Page 173 - Leadership Lessons of the White House Fellows

THE LESSONS

Another leader who taught Quincy the value of listening was Correta
Scott King, the widow of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. As a Fellow, Quincy
had accompanied Mrs. King on a mission to South Africa and had helped
her pass safely through a violent clash in Soweto so that she could visit
with Nelson Mandela’s wife, Winnie. Years later, Mrs. King interviewed
Quincy for a position as executive director and chief operating officer of
the Martin Luther King Jr. Center for Nonviolent Social Change. The
interview was scheduled to last no more than two hours, but it ended up
taking ten hours.
“I missed four flights back to Boston,” Quincy said, chuckling. “And
when Mrs. King told me she was choosing me for the job over 200 other
people, I couldn’t believe it and I told her so. But she told me that much
of her decision rested on that day in South Africa when I listened to her
reasons for wanting to meet with Winnie despite the risk. She appreciated
that I listened to her that day and that I used an effective process to deter-
mine how I could help her achieve her goal while still keeping her safe.
She felt comfortable that I was the right person to help her turn the King
Center around to where it needed to be.”
While at work at the King Center, Quincy received a call from the
director of the FBI, who had an upcoming trip to Atlanta. He wanted
to make an appointment to stop by the center and visit Mrs. King while
he was in town. Quincy knew that the King family and the FBI, under
the leadership of former director J. Edgar Hoover, had not had a com-
fortable relationship during the civil rights movement, and so he was
prepared for Mrs. King to reject the offer. Instead, she told Quincy she
would love to meet the FBI director. “She told me to set it up, arrange
it,” Quincy said. “The FBI director was as shocked as I was. But they
had a great meeting, which led to the King Center getting involved with
providing nonviolent conflict resolution training for FBI agents. It was
remarkable.”
Mrs. King’s uncommon willingness to set aside differences and listen
was a source of surprise for Quincy more than once. He remembers receiv-
ing a call from the wife of James Earl Ray, Dr. King’s assassin. Mrs. Ray
wanted to offer portraits of Dr. King that her husband had painted in
prison. “Mrs. Ray admitted that the paintings weren’t very good ones,”
Quincy said. “Well, I knew how sensitive this would be for Mrs. King, so
I sat down with her and explained the situation. She told me she would

158