Like Father, Like Son

Photo by Dana L. Day

By Carolanne Roberts

John Robinson from Eupora, MS, would be so proud. With wisdom, love and personal example, he reared son Ken, who has taken his father’s nuggets of knowledge forward to do good things. He has brought up great children, given of himself to causes that matter and ventured – even when comfortable retirement is possible – into the realms of social justice, making differences where change was needed.

“My father had wisdom,” Ken Robinson recalls of the many heartfelt lessons that loop and replay in his mind yet today. “He talked to me about the values of getting more done with people than by yourself. Of the importance of values. And to be candid, honest and transparent, treating people with respect. I was always amazed by the people who would stop to ask his advice on things.

“As a kid, I never focused on his lack of education – he only finished the sixth grade. My father always displayed through experience, not academics, a positive mindset, a can-do attitude and none of this ‘woe-is-me’ questioning about why something happened. That’s something I’ve used throughout my career and also with my kids.”

John Robinson lived to see his son, the youngest of six, graduate in 1977 with a banking and finance degree from Mississippi State University – the first college graduate in the family. He also saw Ken’s marriage and the beginnings of a successful lifelong career at Procter & Gamble (P&G) in Cincinnati. He did not live to see Ken and wife Windy’s three children – Kevin, a broadcast meteorologist; Tim, who works in finance with General Electric, and Kenisha, a medical assistant eyeing med school – graduate from college. Nor did he know of the international scope of Ken’s P&G career, which included a stint living in Saudi Arabia with his family and travel to almost 60 countries. He did not witness the key role Ken played in establishing and perpetuating the $110 million National Underground Railroad Freedom Center or all the other board service and nonprofit work, which today includes an initiative to mentor young African American males.

But for Ken, the long-ago messages play back, laced with memories.

“He told me back then that if you show yourself to be aspiring, people will help you,” Robinson says. “I always felt that way with my professors at Mississippi State.”

Robinson’s mid-1970s years in Starkville came at a time when integration was an ongoing national issue.

I found my professors at State to be very fair,” he recalls. “Some were tough, but all were fair. That experience has helped me throughout my career. I found that people who took me under their wings and coached me became a part of who I am. Mississippi State was an extension of the values I learned growing up.

The important word “value” peppers Robinson’s conversation and his actions. It certainly informs his long-time work with the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center, located in Cincinnati just steps from the Ohio River – that great barrier that once separated the southern slave states from the free northern states. His involvement in what the Center’s website describes as “a museum of conscience, an education center, a convener of dialogue and a beacon for inclusive freedom everywhere” began in 1999, five years before its opening. He chaired the Center’s finance committee for 13 years and has been lauded with the distinction of Honorary Co-chair of the organization he continues to serve.

At the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center, Robinson reflects on the courage, cooperation and perseverance needed to address challenges both past and present.

Photo by Dana L. Day

“The principles of courage, cooperation and perseverance are embedded into the story of the Freedom Center,” he says. “Courage for people to stand up for what is right and to help people, cooperation of the people – the abolitionists and others – and perseverance to continue to fight for beliefs even when times are tough. I think these principles hold together today with the things we need to address.”

Again, as it admirably seems with Robinson, there’s always a cause to champion.

“The Freedom Center tries to take the lessons learned and apply them to contemporary times – human trafficking, unconscious bias and other things today that are different from slavery but demand the same principles,” he remarks. “Ohio is a particular hot-bed of human trafficking along the I-75 corridor, and we have gotten funding to help address the issues. It does seem that the calls to the hotline have increased with the awareness being created. We’re by no means suggesting that the Freedom Center is totally responsible for that, but we’re part of the overall effort.”

Does this sound like a man who concluded his P&G career in 2016, using the term “transition” rather than “retirement?” His transition/retirement lasted about 30 days before Robinson stepped into the new-to-him energy industry, joining Fortune 100 company Exelon at its Chicago base. He transitioned out once more in late March 2020 as the COVID era began, and he and Windy moved to their newly built home in South Florida. With the quarantine and civil unrest facing the country in tandem, Robinson made new resolutions.

“I think the plight of young African American men is not very bright, and I have a lot of interest in getting involved,” he explains. “A very good friend [who worked with Robinson in his last post at P&G as Vice President of Global Diversity & Inclusion] and I now live three miles apart here in Florida, and we have a lot of time and a lot of energy. We talk about what we can do.”

Already the approach is clear to the men.

“It’s important for us to listen to [these young men], for there’s a lot of hopelessness and pentup anger,” Robinson observes. “We need to see the world through their eyes, as opposed to saying, ‘Hey, look at me, listen to me because I’ve been successful.’ There’s this whole notion that we’re going to ‘fix them’ as opposed to seeing this as a problem that has grown over time and needs to be addressed. As I reflect, there were times when if I had gone the path of anger and despair as opposed to staying focused with perseverance, I might have gone a different way myself.”

At the other end of the equation, Robinson also serves on the national Executive Leadership Council, a board of senior African American leaders who focus on getting more African American businesspeople into the C-suites of the world and onto more corporate boards. The group’s philanthropic work focuses on students in historically black colleges and universities.

As he goes about these good works, Robinson is guided and inspired by his father’s words.

“He taught me, ‘Do what you say, say what you’ll do, and nothing in between,’ ‘your word is your bond’ and so much more,” he shares. “It all goes back to the notion of positive attitude. If you bring together the powers of positive belief, your passion and your tenacity, you can work through situations.” Robinson once spoke of tinkering around the house and of tending plants post-career, but the chances are growing slim as the options multiply. Maybe he’ll manage occasional work on the farm back in Mississippi, but otherwise, “I probably won’t get to the others.” What he will do instead is take what he learned at home, at Mississippi State and around the world and put it to good use.

His father would be so very proud.

Photo by Dana L. Day