Bob Lusch: Mentor and Friend

This is hard. Difficult. Emotionally draining. Attempting this essay is perhaps the best example of an approach-avoid conflict (Lewin 1935) in my professional career. On the one hand (one of Bob’s favorite turns of phrase when writing) this is a tremendous opportunity to honor the person who has had more intentional impact (a term Bob preferred less to influence) on my personal development than any other, excluding my parents. I also have the chance to relay how he had influenced me directly and in so many ways. However, it is impossible to summarize the totality of what Robert F. Lusch meant to me as a mentor and, eventually, as a friend. It is equally impossible to assert what he means to me today. I cannot succeed in accomplishing that task nor can I fail to go on the record to provide an account of what I have come to believe to be is one of the great marketing thought-leaders of our time. I wish I could call Bob and ask for his advice on how to accomplish this undertaking.

I was lucky enough to matriculate to the University of Oklahoma in the fall of 1995 and begin my doctoral studies. I was just recently married (one week prior!) and both my wife Amy and I were beginning our lives together and my (our?) doctoral program. Reflecting on those early days working with Dr. Lusch (which is how I referred to him) I now laugh internally how naïve I was in so many ways. I knew so little about a doctoral program, about being a professor, about marketing, and about Dr. Lusch. Still, Dr. Lusch took me in as his doctoral student and I had the opportunity to work with him on an almost daily basis for the next several years. It was this experience with him, as I would suspect with all his doctoral students, that provided the foundation to how I approach being a scholar, an educator, an administrator, and when I’m lucky, a mentor.

Early in my doctoral studies Dr. Lusch was named the next editor of the Journal of Marketing. At the time I didn’t really understand the magnitude of such an honor, or work, that he agreed to undertake. I, along with Birud Sindhav and Stephen Vargo (now both Dr.’s), as part of our doctoral graduate assistantship duties, were tasked with reading submissions to the journal to identify theoretical domains and methodologies utilized in order to assist in identifying both the availability and appropriateness of reviewers from the editorial review board and panel of ad-hoc reviewers. Note, we never assigned reviewers, merely made recommendations to Dr. Lusch who, as steward, was intent upon maintaining the integrity of (arguably) the premier journal in marketing. We read every paper submitted. The year I was assigned, the journal received over 250 submissions. All of this was on top of our graduate studies and, accordingly, we were busy. I am sure my contributions to Dr. Lusch’s stated goals (Lusch 1997) were not nearly as helpful as the contributions to my development in being assigned to assist his stewardship. I had come to realize his intent was to support our development by us reading “leading-edge manuscripts on literally the entire domain of marketing” (Lusch 1999). Although I helped in some of his goals (Lusch 1998) he helped me so much more.

While doctoral studies are an inherently stressful time, Dr. Lusch was always kind, helpful, and realistic. He was optimistic and had a great sense of humor. He expected high performance but consistently helped one in attaining it. Further, he was always humble with his accomplishments. Rare was the time when he wasn’t the smartest person in the room or certainly the most widely read, but he never made you feel as such. Ultimately, he became the co-chair of my dissertation and I can remember when he pulled me aside to announce my passing the defense. He said to me “Now will you please call me Bob?”. At that moment I was especially proud I had completed my Ph.D., but I was also equally proud Bob welcomed me to his profession.

Near the end of my doctoral experience I was also privileged to be part of the conversations regarding the development of what has now become Service Dominant Logic, or SDL. I simply was in the right place at the right time when my mentor, Bob, and friend and fellow student, Steve, began their work together which resulted in their seminal work (Vargo and Lusch 2004). While we all know where SDL is today, it is hard for someone my age to remember a time when it wasn’t part of the landscape of marketing thought. The story of the development of the ideas isn’t mine to tell (AMA 2020), but I was lucky enough to be around them both when they were pitching ideas, discovering connections, and laying the groundwork. It was those conversations that set the tone of what I have learned is the heart of what I love about being a professional in higher education, that is, the discourse of ideas. It was in the discourse of ideas where Bob excelled.

Bob and I eventually worked together on research, consulting, and ultimately built a friendship. It is the latter that I valued most. I miss him greatly.