Robertson was born in Geelong, Victoria, Australia to Sharon and Lawrence Robertson and grew up as the oldest child with a younger brother and sister. She spent the majority of her pre-adult life living in the South Eastern suburbs of Melbourne. Robertson now resides in Melbourne with her husband and child.
Early career
Robertson graduated from Deakin University with a Bachelor of Arts majoring in Public Relations and commenced a career in Public Relations with Melbourne Parks and Waterways. She quickly moved out of PR and into the operational role of Park Ranger - Customer Services with the newly created Parks Victoria. Over a period of 14 years Rachael successively moved into more challenging and senior roles such that, at the time of leaving for Antarctica she was Chief Ranger of Victoria's South West Region. Rachael hates the cold and had only seen snow once before she led the expedition to Antarctica. She holds an MBA from Melbourne Business School.
Robertson's year in Antarctica
Robertson's role at Davis station was to provide leadership to the 120 scientists and tradespeople over Antarctic summer and then lead and manage the 17 other people who remained behind at Davis Station to maintain the operation until the scientists and tradespeople returned in November 2005. In "Leading on the Edge" she recounts the wide disparity between Antarctic life in summer, and Antarctic life in winter. Where the pace of life and work over summer is intense, and the leader must remember not just to manage but to lead people, the focus over winter turns inwards as all the work suddenly stops. As Robertson describes in her book "the repetitive monotony of the day-to-day work and the same old faces at breakfast, lunch and inner create a nine-month-long 'groundhog day' experience".
Robertson's leadership ideas
Once she returned from Antarctica Robertson earnt an MBA and used this education to develop her own leadership frameworks based on her Antarctic experience. These frameworks include:
Bacon Wars - A framework for understanding which of the small things that irritate people has the potential to become a larger problem and what to do about it.
No Triangles - A framework to enable people to have difficult conversations directly with the individual concerned, rather than "rope in" a third party.
The Plane Crash - Four pillars of effective Crisis Leadership
Respect Trumps Harmony - Why it's more important to show respect for each individual than it is to seek out harmony in a team
Lead without a title - A tool to help individual show leadership in their current position, regardless of their official title.
Clients
As of September 2017, Robertson has delivered more than 1000 keynote sessions to organisations and associations across the USA, Australia, New Zealand and Asia. Her clients range from large global organisations such as Randstad to local fundraising events such as Day of Inspiration
Charitable work
Rachael is an Australia Day ambassador and is a media-spokesperson for RUOK? Day
Corporate Ambassador
In 2019, Rachael was sponsored by outdoor clothing company Yarra Trail as one of their three "Trailblazers" for the Autumn fashion season.
