Robert spent the first part of his career as a Prize Fellow of All Souls College, Oxford, and the second as a partner in a leading firm of management consultants. He now divides his time between writing, teaching and consulting independently.
Robert writes non-fiction that applies philosophy, psychoanalysis and literature to the concerns of everyday life. His book Breakfast with Socrates: the Philosophy of Everyday Life is published by Profile Books, and will shortly appear in translation around the world.
His academic books include Derrida and Autobiography (Cambridge University Press, 1995), and Death-Drive: Freudian Hauntings in Literature and Art (Edinburgh University Press, 2010). He was a founding editor of the award-winning journal, Angelaki, to which he has contributed many articles, and sits on both its editorial board and that of its associated book series, Angelaki Humanities.
Robert’s teaching has taken him across the UK, France, Norway, and California; in the 1990s the British Council invited him on a lecture tour of the new Europe. He was closely involved with the Amnesty Lectures that brought the world’s most famous thinkers to Oxford. Robert is now on the Faculty at The School of Life, where he teaches courses on Love and Family, runs a Breakfast Club, and practises Constellations.
In recent years, Robert has appeared on many platforms and in various media. He has spoken at the Institute of Contemporary Arts, the Hayward Gallery, the French Institute, The Royal Society of Arts, and the London School of Economics. As for journalism, he has written for The Independent and the Evening Standard, been profiled in The Sunday Telegraph Magazine, Time Out and The Observer, and broadcast for BBC radio and television. He has a column on everyday dilemmas in the Sunday Times Magazine.
Alongside his writing activity, Robert practises as an independent management consultant. He specialises in working with boards and senior teams on issues of strategy and change. In 12 years of consulting, his clients have included the Foreign Office, English Heritage, Pearson and the Catholic Church. He also coaches a number of chief executives.
Having lived in Oxford, France and Los Angeles, Robert has returned to his native London, where he lives with his wife. He has three daughters.
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