Written by Linkedin Are you ready for Tomorrow competition Winner Georgina Hurcombe

It was during the fantastic business workshop given by Sebastian Schelper, Head of innovation works at BMW, that I recognised that I learn best when taught in story form; through enjoyable relatable analogies, personal experiences, and real opinions. Therefore, I’ve decided to describe my four days in Iceland with the LinkedIn Skills squad as a story, talking about how I was feeling, and what I’ve taken from it. Here’s my story:

No one really thinks they are going to win a competition, especially with a 1 in 60,000 chance of winning. You think about winning much like you think about winning the lottery and what you would spend the money on, but you never dare to really think you might actually win. Are You Ready for Tomorrow

So when I got an email saying that my LinkedIn profile had beaten 60 thousands others and got me a place at the LinkedIn are you ready for tomorrow ? Skills Squad competition in Iceland I was delighted! (The kind of delighted that warrants jumping in the air and whooping)

To win business mentoring in Iceland with top business leaders including the famous Wladimir Klitschko was very exciting and I literally told everyone that would listen (even the LoveLove studio postman) that I was off to Iceland.

My partner who is a big boxing fan was extremely jealous that I was meeting his idol. I wondered at the time what I could learn business-wise from a boxer. It later transpired a lot!

At the airport, bag packed to the full 20Kg allowance, (as what does one wear to Iceland especially for business coaching?) I was overjoyed to spot Femi, another of the UK winners and excitedly exchanged introductions. After we landed we were greeted by Peter who is Director of Consumer Marketing at LinkedIn. Since Femi and I had  Peter too ourselves in the car on the way to The Ion Adventure hotel we used our time to pick his brains on LinkedIn and their exciting plans for the future.

However, we soon became distracted after our car started off-roading down what can only be described as an ice track, the kind of track you see on the TV show Ice Truckers. I did question our driver on if he had snow tires on as we hung on for dear life and he laughed at our ‘silly tourist question’. As our driver maneuvered over the precarious ice,  Femi, Peter and I  held our breaths and looked out at the horizon of white snow.

As we twisted and turned up the track to the Ion adventure hotel, which looked both glamorous and exactly like a James Bond Villain’s layer, we were met with big smiles from the LinkedIn, the Skills Squad and BMB agency. After refreshing we met the rest of the winners. They were Darja Gutnick of 12grapes, Gero Hesse of Medienfabrik, Dr Ingo Dahm of Dahm and Partner, Wendy Kendall of Global Business Allstars and of course my plane buddy Femi Oni of UBS investment bank.  They were all absolutely lovely, and, like myself, really excited.

Ion Adventure hotel Iceland

We were then ushered over to the Northern Lights bar to meet Wladimir Klitschko and have our first session. We sat down and met the giant of a man; he is huge like a mountain!  Wladimir greeted us with a warm smile and a big hello and we soon felt very comfortable which was surprising considering he is famous for knocking people out for a living

As we sat down he asked us all about ourselves and then started his business presentation for one of the the LinkedIn are you ready for tomorrow session, which of course had a boxing theme, with a lovely animation that discussed his 5 step theory of how to turn defeat into victory, and the moving force mindset. His steps consist of the following:

Step 1: There are no problems, only challenges

Step 2: Consequence Management – What will happen If I don’t fulfill  my personal and business goals

Step 3: Vision – Believe in your vision and spend time visualising

 Step 4: Obsession – You must be obsessed with what you do and passionate. If your not passionate about what you do don’t do it

Step 5: Allies – Align yourself with Allie, contacts/ friends that can teach you, mentor you and help you grow as a person. Even in the right circumstances seemly competitors can become Allies.

Wladimir Klitschko & Georgina Hurcombe

“Can you say what goal you are currently working towards? If so, congratulations. Amazingly, most people don’t.  At best they have intentions, but they are not goals. They might then refer to their target agreement or the business report, in which the management and supervisory board set out their “vision” in flowery terms. But I mean your specific immediate goal that you want to have achieved by the end of the week, the month or the quarter. Do you not have one?”
Wladimir Klitschko 2016

Throughout the session Wladimir spoke warmly in story form about his brother and fiancé and life experiences that not only made Wladimir extremely likeable, but put real perspective to his points. Wladimir spoke about his fight with Tyson Fury, the obstacles and plans for his future challenges he spoke in such a way that you could really visualise them and somehow he related them all back to us as seamless practical business and life advice.

Finally, Wladimir gave us a boxing glove where we had to sign and which Wladimir also signed stating “I am the moving force!” Wladimir also gave us each paperwork which we had to sign a contract with ourselves stating our future goals and objective which we were to put into the Glove. The idea that the Glove then sits on our desks in our offices with the thumb pointing up and if we ever forget our vision or path we can pull out the paperwork and remember our set goals. I thought the idea of a physical object that will sit on my desk, reminding me of the learning’s of the day was fantastic. So yes, I have ordered a glass box to put the Glove in and as I write this Im sat looking at this glove with its thumb pointing upwards. After a fantastic dinner and subsequent toast with the rest of the skill squad and Wladimir the winners said our goodbyes to this inspiring man.

The next two days consisted of fantastic business workshops with the rest of the Skills Squad. As previously mentioned I really enjoyed BMW Sebastian Schelper’s masterclass where he spoke about innovation and his story which also included the idea of mindfulness and meditation.

I also really enjoyed my one to one coaching session with Ross Toynbee where we discussed Lovelove Films and my set objectives for the business.  You might think that I only learnt from the Skills Squad but I actually think one of the most positive outcomes was meeting the other winners who were all  truly inspirational people and we bonded extremely well. We shared stories and gave each other tips over dinners and as we hung out.

On the last day we all went out for a golden circle tour. We were greeted by huge 4×4 trucks. As we drove along we were told fabels of Icelandic tales of trolls, elves, and 13 Santa Clauses that kidnap children (terrifying)  by the driver as we took in the beautiful island. The driver showed us geysers and we stood in between tectonic plates. We also took in the famous Icelandic frozen waterfall and saw locations from Game of Thrones.

Georgina Hurcombe  – Golden Circle Tour, Iceland (Amazing Tours Iceland)

At the end of this eventful day we all had a lovely dinner together and took in the green skies of the Northern Lights as they danced around the Icelandic sky; full of new wisdom and new friendships, or as Wladimir Klitschko would say ‘new allies.’ Thankyou LinkedIn for such gret  prize and yes I hope I’m all  ready for tomorrow!