Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson knows about working with people you disagree with—and learned this strategy from her own mentor

It’s a skill Jackson has had to use throughout her historic run as the first Black woman appointed to the U.S. Supreme Court, where she is part of the 6-3 liberal minority, as she explained at Fortune’s Most Powerful Women Summit in Laguna Niguel, Calif. Tuesday night. The justice joined MPW remotely to discuss her history-making appointment to the court and her new memoir, Lovely One.

“You’re talking about a branch of government, an institution, that consists of nine people with lifetime appointments, so you really do have to get along,” Jackson told the audience. “One of the most important things is to try not to take anything personally.”

As Fortune’s Ellie Austin noted, just one generation separates the newest Supreme Court Justice’s parents from being personally impacted by segregation and their daughter from sitting on the highest court in the country. Jackson explained that after the Civil Rights Movement, her parents took advantage of every opportunity afforded to them to help her achieve anything she could dream of.

“I wanted people to see that ordinary people could do extraordinary things,” Jackson told the audience about writing her memoir. The New York Times Bestseller, which was released in September, also touches on the current trials and tribulations her family now faces. 

But in her appearance at MPW, Jackson also reflected on her work on the court and maintaining trust in a time when public opinion about the court has taken a steep decline due to broad disapproval of the overturning of Roe v. Wade, and reports that Justice Clarence Thomas has accepted millions of dollars worth of gifts from conservative billionaires, among other ethics concerns. More than half of Americans, 56%, currently disapprove of the Supreme Court, according to a recent poll from the Annenberg Public Policy Center at the University of Pennsylvania.

“We only have the public’s belief in the rule of law and willingness to follow what it is that we decide, and so it’s really quite important for the court to do its work in a way that people perceive as having integrity,” Jackson said, adding later that all of the justices understand how critical public trust is in their institution continuing to function.

As for working with people she disagrees with, Jackson offered wisdom anyone with a prickly coworker could learn from.

“One of the things that Justice Breyer was very, very good at is listening to another perspective and finding the thread in it that he could agree with, and trying to build on that,” she said. “The ultimate goal is the desire to want to move forward together and not to be siloed in your separate corners…It’s a very, very important skill, especially in a multicultural society, to really listen to one another and to try to forge common ground.”

MPW wraps up later today, but there are plenty of amazing sessions and speakers left, and you can watch live here.

Alicia Adamczyk
alicia.adamczyk@fortune.com

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ALSO IN THE HEADLINES

– First-hand experience. At the MPW Summit, her first public appearance since having a stroke in August 2023, Guild CEO Rachel Romer explained how she used her time recovering to develop the company’s expansion of its upskilling platform to include health care workers. Romer said, “I ultimately got my own residency in health care, living in the hospital for many months.” Fortune

– Posh parties. Also at the conference, Poshmark cofounder Tracy Sun shared how she has to rethink her fundraising strategy for the e-commerce platform, as many of the white, male investors she met with were not as familiar with the world of online shopping. Through “Posh parties,” she brought investors and customers together: “[T]hat’s usually how we’ve convinced people we have something special,” said Sun. Fortune

– Boss-ton. BOS Nation FC, the newly announced name for Boston’s professional women’s soccer team, strays from traditional sports team naming standards, as more teams mean fewer name options. Not only is the name an anagram of “Bostonian” and a reference to Boston’s airport code, but it is also meant to convey “boss energy,” per the owner of the team. Wall Street Journal

– Causing confusion. Two opposing abortion initiatives are on the ballot in Nebraska this election. One would protect abortion up to the point of fetal viability or if necessary for the pregnant person’s life or health, while the other would ban abortions in the second and third trimesters, aside from cases of incest, sexual assault, or medical emergencies. Nebraska currently has a 12-week ban and is the only state with two abortion measures up for voting. Vox

MOVERS AND SHAKERS

Canopy Life Sciences, a clinical to commercial solutions provider for the life sciences industry, appointed Susanne Clark as CEO. Previously, she was the company’s president.

Baldwin Richardson Foods, a custom ingredients manufacturer, named Cara J. Hughes chief customer and community impact officer. Most recently, she was the company’s VP of customer and community.

The Center for Active Design, a tk company, appointed Jessica Long and Rachel MacCleery to its board of directors. Long is SVP of environmental stewardship and sustainability at Nareit. MacCleery is co-executive director at the Urban Land Institute’s Randall Lewis Center for Sustainability in Real Estate.

ON MY RADAR

Lisa Ann Walter: my lifelong fight to pass the Equal Rights Act Glamour

Charli xcx finally grabbed the spotlight. Now she’s remixing it Wall Street Journal

Tina Brown, the queen of legacy media, takes her diary to Substack New York Times

PARTING WORDS

“In the entire history of science and technology, so many men are called founding fathers or godfathers… If women are so readily rejecting that title, where is our voice?”

— World Labs CEO and cofounder Fei-Fei Li on not fighting her “godmother of AI” title