Banking on KC – André Davis of Built Interior Construction
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André Davis of Built Interior Construction: Leveraging Influence for Social Good
Kelly Scanlon:
Welcome to Banking on KC. I'm your host, Kelly Scanlon. Thank you for joining us. With us on this episode is André Davis, a corporate and community engagement executive with Built Interior Construction, a prefabricated interior construction company that builds commercial environments, but among the many titles that have been used to describe André's overall contributions to our community are thought leader, influencer, social activist, mentor, speaker, and philanthropist. Welcome, André.
André Davis:
Hey, good to see you, Kelly. Thank you. That's a lot. Wow. Did I write that? Huh. I love it though if that's what it says. That's what it is.
Kelly Scanlon:
Yes. Yeah. You know it's in writing, it's true, right?
André Davis:
It's true. That's right.
Kelly Scanlon:
Okay. So let's talk about your community service. What prompted you to devote so much of your life to community service?
André Davis:
Boy, there's a lot to unpack there. So in another career, I got a chance to attend the Association of Fundraising Professionals breakfast. I saw at those breakfast kids that didn't look like me dedicating an entire summer to philanthropic service. And I thought to myself, well, for one, who does that? And so that seed sat on me and then I got a chance to volunteer at a couple organizations. And then I was working with Big Brothers Big Sisters because in a former career many of the folks there were on a board. And I decided I wanted to become a Big, and so my first sort of entryway into volunteerism in any kind of significant level was becoming a Big, and they didn't ask me, I asked them. And that started and then from there it was about being on a committee, and then from there it was board service, and from there the board service invites never stopped.
Kelly Scanlon:
Okay. So once your name was out there and they saw the work that you were doing, the invitations continued. You initially raised your own hand, but after that you were getting the invitations. And I'm curious about when you said you attended this event where you saw that these kids were devoting their entire summers to philanthropy, and who does that? But importantly, you said they didn't look like you. And I know that that's been a big part of your service is to bring this message to people of color and talk about that.
André Davis:
So I'm the first person in my family to graduate college. My mother raised three boys on her own. I'm the youngest of three. And what I saw at that event was lots of white faces volunteering. We were always the recipient of nonprofit goodness if you will. And so for me, it was like as I was getting on, and my daughter was getting older, she was probably seven and I, and I said to her, your dad's going to become a Big, I'm going to give some time up, I feel like. And what I did prior to that, Kelly was I did what most people do. Yeah, I don't have the time. Yeah, I don't have the time. I'm just kind of busy. And the minute I took time off the table, I just got in and I've never stopped. And so for me, it was about really giving up oneself and not using time as the crutch, but just getting involved and starting there.
Had no interest in sitting on boards. I wanted to volunteer. So it was volunteerism for me. And I would give up some time and I would just help where I could. And specifically what I wanted to help was kids that looked like me that were coming from disinvested communities. And because typically like me young, my mother raised three boys. I'm the youngest of three, no father involved. Most of those kids had no male influence. And so I just thought if I could just share a story and show them that sometimes it's one parent that is enough, that it might make an impact. And so exponentially over time that has grown and I continue to do work, and so with me nonprofit work and for-profit work come hand in hand with me. I think there's a synergy there for both, and that's part of my schedule.
Kelly Scanlon:
You've mentioned the Big Brothers and the Big Sisters, but you're also on the Civic Council of Greater Kansas City, which when you look at that, you're like, okay, how does that relate to Big Brothers Big Sisters? And so I always am curious when a person who is as active as you are, how do you decide which ones to accept? What is your underlying thought process for yes, this would be a good board for me to join?
André Davis:
For me as I started to get involved in board service, I have become a little bit more focused on what I say yes to and what I say no to. And this is what I mean. Mark Hill asked me to go through the Kansas City Tomorrow Leadership program. From there, Mark says to me, "I'd love you to go through the Kansas City Tomorrow Leadership program." And I said, what is that? And I don't need more stuff. And so I went through and I will tell you one of the aha moments of that experience for me was I'd always thought about volunteerism in terms of a community. You get involved in the things that you're passionate about. I care about our black and brown kids and being able to tell them, it's not how you start, but it's what you do with your start. I had never been asked to sit on a civic board. Going to the program what it did for me has allowed me to really understand how policymaking is so important for disinvested communities.
Kelly Scanlon:
Yes.
André Davis:
So I got involved with the Kansas City Tomorrow Leadership program. I went through, graduated in '20 during the pandemic. Mary Birch, she was facilitator, asked me to sit on the board. This is how my mind works, in many of us that are in diverse leadership, when we look at an organization, whether nonprofit or for-profit, what we're thinking is how diverse is that organization at a leadership level? How do we then turn down an opportunity that we never ask for when we are trying to populate open doors for other diverse people? So my thinking on saying yes to the vice president, knowing that the year after I'd be the board president, which is my term started in July of last year so I'm the board president of the Kansas City Tomorrow Alumni Association. Near a thousand members that have gone through that program. And so the reason I said yes was because if I could open up the door wider for other people that looked like me to walk through, I felt like I had an obligation to do that and now at some point I will fatigue from that. I'm just not there yet.
Kelly Scanlon:
But by that time, perhaps you will have inspired others.
André Davis:
Here's what I'll tell you, our board is more diverse than it was when I started.
Kelly Scanlon:
Yes, it doesn't surprise me.
André Davis:
Here's what happens from diverse people that are going through, whether it's centurions or whether whatever it is, when you're being asked to sit on the board, what we ask is, how diverse is your board? And when you see other people that look like you, you certainly say, maybe I ought to serve alongside André and I hope that me being on the board of the Kansas City Tomorrow Alumni Association has allowed other people's an avenue to say yes faster versus, no, I don't think I want to be the only person of color on your board.
Kelly Scanlon:
You were talking about when you work with youth that you say that it's not how you got started, it's what you do with your start. What is it when you're working one-on-one is a Big or in other capacities with youth, how do you get your message across? How do you set that example? You can say things like that to people, but how do you get them to really believe it?
André Davis:
Yeah. So that's a deep question for me because I think what I saw in my career was keep in mind too, the school system I came through, I never saw diverse professionals coming back and imparting knowledge and saying, here's an option, here's what you could do. Well, so if you're diverse, you don't see an example, why would you think it would be possible? It's not possible. So what I found myself doing is people ask me, "Hey, would you come be on this podcast? Would you come be on a panel? Would you give a talk here?"
I've wanted to talk less about what I did and more about how I started because I felt like when I see kids that look like me in organizations, whether it's Boys and Girls Club, Big Brothers Big Sisters, PREP-KC, all these other organizations, I really do see myself in those kids. And no one came back like me to talk to them about the start and then what you could do with your start. So I have an affinity for that. So I always want to be involved. I will always be involved in that kind of a cause and so how do we really encourage young people and professionals that are diverse to own the space that they occupy without shrinking to the space in which they had had it.
Kelly Scanlon:
You said there'll come a time when you're not going to be able to do all this, or there might be other things that you want to spend your time doing. However, you're also very well known for making connections with people where you don't necessarily go all in, but you say, hey, you need to know this person and you need to know that person and you all go figure it out. You'll create this synergy that can get something done. And so tell us about some of those situations.
André Davis:
It is magical, and that's hard for me to even say, because I don't even use the word magical, but I'm saying it's magical. It is absolutely phenomenal if people really get the concept. I have been challenged on the business concept of bringing people together for intentional purposes and stepping out, bringing people together for purposes that are really based on a servant leader mind is phenomenal. I can tell you the ripple effect that that's happened for me is when you're known for doing that, you're never not busy. There are always people that want to spend time with you. And so when you talk about building, doing business this way, it is an amazing thing that happens with the universe. I could spend three hours talking about the projects that I have brought to build our company without talking about our company and not being in the room where I get an email and they said we should talk.
And I'd love to know more about your company and how you might help us think. If I stop there, think about as a business, if you had people talking about you when you don't exist in a room about other people that are looking for your services and they should do business with you, think about what that looks like. That only happens if you've been known over a period of time. And the young people should pay attention to this because I think with young people, and again, I have a 23 year old, young people believe that you have connections on social media, but if you had to pick up that phone and ask for a coffee from a CEO, could you do it? So you have connections, but you're not connected. And so this social capital that we talk about in terms of accessing people and having access to people is an amazing, and I just see value in that.
I see value in being a servant because your true value in life and in business is the value you give. And so many people are trying to do business or have an agenda. I just don't have an agenda. And part of the business angle for me and how we are seen different than any is how do we distinguish ourselves from other people? It's behaviorally. And so for me, I've chosen that when I'm talking to people about them, I don't ever bring up our company and people say, "Well, you earned, you should bring up the company." They don't care. I'm telling you, I've been doing this over 20 years. They don't care until they have to care. In your questions, in that meeting, authentically and transparently will determine whether you get a second meeting. And in the second meeting is where all the stuff can happen in terms of how you're able to do business, how you can be of value.
And for our business, because it's such an unknown entity in terms of infusing technology with automation and building things offsite, the industry doesn't want it because it requires them to learn something different. And so for us, it's really about, for me, helping our company. And that's kind of what the work that I do is helping CEOs get out of their own way to drive revenue. So for me, it was always about, let's figure out when we're in front of people, what problem are we solving? But we have to ask questions about that. We can't say well, we were established in 1964 and we did all this work and hey, hand us work. That's not the route. No, the route is simply what are you focused on? What are you most worried about? What's the trends you're seeing? What would you do differently? What aren't you getting?
And then for me, as someone that's trying to help our company grow, it's being able to say, you know what? From based on what I heard, we're not a really good fit for you, but you know what? I know someone that is. So let me step aside. Let me introduce you to this firm. They're a better fit. Now people say that's counterintuitive. It is so not counterintuitive because the number of people that when you get known for doing that, the trust that you have just created across a business community and CEOs when you're talking to those people, I can't tell you how rewarding it is when someone spends time with you. And we haven't even talked about business. I went to lunch with a CEO of a health system met for 10 minutes. Something happened at that meeting. He asked to meet again over lunch.
We had a three-hour lunch. And it was an organization we know we can help. But in that three-hour period, I never brought up work. Guess what we talked about, his dislike for tomatoes. True story. I hate brussel sprouts. I do. I had my [inaudible 00:11:02] ball up and then we had others at the table talked about bourbon. We talked about wine and it was an amazing thing. And so when they wanted to come down and see more about what it is that we did, I invited him down for bourbon wine. When they got to our office, he says, "Well, tell me about what you guys in term do in terms of construction." And I said, well, hang on, hang on you were invited for the bourbon, so we're going to have bourbon and wine. And he says to me, "Can't we do both." And I said, do you want to do both?
So where I work, I'm never going to hook you to come down and then put up a slide deck. I'm always going to be that authentic. We talked about coming down and having bourbon, that's what we're going to do and we're going to get to know each other. That was my agenda with him, not to sell him stuff or get a project. It was really get to know them a little bit more deeper. Let them know our team, and let's figure out if there's a way for us to be valuable to each other. If we just did that, the speed at which business would happen would exponentially blow out anything else you're doing.
Kelly Scanlon:
And those contacts or relationships is a better word, those relationships are going to last longer and you're going to have those customers for life in most cases, as opposed to when you go in and force a transaction that you can make your quota.
André Davis:
And that's a short-term thought process.
Kelly Scanlon:
Absolutely. Yeah.
André Davis:
We have to think long-term. We have to think about what are people trying to do versus what do we want them to do? What are they trying to do? And I'm, that's just been my angle. And so that's not something that you see helping your company grow. That's okay. We should still talk because maybe I could send people your way that would be a better fit than I am. When you're a right fit for everyone, you really are a commodity.
Kelly Scanlon:
Absolutely. Let's talk about Built Interior Construction, in terms of the giving back. I know that you told them this is your style. Here's how I do sales, here's how I create relationships. But when it comes to your goal of working within the community to empower youth and to set policy that can really have instrumental change, how you leverage your company to be able to do that?
André Davis:
There is a huge benefit about creating synergy between your nonprofit life and your for-profit life. And the organizations that understand that value never question that. I can't tell you the number of organizations that we have built things for that came from a nonprofit interaction because you should never go on a board because you're trying to get revenue or drive revenue or close deals.
Kelly Scanlon:
Or build a resume.
André Davis:
Or build a resume. When you get those opportunities is because you have served your board well and so serving and getting work, the getting work becomes the byproduct of serving really well. And so when you're in an environment where you're serving well and you're listening and you're adding value and you're challenging, maybe things that are happening in a very, very, very respectful way, people start to see how you operate and they want to be around you more. That's what can happen when you're really involved in the community and you're doing things. And so for me, it is about, again, how do we help people do more of what they want to do without us putting the spotlight on us. We like creating these intentional collisions because what happens from that, the boomerang effect back to you is monumental.
Kelly Scanlon:
Right. Yeah. Whether they're intentional collisions, whether it's synchronicity it's all the same. The more people you know, the more authentic you are, the more congruent you are in all aspects of your life so that people realize you're authentic. It all comes back. I want to ask you about one of your most recent ventures. You are a founding board member for The Beacon, and that's a new nonprofit online news media outlet. You have had many years of experience in the media, including with the Business Journal. For a city the size of Kansas City, we really have a lot of media outlets. Some people may question that, but we really do. There's a lot of small, localized, very niche media. Why do we need The Beacon?
André Davis:
We have to understand that there are communities that are being devastated by the lack of attention. And let's just take COVID for an example and what we just went through with the pandemic. We know about the health disparity in diverse communities. And so if those communities who don't have affluent, they don't have power, they don't have money, they don't have titles, if we're not talking about them, then who's standing up for those folks? Who's reporting on neighborhood local news and giving people a voice? And so that's what The Beacon serves to do, is to give folks who have no voice in communities, because they're not rich communities.
There's no economic driver. They're not building towers. There's no incentive plan there. They're just communities that are poor communities, but they still have a voice and there are still concerns. I just was watching the other day where a gentleman brought his brother home, he had no water in his building. Oh, who's speaking up for those people? And are there people that live in really, really wealthy communities coming and aiding these people? Not so much. So The Beacon serves to be a nonprofit local driver of a voice of people who are not getting a voice. That's why we need it, because no one's speaking up for this demographic.
Kelly Scanlon:
When you look several years into the future, André, what do you want to see as a result of all the work that you've done?
André Davis:
Yeah, that's my question. So I talk about this and a lot of the work, I've worked hard for a little bit of success that I've been able to achieve, but I've also tried to bring people into some of these opportunities. I'm an advocate of that you shouldn't just enter a room and close it. You should enter a room and leave the door as wide open or knock walls down and open it up as wide as you can. So I was having this conversation recently, and when I think about this, what allows me to do this work, because I have an agreement with my wife and my family, my daughter, my young son, my wife's an entrepreneur. They understand the legacy focus that I have.
So at the end of the day, and this will kind of answer your question, at the end of the day, if my lights get shut off and I go upstairs to heaven and whoever you pray to, but if God asked me, "What did you do while you were on Earth?" I want to know I had an impact on people. So everything that I say yes to is about having an impact on others. Now, I have to caveat that by saying, Father Justin has asked me to be on his board from Reconciliation Services twice, and I've asked and said, I hope God doesn't strike me down because I've had to decline, but here's how I would decline. I said I can't serve on the board, but I'll help you find board members.
Kelly Scanlon:
Yes.
André Davis:
So I'm happy to do that work.
Kelly Scanlon:
That introducing again.
André Davis:
Intentional collisions. So I don't want to just say no, because if I'm helpful, then that's not a huge time drain for me. But I am at right now capacity, but I've been able to help other organizations find board members, and I want to continue their work. So for me it's about impact on others.
Kelly Scanlon:
Yeah. Well, you certainly are making an impact as an individual and through the different boards that you serve on, through those organizations as well. And we thank you for that André, it's been a pleasure talking with you today.
André Davis:
Oh, I'm honored. Thank you for having me on. I appreciate it.
Joe Close:
This is Joe Close, president of Country Club Bank. Thank you to André Davis for being our guest on this episode of Banking on KC. As you might expect, our work as bankers revolves around currency, depositing it, lending it, and providing services and tools for managing it. André, however, reminds us of another powerful currency we each possess, relationship currency. It too has value. How we choose to spend it can pay dividends for generations. Like André, Country Club Bank works to leverage our influence, our platforms, and our access to positively impact the Kansas City community. This week, think about how to leverage your relationship currency. Consider who among your friends, family, and colleagues would benefit from knowing someone else within your circle of influence. Then make the introduction. Thanks for tuning in today. We're banking on you Kansas City, Country Club Bank, member FDIC.