Rachael Robertson

Rachael Robertson

Expedition Leader  |  Leadership and Teamwork Expert  |  Best Selling Author
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About Rachael

“Rachael Robertson presents with great humour, humility and passion to audiences that value her practical, no-nonsense approach. No matter the event, Rachael will leave your audience inspired, ...”

BA (Deakin), Grad.Dip.M’ment (Melbourne), MBA (Melbourne)

Rachael Robertson returned to Australia after 12 months in the Antarctic, where she successfully led the 58th Australian National Antarctic Research Expedition to Davis Station.  She was only the second female to ever lead a team at the Station and one of the youngest ever leaders.

She managed a team of 18 people through the long, dark, Antarctic winter and through trial and error built a resilient and highly successful team based on the foundation that ‘respect trumps harmony’. The most important rule was No Triangles – I don’t speak to you, about them.

This leadership role is a truly unique experience.  Antarctica in winter is totally inaccessible which means once the last ship leaves at the end of February, no one can leave the base under any circumstance (not even if you are dying) until the ship returns in November. It’s a 24 hour a day, every day of the year, leadership role. In any circumstance, this would be a tough role, but for a female in a male dominated environment, it was also a very challenging one!

Prior to this Rachael held senior operational management roles for 16 years in a range of complex and challenging environments and  now works in the field of leadership development sharing her experiences.

Since returning to Australia, Rachael has completed her MBA and written a best-selling book, Leading on the Edge, based on her year in Antarctica. The book is currently under option for film/TV.

She is an international keynote speaker and has presented at over 1,500 conferences around the world. Her latest book, Respect trumps Harmony, was released in April 2020.

Watch Rachael in action

What people say about Rachael

We’ve had great feedback about Rachael. Her presentation was excellent and very relevant to our leadership conference. Hearing her story was both educational and uplifting and Rachael herself was extremely personable, making the presentation all that much more enjoyable to listen to!

– Fairfax Community Newspapers

Rachael was a perfect speaker for our audience as the tools and ideas she uses to lead people can be easily adapted in our worplaces immediately. Our audience could relate to Rachael on many levels and found her to be a very ‘real’ person who was interesting and easy to listen to. Rachael’s willingness to stay on after her presentation and speak to our manager’s on a personal level was very much appreciated. It was great that Rachael was available to sell & sign her book which many people were happy to purchase on the day.

– Bendigo Bank

Super relevant content and delivered in a very natural and humble way. Engaged with the audience very well.

– L'Oreal

Rachael presented in a casual manner which I think was really appropriate for our group of delegates, especially after 3 full days of workshops. Rachael’s down to earth story of an ordinary person achieving extraordinary things inspires us all to work with all the tools available to us and to make our own opportunities and not just wait for them to come to us!

– Choice Hotels Australasia

Rachael provided insights and inspiration of leadership in a truly challenging environment engaging both new and experienced executives within our own “Challenging workplace”

– Village Cinemas International

I have never received so much positive feedback from a guest speaker as I have this time. People continue to tell me how impressed they were with Rachael’s story. She provided a fantastic insight into difficulties around management in a remote site. Her messages and insights can be applied within our business. She shared a range of unusual and interesting stories which made her message even stronger.

– Crown Casinos & Hotels

Rachael’s warm, down to earth nature were themes that were repeated in the positive feedback we’ve received and would have to be among Rachel’s best assets.

– Worley Parsons Group

Rachael’s experience itself was incredibly interesting and different to most speakers you usually see at these kind of events. She was honest, engaging and made her experience relevant to us. Having her for dinner to chat more informally after the presentation was great as she was interested in what we do, our challenges, etc. and gave us excellent advice by relating to some of the adversity she went through in Antarctica.

– UBS

Rachael’s safety insights were spot-on, practical and eminently useful. Fantastic presentation.

– BHP-Billiton

Inspirational leadership, real and fascinating stories. Great safety insights…simply excellent.

– Exxon Mobil

Rachael is a passionate and enthusiastic speaker. She has that magic mix of tangible down-to-earth stories that give way to strong and inspiring messages on leadership, relationships and life. She fully engages with the participants from the moment she arrives right through to the moment she leaves.

– Alstom

I have seen a number of speakers over the years, however Rachael was amongst the absolute best of them. I took so much away from her amazing story, and have relayed some of her messages to other people. Love the bacon war!

– Randstad

We were delighted with the feedback on Rachael from our advisers. Evaluation forms contained phrases such as: “Excellent”, “Truly inspiring”, “Interesting” and “Fantastic presenter – very informative and interesting”. Working with Rachael over five events around Australia was a delight. She has a very professional and flexible approach.

– AXA

Rachael was engaging and responded well to the group. Her experiences are extraordinary and she did a great job of relating what she learnt. She was also able to illustrate the similarities between her roles and those of my team. In one word, “Terrific!”

– ANZ Bank

Rachael was kind, funny, relatable and engaging. Our students adored hearing her speak and spoke very highly of her presentation. They found her real-world leadership skills and examples easy for them to put into practice. We cannot speak highly enough of Rachael. She was a dream to work with.

– La Trobe University