you’re open to new experiences, like-minded people notice and introduce you to other like-minded people.