Phoebe Saintilan-Stocks has always been interested in the person behind the scenes, the powerful but invisible operators in politics.
Now the media start-up founder hopes highlighting the role of chiefs of staff to political leaders will encourage others to look closer at the full scope of what leadership can look like.
She’s interviewed eight chiefs of staff who have worked with world leaders ranging from Jacinda Ardern and Julia Gillard to Tony Blair and John Howard for a new book that aims to offer glimpses into the rooms where history happened.
Saintilan-Stocks opens the book with a tale of running in her primary school elections, seeking to be vice-captain rather than the top job, to the confusion of her parents and teachers.
A period spent during the pandemic working with the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet brought her into the orbit of “real-life chiefs of staff” and the interest grew.
“I had never really met a chief of staff, but I knew that when they were involved in meetings or in documents that important things were happening,” she tells The Sunday Times.
“(I had a) fascination with how powerful the role is, but how invisible the role is at the same time – and they’re also unelected, which I also find interesting.”
Twin events spurred her to start writing the book.
Firstly, the 2023 workplace lawsuit between independent MP Monique Ryan and one-time chief of staff Sally Rugg opened up scrutiny of the pressures on those in the job and the singular role that trust plays in the professional relationships.
Around the same time, Katie Telford, then chief of staff to Canadian leader Justin Trudeau, reached out to Saintilan-Stocks via her media organisation Missing Perspectives.
“Through conversations with Katie and the way that she would talk about her relationship with Justin that I just found so interesting … she’s been called one of the most powerful women in North American politics, but no one really knows anything about her,” Saintilan-Stocks says.
“But equally, she also has this incredible lens and insight onto her boss and also current affairs and issues that we thought we knew already.”
The range of former chiefs of staff she’s tracked down for the book crosses the political divide, generations, and gender.
One who she wanted to interview but couldn’t land in time was Peta Credlin – Tony Abbott’s chief of staff – who became a public figure in her own right, even before her post-politics move into media.
She’s still hoping to speak with Ms Credlin when a companion podcast launches next year, which will include full-length interviews of those featured in the book.
Common threads weave throughout their stories, such as the enormous amount of trust and emotional intelligence they need to have with the leaders they serve.
How do they build that?
“It’s just a matter of time, and success, basically. It’s also giving good advice,” says Jonathan Powell, who was Tony Blair’s chief of staff.
John Howard’s long-serving chief of staff Arthur Sinodinos says the position wouldn’t have worked without the implicit backing from the prime minister that “I was an extension of his authority”.
The job involves both anticipating the boss’s needs but also serving as a counterpoint to them, being able to put contrary views but also putting your own views aside once a decision was made about how to proceed.
Several of those interviewed pointed out there was no playbook or instruction manual for how to be a chief of staff.
Saintilan-Stocks hopes her book can at least inspire others into political roles and to think beyond elected positions.
For her, “it’s just a matter of when” she returns to Canberra for further political work.
“(It’s) broadening the scope and agreement of what leadership can look like,” she said.
“It’s not always the people at the podium. It’s often these incredible people who operate behind the scenes.”
The Right Hand by Phoebe Saintilan-Stocks, published by Penguin, out November 4.
https://thewest.com.au/politics/federal-politics/the-right-hand-by-phoebe-saintilan-stocks-the-invisible-operators-of-politics-open-up-in-new-book-c-20540703
