They're often the second-most powerful people in the rooms where big political decisions are made, but most voters have never heard of them.
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Chiefs of staff to political leaders are notoriously shy when it comes to the media, with many noting it's a bad day if they are in the news.
But in The Right Hand, a new book by Phoebe Saintilan-Stocks, eight chiefs of staff offer a glimpse into what it's like supporting and challenging the world's most powerful people.
"The (chief of staff) role has this professional intimacy, it's such a unique role and the biggest takeaway was that at the end of the day it does come back to friendship," Saintilan-Stocks told AAP.
"All of them had different views on whether to be friends with their boss (but) the core of the role comes down to trust and loyalty and once that is gone you cannot continue to work together."
Saintilan-Stocks founded Missing Perspectives, a media startup that platforms female storytelling.
In the book, she wanted to explore how gender plays into the chief of staff role and how female chiefs navigate sexism, leadership and visibility.
Katie Telford, chief of staff to former Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau, wanted to challenge the under-representation of women in the role and was one of the few who granted Saintilan-Stocks an interview while still serving.
She was the second woman to serve as a chief of staff to a Canadian prime minister and the first female chief to a male prime minister.
"Who we think gets to do a job depends on who we see doing a job," Ms Telford says in the book.
Ms Telford wanted to shed light on the life of a chief of staff to encourage other women into the role, while at the same time maintaining the invisibility of the job.
"It's a balance of needing to show women in the role but also leave your ego at the door," Saintilan-Stocks said.
"Women are still under-represented in positions of power, but profiling them is so important."
Perhaps one of the most famous Australian chiefs of staff was Peta Credlin, who served Tony Abbott during his term as prime minister from 2013 to 2015.
Requests to interview Ms Credlin for the book went unanswered, Saintilan-Stocks said.
"I would have loved to interview Peta because her working dynamic with Abbott was so fascinating, it was completely different to other chiefs of staff," she said.
But plenty of other high-profile chiefs spoke to Saintilan-Stocks.
Former South African president Nelson Mandela's chief of staff Barbara Masekela shared what it was like supporting the iconic leader as he stepped into power after 27 years in prison, having herself been exiled from the country during that time.
Mandela's team was almost entirely made up of women, a notable decision in 2025 let alone the late 1990s.
"I think the great thing, the important thing, about working at the right hand of Mr Mandela was that we were all women," the former ambassador to the US tells Saintilan-Stocks.
"We were only women, because that is how he wanted his office. So we were dealing with this great world hero, but to us he was just himself."
Others interviewed include former UK prime minister Tony Blair's chief Jonathan Powell, former Finland prime minister Sanna Marin's chief Tuulia Pitkänen and former US vice-president Kamala Harris's chief Sheila Nix.
Ultimately, writing the book showed Santilan-Stocks that the stories of people's commitment to public service stood apart in a world often drawn to drama and outrage.
"What grounds the people behind these institutions is their belief in a simple but ever-moving north star: the importance of public duty," she writes.
"Most never entered politics with the ambition of becoming the front-facing leader - they wanted to remain in the footnotes."
Australian Associated Press
