Robert Wilkinson is a Senior Lecturer on Public Policy and Leadership, where he teaches courses on negotiation and leadership at the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University. In 2023, he won the Harvard Kennedy School Carballo Award for Excellence in Teaching.
Rob has more than 30 years of experience, in over 50 countries, across the public, private and not-profit sectors. He successfully supports numerous Fortune 500 companies, international agencies, and non-profit organizations, to help them build their negotiation, leadership and team management skills, and to increase their overall effectiveness.
Non-profit and public sector clients include the United Nations, World Bank, International Monetary Fund (IMF), CDC, World Wildlife Fund, National Urban League, US Postal Service, CARE International, Ascentria Fostering Agency, Bloomberg Philanthropies, the US Office of Personnel Management (OPM) and the White House, where he trained over 1,500 Presidential Appointees in negotiation, management and leadership.
Corporate clients include companies such as Deloitte, Moderna, IBM, Merck, Fidelity Investments, ExxonMobil, Johnson & Johnson, Bank of America, PricewaterhouseCoopers, Thermo Fisher Scientific, Walmart and many others.
Previously, Rob worked overseas for 15 years, on a variety of international projects. This included spending three years in Rwanda working with Hutu and Tutsi communities, two years working with the UN Peacekeeping Mission in Angola, and 18 months in Laos, consulting on a variety of community development programs. Rob also led a 2-year Security Sector Reform project in Burundi, bringing together government and rebel forces to support the formation of a unified military and police force. He began his overseas work in Nicaragua, in both Sandinista and Contra areas.
Rob earned his Masters of Science (MS) from Stanford University, and Bachelors of Science (BS) from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).
His latest publications provide a new Leadership Development Framework, called the 4P Framework for Strategic Leadership: more details can be found here: https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3689291; https://www.cityleadership.harvard.edu/research-and-resources/keeping-your-eyes-on-the-horizon-the-four-ps-framework-for-strategic-leadership
Executive Education Programs
Strategic Leadership: Enhancing Your Personal Effectiveness
HKS Faculty Research Working Paper Series
Research Papers/Reports
Sponsored projects include research, training, convening, and other initiatives externally funded through grants, contracts, and cooperative agreements. Funding sources can include the US federal government, state and local agencies, private foundations, corporations, and foreign entities (public and private).
The below list includes all sponsored projects in progress or completed within the current and past 2 calendar years, administered at the Harvard Kennedy School under the direction of the named faculty member as Principal Investigator. Please note that this list includes only those activities supported by external sponsored funding; other sources of support are not included (e.g., philanthropy, HKS or Harvard internal resources).
Project Title
Sponsor Name
Award Date
Transparent Engagement
Harvard Kennedy School is proud of its energetic involvement in the world. To better understand how to solve public problems by improving policy and leadership, we engage directly with policymakers, public leaders, governments, nonprofit organizations, and for-profit businesses whose activities affect those problems. However, we recognize that such engagement can raise questions about perceived and potential conflicts of interest, so we disclose publicly the key professional activities of our faculty outside the Kennedy School. The activities disclosed below are for the most recent reporting period, as defined by University policy. Some may be paid, some may be unpaid, and others may be in exchange for expense reimbursement only.
Outside Professional Activities For Robert Wilkinson
| Organization | Relationship |
|---|---|
| Lockheed Martin Corporation | Speaking engagement, invited lecture, or presentation |
| Vantage Parters | Consulting |
| LEADx | Speaking engagement, invited lecture, or presentation |
| Association of Corporate Counsel (ACC) | Speaking engagement, invited lecture, or presentation |