Former Beats by Dre exec Rafferty Jackson explains the importance of knowing your personal and professional purpose – and how to explain it to others.

“Sometimes storytellers need to motivate a sceptical audience to do the unimaginable.”

That’s according to Rafferty Jackson, who was an executive vice-president at Beats by Dre until the headphone company was sold to Apple for $3bn in 2014.

Speaking at Inspirefest 2019, Jackson used some examples from throughout history, as well as her experience at Beats, to highlight ways of getting ahead in business. In particular, she discussed the importance of knowing the reason behind your decisions, and clearly conveying that to others through storytelling, in order to get your idea off the ground.

“Steve Jobs knew he had an amazing product, but he also knew the best product doesn’t always win. He had to actually story tell to all of us what an iPhone was and what an iPhone did,” she said.

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Words by Sarah Harford