Elevator Speech

So, after two decades of working/living among very low-income persons, here are the main points of my "elevator speech" on what I've learned:

1.  Consult the experts on poverty---that would be the so-called "poor" themselves. People closest to a problem usually know most about it, or at least the most important things about it.

2.  Stay to your mission--refine, but never abandon.

3.  Make respect your "default" setting.

4.  Partner for collective impact--give credit to everyone except your organization.

5.  Don't sweat failure--embrace risk.