Antarctic expedition leader and author — on team dynamics, leadership in isolation and the operating reality of small groups.
Rachael Robertson is one of the most experienced corporate keynote speakers in Australia on leadership in extreme environments. She spent a year as Station Leader at Australia's Davis research base in Antarctica — one of the youngest, and second woman, to do so — and the operating reality of leading a small isolated team for months at a time is the foundation of everything she now teaches.
Her corporate work translates the Antarctic experience into specific leadership frameworks senior audiences can actually use — particularly her widely-cited 'Bacon Wars' material on small frictions and the conditions under which they become culture-defining problems. The content is direct, evidence-led and refreshingly free of consulting language.
For event organisers, Rachael is a strong fit for leadership conferences, sales kickoffs, women's events and in-house programs where the brief is substantive leadership content for senior teams operating in demanding conditions. She works internationally.
Rachael Robertson is a keynote speaker based in Victoria who speaks on leadership, motivation and women in business. Book through Executive Speakers Australia.
Extraordinary leadership stories & insights from the most extreme workplace on the planet.
The challenges leaders face are practically the same in every workplace. Leaders must acknowledge and navigate through the perpetual scrutiny, the frequent isolation, and the need to keep going when you feel you have nothing more to give. And through all this, must be authentic, resilient, innovative and adaptable! Leading on the Edge resonates with audiences seeking inspiration and tools to build their leadership capability.
Whether you’re leading a team in an isolated, remote workplace or arm-wrestling spreadsheets in a busy corporate office, the same rules apply. Great leaders embrace the technical, political and personal domains. They know how to get the most out of their teams, even when it feels like they are navigating in the dark without a compass. This is Rachael's most popular keynote full of practical and proven tools, hilarious stories and stunning photos and videos.
It is suitable for every event from small group to a conference extravaganza.
Key takeaways:
* Bacon wars - why it's critical to major in the minor things (and why every organisation has a coffee cup sign in the kitchen).
* No triangles - how to build a culture of respect through direct conversations.
* Plane crash - tools to support leaders through emergency, turmoil and adversity.
* Resilience - tools to look after yourself and develop your ability to stick at the tough stuff and endure the bumps.
* Respect trumps harmony - how to avoid falling into the “harmony” trap and unlock results & innovation.
* Sunday breakfast - understand the scrutiny of leadership, manage the spotlight.
How to build resilience and respect in your team.
The highest performing teams are those that let go of harmony and focus on respect, diversity of opinions and difficult conversations – all in the service of creating resilience and results. Collaboration requires the ability to raise issues and ideas, in a professional, timely and respectful manner.
To build a resilient, adaptable and high-performing team that maximizes the benefits of personal difference requires a rock solid foundation of respect. We all agree that diversity is great, and the evidence is unequivocal that it has an impact on the bottom line.
But as our teams get more and more diverse we won’t always see eye-to-eye, we won’t always agree on things. So how do we create a culture where that’s OK? How do we encourage debate and robust discussion? How do we address issues directly and professionally? These tools are the 3 pillars that hold up the respect trumps harmony culture.
* No triangles – a tool to stop gossip, improve accountability, improve quality of feedback and drive innovation.
* Bacon wars – a gentle circuit breaker for calling out dysfunctional behaviour.
* Lead without a title – how to develop personal leadership in your team, so that responsibility and initiative is shared.
How women can get to the top and stay there.
Rachael offers the practical, confidence-building advice women need to advance their careers and lead. Whether addressing a corporate women's group, a business school or an international conference, her approach is forward-thinking and creative, equipping women with tools they can use immediately. The last twenty years have seen seismic shifts in women’s participation in the workforce. And yet, as a group, women still struggle to reach and maintain the top seats.
What’s getting in the way then? It's a nice idea that women can "lean in" but Rachael knows success requires more than that, particularly in male dominated industries. Women must forge their career, push open doors and sell their success. Success is an active pursuit not a passive experience. In this keynote Rachael speaks to both women and men to provide the insights and tools to create a powerful career.
Rachael provides audiences with the why and, most importantly the how to:
* Regret what you did, not what you didn't do - this is the most powerful enabling motto you can have.
* Get senior male sponsors - women's groups are essential but Rachael will show you how to find and maintain senior executive male sponsors who believe and will further your career.
* 80% is good enough - not fully equipped for the next role? Don't worry about it, dive in!
* Sideways is just as good as up - expertise and competence gained through lateral moves will make you trusted and indispensable.
* Higher duties are critical - create your next promotion by putting your hand up for acting roles.
Life, love & leadership in Antarctica.
If you're looking for an opening/closing keynote; a lively and unique session within a conference program; or an after-dinner speaker that will inspire, challenge and entertain your audience – this is it. This presentation provides a compelling insight into the highs and lows of 18 strangers living in complete isolation in the most remote place on the planet, for an entire year.
With awe-inspiring images of Antarctica, plenty of humour and using real-life stories, Rachael takes the audience on an emotional journey revealing the truth behind life in this most fascinating and isolated environment. Rachael has a treasure-trove of funny, inspiring and moving stories for this keynote presentation. She will work with you to ensure that, no matter the theme of the event, your audience will be challenged and delighted.
Key takeaways:
* Love on the ice - what happens when 18 men and women are stuck inside for nine months!
* Bacon wars - how a dispute over how to cook the bacon nearly derailed a $30M science program!
* Plane crash - rescuing 4 people, 500km away, in a blizzard.
* Antarctic winter - every family, workplace and team has one. How to inspire each other during the long dark times.
* Emperors - lessons from Emperor penguins about looking after each other.
I would like to thank you again on behalf of our senior leadership team for making the time to speak with us last week. Your willingness to answer questions openly and honestly, while providing inspiring insight into leadership and the qualities of a successful leader, was very well received and greatly appreciated by all. I have received a large amount of positive feedback about the session. It was remarkable to hear of the many challenges you faced leading a team in such an extreme environment as Antarctica. Your experiences and observations of managing people and human behaviour was enlightening, especially your discussion about the ‘bacon wars’. This resonated with me, as well as many other attendees, and will be used across the business as a result of your presentation. Our first virtual event was well attended and as guest speaker you played a significant role in the success of the day, particularly with your experience in presenting in this format. Thanks again for your terrific presentation and we all look forward to hopefully attending these events in person again soon.CEO, Energy Company
Rachael was an absolute highpoint in our recent conference. In the months preceding our conference we had bought together two quite large teams whom we wanted to fast track getting them to work together more effectively. Rachaels themes of “No Triangles” and “Respect Trumps Harmony” were right on point to assist us with achieving this goal. Her material was interesting and made more appropriate because of the quality of her preparation in advance of the event. The interest she took in our team, and what we were trying to achieve, was obvious and was perfectly reflected in her keynote presentation.Rivers Insurance Brokers
The alignment between some of your key messages today and the upcoming … leadership sessions was exceptional! Leaders creating the culture (when you talked about your performance review process) and taking this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to create the new team/organisational rituals is what we’re focused on next. Reminding us of how important leadership is now and that this time will be one of our biggest leadership challenges was really powerful. It’s great that we’ve been motivated to take these opportunities through your story-telling rather than a theoretical leadership PowerPoint!Coordinator Learning & Capability, Bayside City Council
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