Dr Claire Robinson is a leadership facilitator and political commentator. She brings a rare 360° view of power and influence, built from three decades spent studying it, wielding it, and explaining it to the public.

The Leader. Twenty years in senior leadership roles, including founding CEO of theToi Mai Workforce Development Council, board director at Hāpaitia, Pro Vice-Chancellor of Massey University's College of Creative Arts Toi Rauwhārangi, and ten years on the Massey Senior Leadership Team. Earlier in her career she served twice at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade, as Director of Public Diplomacy and Outreach, and prior to that as a foreign service officer. She has also worked in the Beehive as (departmental) Private Secretary for Women's Affairs.

The Commentator. A political commentator since 2002, Claire writes regular columns on this website, occasionally for The Guardian and was a regular panelist on TVNZ's Q+A between 2010 and 2017. She has also featured on One News, RNZ, the Platform, NewstalkZB, in The Post and the NZHerald. She is the author of Promises Promises: 80 Years of Wooing New Zealand Voters, the definitive history of New Zealand political advertising. Her latest book: Stolen Sovereignty: The Untold Story of Parliament and Māori is under contract to Ugly Hill Press and will be published in early 2027.

The Scholar. Thirty years studying how leaders win and lose the room. That work sits behind a proprietary methodology built from a PhD and a professorship in communication design. As founder of Massey University's Design+Democracy project, she led the team behind the multi award-winning voter advice applications On the Fence and Vote Local.

The Cross-Cultural Practitioner. Over a decade leading diverse, bicultural teams and building relational governance frameworks suited to Aotearoa New Zealand's operating environment. In 2023 she led Toi Mai to win the Ngā Āhuatanga o te Tiriti Tohu at the Diversity Awards – as ‘an authentic and committed organisation which demonstrates from a tika and pono perspective achievements and ongoing work to reflect Te Tiriti in their workplaces’.

Outside these worlds, Claire is a graphic designer, a painter and a playwright. The Lee Letter had its first reading at Circa Theatre during the Wellington Fringe Festival in 2021, directed by Ross Jolly .

This site holds both sides of her work: leadership facilitation, drawing on her experience inside institutions and boardrooms, and political commentary, drawing on her scholarship and public analysis of power.

Contact Claire here if you’d like to access her leadership services, her commentary or as a keynote speaker for an upcoming event.