Bernice King, Chief Executive Officer, The King Center 
Interviewer: Lee Clifford, FORTUNE

Impact Initiative 2022 - Continuing A Legacy

Conferences

wow. Well that, that gives you something to think about uh, for the rest of the day. Uh yeah, keep going, keep going, keep going and, and by the way, I hope I'm going as strong at 90 years old as, as ambassador young is is today. Uh, thank you so much. So from Atlanta to the rest of the world, the name King obviously conveys the power of how non violent protests can achieve dramatic shifts in society, extending the legacy of Dr king and his wife has been the work of their youngest child, Dr Bernice King. We are very, very pleased to uh, some of you may have had the opportunity to tour the King center yesterday, but for all of you were very pleased that she's here today to share her critical efforts to reduce systemic inequities like affordable housing and the racial wealth gap, please welcome to the stage Dr Bernice King, chief executive Officer of the King Center in conversation with fortunes lee Clifford. Alright, so we said at the beginning of this conference yesterday that there was a very specific reason we chose Atlanta because it is such a vibrant business hub. Tell us about what what Atlanta means to you and how it's changed over your lifetime. Wow! Um, obviously Atlanta is my birth city. Um, I've left it maybe a couple of times but came back very quickly after attending college, my first semester um at Grinnell in Iowa. Um and I realized then that Atlanta is probably the best place for me to be. I think it's the best city in the world because we have found a way um, to really work together across a lot of lines, especially when crisis happens. We do, I think we do an excellent job of that. Um, but I'm disturbed. You know, I've seen incredible growth. I was telling somebody the other day, I was driving down the highway, I said, Wow, that's not the midtown I've known even in the last, you know, 10 years, it has shifted drastically, um beginning to look a little bit like New York these buildings are taking over. Um, but um, you know, with all of the growth and, and I'm proud of that, I'm proud of Atlanta um being very progressive economically, but I'm very saddened that we also have an incredible wealth gap here income inequality that we haven't seen to um really address. And so, um, you know, we, we, we still have a lot of work to do here in Atlanta and has the needle moved at all on the wealth gap? Uh, no, it hasn't really moved. It's a persistent problem that we're gonna have to really dig in and address and ask them very important questions. We're kind of moving things around on the board here. Um, but we're not, we're not, we're not, you know, addressing, you know, the dislocations that occur, you know, we call it here gentrification. Um, and how that has impacted so many communities, especially communities that look like me and I know that you as part of your mission, you have a nonprofit that's taking the affordable housing part of the well know the nonprofit that I'm a part of is the the King Center, which is the official living memorial to the life work and legacy of my father. The other part that's dealing with housing uh, is a for profit. Oh, tell us about that. You know, it's a Fintech company. Um, I joined forces forces with my class mate from leadership Atlanta, um started a fintech company to address um, the racial wealth gap and to also began to move renters into home ownership. And you know, when you look at the fact that most people, especially in the black community have a difficult time with home ownership has a lot to do with credit. You know, there's a lot of bias and discrimination and, and credit scores. Um, there's a lot of bias and discrimination. Um, just, you know, and a lot of our financial systems. Uh, and so you know, it's about thinking outside the box. So we said, hey, why don't we create the credit, You know, your credits on us? If you prove that you can consistently pay your rent on time because we should consider that. I mean, you know, for years, it's like, why hasn't anybody thought about including rent as a part of credit um because many people do pay their rent on time, they want to make sure they have a roof over their head. Uh, and so we decided to to do that and if you do that consistently. Um, and, and on time for 69 months, 12 months. Um, then you know, we will qualify. You get your home were also um working with investors who are helping us to help with some of the down payment. So, um, yeah, it's it's important work and it's work that I hope will inspire other people to begin to really think outside of the box. That's fantastic. What I know a lot of people in this room are people who maybe went into corporate jobs hoping to make money, you know, gained some prominence and then shifted into a field where they found a purpose and I'm wondering how did you find your calling? Well, I was born in the purple. You all are laughing, I'm serious surrounding me. You know, um, you know, I lived in a household of of a woman, an incredible woman that I just have to say when you think about martin Luther King, Jr going forward. Please do not forget Coretta scott King because we would not know him as the icon that he is without what she did. Um, after he was assassinated, this legacy is expansive. It's one of the most uh prominent social change legacies in the world. Um, and, and so she was responsible for that. So growing up around that, seeing her build the uh founder King Center, you know, build it from the ground up. Um, you know, it it influenced me and inspired me. She talked a lot about in our household about service to humanity. Um, but she lived it. So I got to see examples. Um, and so in, in my life, you know, it's kind of been weird because even as I wanted to try to run away from some of this stuff, um, you know, I ended up back like, I don't, you know, I appreciate being the daughter of such phenomenal people who not only changed the world, but in their death still changing the world, but it was like, God, well, I have my own identity. You know, I wanted to, I wanted Bernice to stand out. Um, and, and so I ran for a long time trying to do a lot of other things that, you know, I got called to ministry and I was like, oh man, I'm gonna be like, daddy, nobody's ever gonna recognize me, the shadow is gonna be here. So it took me eight years to answer that. Um, you know, but I went to law school because I said, if I can just go to law school, maybe if I can practice law, I can prove that I did something different than my parents never practice law. You know, I'm barred. You know, I'm a certified mediator, but never had an opportunity to practice I did serve as a law clerk. Um, but you know, on this journey, you know, I just discovered one thing really, Maybe two years ago that God called me to really continue a legacy that the world needs. You know, it's 55 years now since my father was assassinated and the world still is craving and looking to that legacy for answers. And so I now understand that I don't have to figure out why I'm here. What is my legacy? You know, I have people around me, they they are on legacy pursuits. But I was born into a legacy and it was just a matter of adjusting, shifting and getting comfortable with the fact that this thing is so large and there's so many other pieces to it um that you have a part to play. And one of the major parts that I play Has a lot to do. What my father said in his 1965, Nobel Peace Prize lecture, not the acceptance speech, but the lecture that he did the university, he said that I suggest that the philosophy and methodology of Nonviolence immediately become a subject of study and serious experimentation in every field of human conflict by no means excluding relations between nations. And now that was what um 58 years ago, I guess. And now this past year, in january, we at the King Center that I served as the ceo of um was able to launch with the help of the y um and online Nonviolence experience for everybody around the world. I mean, most people think about it as oh, that's for the people out there, fighting for social justice, you know, or those people protesting. But daddy really talked about it and personally embodied it as a way of life. He didn't get a chance to delve deep into that. Uh my mother took it further by institutionalizing the non violence and the work through the King Center. And now I have an opportunity to tell the world, hey, you can use this in your workplace. You can use this in your home. Yes, you can use it as we face these difficult, you know, challenging social justice issues because it applies in all aspects Nonviolence for us is a love center way of thinking, speaking, acting and engagement at least personal cultural and societal transformation. That's what it is and who would fight against a love centered way of doing things. We think love is weak, but love is powerful. Dr King embodied the power of love to confront injustice. He embodied the personality and the spirit of love that was able to bring transformation to an environment and allow people to be treated with dignity and respect. You know, and that's what's needed in every place around this world. People want to be respected, they want dignity, they want to feel like they belong, you know, they want to be treated with compassion and and they, you know, they want equity and fairness. So that's that's a large part of my my work. Do you feel that the business community is doing enough speaking out enough on the issues? You know, let me say this. The answer would be knowing yes, no. In the I mean yes in the sense that finally, but it took such tragedy and travesty to happen in our nation, you know, for this to happen and that's unfortunate. It should have been the case all along. I mean, corporations are a part of communities. Corporations comprise, people are part of communities. And for many years corporations acted as like as if they were in a silo separate and apart from the community, not understanding the responsibility to really not just give back to the community, but sure the community is secure and safe and and enriched and many cases, corporations were self focused, self interested about building up the corporate, you know, coffers and not, you know, empowering and uplifting the community. But I see some of that shifting today. So you know, that's the yes, but the but the know is there's always so much more to do. I think there's a commitment, I think corporations have to start being more conscious about developing an agenda around how do we really shift what's happening in our nation um to make an impact uh that kind of um balances off what's happening in Washington, which is nothing from average people. I mean it's it's happening for corporate America because corporations have, you know, um lobbyists there. But the average american doesn't have real representation because it's been intercepted by corporate interests who buy off elected officials. And then the people end up suffering. So that's why corporations have responsibility. If they're going to be there doing that, they need to be thinking, I'm not just here for shareholders, but I'm here for the people that work in my company. I'm here for the people who purchased my products and my services. I'm here for the people that the communities that, you know, I built my headquarters in. I'm here to make sure that those communities have fairness, that they have equity, you know, and they have justice. And so, you know, speaking of our non violence experience, I wanted to say in january, it's an 18 hour experience online. People can go to the King's Center Institute dot org and sign up for it. But working with the y we just will be launching a three hour experience. So corporations can now um embrace the way of Nonviolence so that we can begin to think more about being a person centered and not just profit center. Absolutely! If there are questions in the room, please raise your hand and we'll get a microphone over to you. Um I wanted to ask, I've, you've said before that sometimes being a consensus leader can be dangerous because you have to wait until there's consensus to take a stand, what uh what advice would you give to corporate corporate leaders who are thinking, gosh, this issue really matters to me. Should I put myself out there? Well, you know, it really is about courage, you know, and and conscientiousness and and compassion mixed together. Um I think too many people try to remain likable um when at the end of the day our responsibility is to do the best job that we can do to make sure um that the right thing is done. Uh and so you know, my challenge to corporate leader is you know, if if you dare to lead the way instead of tone, yeah, you're gonna get resistance that that comes with leadership. I don't know any leader that everybody agrees with 100% if there is one, I don't want to follow them. You know, my father was a great leader, we all know that you know, people didn't recognize it then, you know, but at the end of the day, he had people you know, who were challenging his leadership, his motives, calling him all kinds of things. Um but he had the courage to say this is the right thing to do and to embody what he was really, you know, promoting and I think it's about embodying those those principles and values um that are important to making companies very powerful and significant and purpose driven, but at the end of the day, there's a generation coming along now that corporations are going to have to shift, and so I suggest being proactive so they don't find themselves, you know, really in a bind, because, you know, a lot of young people now, it's like they don't they don't want to work for corporations who are not purpose driven in terms of really dealing with these, these issues. So they're looking for leaders that are heads of corporations that are taking these courageous stances when it comes to inspiration. I know you inspire millions of people who inspired view, wow, you know, that's a good question. Um and it's a hard question because, you know, as much as I try to look, you know, outward for um inspiration, and I'm not saying none comes, I will say that I'm always inspired by the next generation um when I see them rising up, standing up speaking up and doing um things that baffle your mind um coming from a from a young person. Um but most of my inspiration honestly just comes from, you know, my parents, you know, I I rely heavily on things that, you know, my mom shared with me, um things that I read of my father's, you know, one of the most incredible things, very simple, but it's been very helpful in my, in my life and my mother shared with me, is that the darkest hours always before the dawn, and um when you think about where we are now, Yes, it seems like it's a very dark times, but she was trying to convey to me that there's a dawn, you know, and if you keep your mind on the fact that there's a bond and keep doing the good work that you're doing, it will come, you know, But I forgot to ask her, how do you know when it's the darkest? Because it's like, it's more dark. But I keep in mind, you know, it's, it's the dawn is coming. So her teachings, you know, even about, you know, the expectations, There are a lot of expectations being the daughter of these great, um, individuals and I have to manage those expectations and, you know, carrying their legacy. Um, but she helped me so much when she would often say, look, and she said it to me and my siblings, she said, look, you don't have to be me. You don't have to be your father. But whatever you're doing this, like be your best self that has relieved so much pressure. When external expectations come my way, It's about being Bernice is best help. I'm not trying to be martin King or Coretta scott King, even though some people will look to me that way or you should do like they did. No, I'm trying to incorporate their values. But I'm gonna do it in this generation. I'm not gonna do it the best that I know how to do and then I get peace. That's amazing. We are down to our last minute and a half. And I wonder if you have a room here of uh, executives at some of the biggest corporations in America. We've had two days of meaningful discussions about how to change the world and make it more equitable. Just place. What do you want to send them off with? Well, I mean, I think I want to send you off with, um, understanding that this is hard work and it's a life, lifelong work. There's, there's no easy answers, no easy solution. Um, but we've got to challenge all of the elephants in the room and we have to do it in a loving and compassionate way. We've got to bring back to the environment that we work in. You know, um, a focus on how do we really create more equity, you know, in our environment? You know, how how do we do that work? How do we get to know even the people that we don't know so often change doesn't happen because we are ignorant of the other, whatever the other is. And we have to be courageous enough to connect with the other, understand the other and find out how we can align not allies though. Because allies suggest I'm helping you with your problems. Please note these are not somebody else's problems. These are humanity's problems, racism, humanity's problems. Um, inequity, humanity's problem. Uh, and so we get together and understand our sisterhood or brotherhood that we are family. We're in this together and we are going to stay committed for life and find a solution together to be able to address these inequities and challenge things when we see them and say we can do better and we will do better and we will make the necessary changes and work on the biases that we have. I feel like we truly saved the best for last. Thank you so much. That was amazing. And with that inspiring conversation we're wrapping up our Not Girls gathering of the fortune impact initiative. Thank you to all of our speakers and discussion leaders for sharing their knowledge and everyone who weighed in during the sessions. I also want to give my heartfelt thanks to Lindsay Stansbury, my co chair for this conference and all of my Fortune colleague who hosted conversations and last but not least, thank you to our community members and all of you who gathered and participated. As we build on the discussions and exchanges we've had over the last two days. Please keep an eye on your inbox is for information about our next meeting. Probably a virtual meeting uh set to happen in the first quarter of 2023. That's all for now. We wish you a wonderful holiday season and safe travels home. Thank you so much for joining us