E8: Jack Parsons at the Youth Group: From being unable to speak, to delivering a TED talk

Jack Parsons, CEO of the Youth Group and The UK’s Chief Youth Officer, joins Mad Influence to talk about his mission to help millions of young people into meaningful employment. Jack opens up about the personal reasons behind his drive, from being a young carer for his Mum who suffered from alcoholism, to realising he wanted to leave a legacy after being operated on for skin cancer. We talk about launching the Mentor Me programme which gives young people the chance to speak to industry experts and a brand new website. We also run through everything from why a multi-million pound apartment doesn’t equate to happiness, to building a personal brand, and how Jack went from being unable to speak at the age of six to being invited to do a TED talk.

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Content warning: This episode includes reference to alcoholism and a mention of violence.

You can find out more about what the Youth Group does at www.theyouthgroup.com.

You can follow Mad Influence on Twitter at @madinfluencepod and follow Helen Saul on LinkedIn at linkedin.com/in/helensaul/

We recorded this episode remotely with music by Joseph Mcdade