Ms Porou, who works in Wellington from Monday to Friday and returns home to Turangi most weekends, said leadership for her was about clearly understanding each of the communities she works in and finding solutions to their needs.
"There are certainly some specific competencies required when walking competently in two worlds.
" There are a whole range of skills and technical abilities that are needed for dealing in both communities that I have to manage all the time."
These skills earned her a Blake Leader Award at this year's Sir Peter Blake Leadership Awards.
The award came as a "really big surprise", she said, and she was humbled by the experience and the positive feedback she received.
"If you really want things to succeed you have to make sacrifices and focus all your attention on that."
Ms Porou is driven by a need to serve her iwi and the environment - two aspects of her life she said are deeply intertwined.
She was part of the team which established affordable housing, or kaumatua flats, at her marae - Hirangi in Turangi - and has led initiatives in environmental management.
She has managed multimillion-dollar budgets and developed sustainability protocols.
While at Contact Energy she worked with the people of Ngati Tahu in addressing a 17-year grievance created by the Ohaaki Geothermal Power Station near Taupo.
Ms Porou said the environment was something that "binds us all".
"Whatever cultures, whatever ethnicity, whatever walk of life - we all want a better environment for our kids."
She said Maori perspectives on this are often misunderstood and miscommunicated.
"We want what everyone else wants, it's just we have a very specific view of how that will look," Ms Porou said.
Tina Porou
• Head of Contact Energy's sustainability and communications teams.
• Trustee of the Lake Taupo Forest Trust, the Pahiitaua Farm Incorporation and the Toitu Ngati Porou trust.
• Member of the Waste Advisory Board, advising the Minister for the Environment.
