29 Aug Poverty – a lack of cash not character

Poverty is not a character flaw! A participant in one of my workshops last week reminded me of this great TED talk (nearly 4M views!). It talks about the effect of poverty on the ability to make decisions, think long-term etc.

The workshop participant openly said the TED talk helped her deal with the shame of her limited financial circumstances…. realising that poverty is simply a lack of cash, not something wrong with her as a person. She shared the TED video as a helpful resource for the others in the audience (who were all dealing with chronic illness, poor mental health or other forms of disadvantage).

The TED speaker says it turns out everything he used to believe about poverty was wrong ie “assuming there’s something wrong with poor people. If we could just change them, if we could just teach them how to live their lives, if they would only listen”…

As a financial wellbeing speaker and coach, it’s a timely reminder that what I do is never about “fixing someone” or simply “educating them” … instead my focus is how I can support and empower individuals to tap into their own strengths.

I hope you’ll also enjoy and be inspired by the TED talk – I enjoyed listening to it again!