ROBERT PORTER LYNCH … CHARACTER BUILDING CHAMPION
Today’s post is to introduce readers of The Character Building Project to a very special member of the “character community,” a personal mentor of mine, namely, Robert Porter Lynch. Before describing Robert’s life’s work, permit me to relate an exchange I recently had that reveals Robert to be a extraordinary man of character.
“Michael money is never the primary goal — it will be a fine measure of success in far more important factors. I’m in this to shift the world, and have a lever long enough to make an impact. I’ve always come from the point of view that the only money that’s worth making is money that reflects the value I produce. No value, then I don’t deserve money. I come from school of thought that believes like Einstein, a man of preeminent creative intellect and soulful explorations, advised.”
Try not to become a person of success,
But rather … become a person of value.
Or as Viktor Frankl (Man’s Search for Meaning) stated:
Success, like Happiness, Cannot be Pursued,
It must Ensue As the Unintended Side Effect
Of one’s Personal Dedication to a Course Greater Than Oneself.
Robert’s personal mission for the last twenty years has been to address one of the most compelling questions of our time: “How do we build trust across highly differentiated people and organizations?” This search for the “Architecture of Cooperation” has led to potent set of best practices that now underpin thousands of strategic alliances and innovation systems around the world. This has earned Robert the description as the “father of strategic alliances” among his peers.
Because collaboration is becoming far more critical if we are to create a world that is sustainable, Robert is continuing to join forces with other innovative champions to develop breakthroughs in collaborative networks, co-creative negotiations, trust-building, character-building, and the economics of synergistic systems to address both internal organizational problems as well as the world’s most pressing issues. He invites other’s to contribute to these efforts.
Robert has written award-winning and best-selling books, including The Practical Guide to Joint Ventures & Corporate Alliances Business Alliances and The Hidden Competitive Weapon. His most recent book, Trusted to Lead (2011) is being co-authored with Harvard’s Paul Lawrence. He wrote the popular chapter “Fostering Champions” for Peter Drucker’s Leader of the Future book (1999).
Robert holds a master’s degree in Organizational Development from Harvard University and a bachelor’s degree in International Relations from Brown University. He’s an Adjunct Professor at the Universities of Alberta, British Columbia, and San Diego; and has served on the faculties of the American Management Association, the Canadian Management Centre, Institute for International Learning, and American College of Physician Executives. He served as a Lieutenant in the US Navy, Bronze Service Star with combat duty in Vietnam. Robert resides in Naples, Florida. To better understand Robert’s “system of trust” please visit http://www.systemoftrust.com/html/services.html.