‘IT IS NOT enough for a handful of experts to attempt the solution to a problem, to solve it and then to apply it. The restriction of knowledge to an elite group destroys the spirit of society and leads to its intellectual impoverishment." — Albert Einstein

While running at the gym the other day I looked up at the TV and saw an interview with Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva. I became transfixed. I had never heard such inclusive language from a world leader. I began to email key phrases on my BlackBerry to myself so I would not forget.

Raised in extreme poverty, Lula — as the Brazilians endearingly call him — echoes the wisdom of Einstein that in order to truly bring about economic change everyone must be invited to the banquet. I love his innocence. Often when he is sitting with world leaders he says he realizes he was the only one in the room who went without food as a child and came from extreme poverty. Thank goodness he had the courage to conquer his fears and can bring firsthand experience of the impoverished to the decision-making tables. The resulting perspective is enlightened and can benefit us all in our communities, cities and countries — if we choose to listen.

Lula made three key points in his interview:

•Too often people become victims of process.

I agree. Bureaucracy and fear can cause the best organizations run by good people to end up doing things that marginalize people or worse still perpetuate poverty, joblessness and violence.

For anyone who has felt their "hands were tied" in a bureaucracy, draw strength from Lula and his commitment not to be a "victim of process." If you want to go deeper, try repeating the phrase "we will not allow others to become victims of our process" a few times today and watch the results in your decision making.

•Develop policy models that everyone can build.

There are grassroots economic models emerging locally that engage all levels of government with non-profit, private sector and education groups in revitalizing neighbourhoods. Spryfield is truly leading the way and the business commission there should be applauded for putting first the safety of a single mom at night and the transportation needs of immigrants. Change is coming.

•Make investments that create jobs.

This is his biggest point and, if followed, it will truly lift us out of the global economic crisis far more effectively than bailing out mismanaged banks. An example of how to implement this would be Afghanistan. The Afghanistan Investment Support Agency says the fastest way to stabilize their community is to provide infrastructure that will empower the impoverished to gain meaningful jobs. Imagine a dynamic economy in Afghanistan.

If multinational corporations invested in the creation of jobs and incorporated literacy training in their job benefits how much safer the streets of Halifax would become. The impoverished of Afghanistan grow poppies when there is no option of other crops. And those poppies create drugs. And those drugs are on our shores, taking Halifax from 10th-most violent to seventh-most violent city in Canada. We don’t have to be Einsteins to figure this out.

Barb Stegemann is an author and motivational speaker living in Bedford.