A Different Kind of Power, by Jacinda Ardern

Jacinda’s autobiography is an easy and interesting read. She writes very candidly about her life, and reading it feels like sitting down with a good friend, warm cuppa in hand. She doesn’t hold back, but she is respectful. She calls out the people and situations which she found challenging, taking control of her story. And she covers it all.

I found it interesting how she fell into the role of Prime Minister of New Zealand, because she explains it was never an intentional goal she set. However she was very much involved in politics from a young age, really grabbing the bull by the horns so to speak. Considering how engaged she was in that world, it begs the question, why didn’t she set her sights on the role of PM? Perhaps herein lies the problem with many women and their ambitions. Even as a prime candidate for such a role, she didn’t picture herself leading the nation until it literally happened by accident. Why not back herself from a young age? This speaks to the main message of the book (and the title)... she was told, and also believed that she was too sensitive and thin skinned to be in politics and hence to lead. Yet that exact quality turned out to be why people liked her.

Toward the end of her term she had many critics, especially around her handling of covid. When describing that phase of her journey, there is a sad undertone to the narrative and I was left feeling her sadness too. She resigned as leader of the Labour party on her own terms, however you can tell she could have contributed so much more to that role. Covid was such a fraught time, there wasn’t any leader that made those big decisions without getting criticized. All the paths forward would have ostracized parts of the population, being a leader would be bloody hard! The pressure would have been immense, and although I can see how people started to wane from respecting her leadership, I feel empathy for her, and also the affected people who felt hard done by. There were no winners during that time, and that would have been extremely difficult to navigate. Ultimately, you can tell she really did care about all the people in her country and wasn’t a corrupt politician, and this is something to be celebrated, as unfortunately it’s rare. When reading the work of Grace Blakeley and her take on capitalism, you start to understand how the system is intentionally set up to allow corporations and government bodies to prosper and take power, widening the gap between them and the poor (it’s not simply a supply and demand model like they want us to believe). However, witnessing Jacidna’s leadership, she didn’t feed into that narrative which is a real relief for humanity. She had power and wanted to use it for good.

During her time as Prime Minister she had to handle a huge amount of disasters and challenges including; the biggest mass shooting in New Zealand's history, the Christchurch Mosque shootings, the eruption of Whakaari / White island volcano, a global pandemic, economic pressures and more. It took a toll on her. And miraculously she had to navigate it all while simultaneously becoming a first-time mother. 

The timing of having a baby, right when she became Prime Minister is astounding! What are the chances? For this I applaud her. I felt extreme pressure when I became a mum, to get it right. If I had to navigate that with a job that also came with extreme pressure to care for hundreds of thousands of other people, I think I would have crumbled. It takes a courageous woman to take that on, so to that I say, hats off to her. She speaks openly about the constant guilt she felt either about not being with her daughter or not being there for the nation. Being present was a struggle for her and understandably so. But then there was the support of her partner and husband, Clarke. There is an old quote that goes “behind every great man is a great woman”, and I’m happily compelled to point out that in Jacinda and Clarke's case, you can literally reverse the genders and the sentiment remains. Perhaps we should recognise that no matter what the gender of the person in power or in an acclaimed public role, the person in the background supporting their high profile partner, is also a hero. They were a team which is admirable and great role modelling to see on the public stage. 

I also appreciated her openness when divulging her separation from her strong Mormon faith which she fondly grew up with. She does a good job of taking the reader on the journey here from childhood to now. She had distinct junctures in her career which became internal wrestling arenas where her personal beliefs clashed with those of her faith. Again, it would take a bold person to leave a community that she knew and loved to evolve on a different path as an outlier.

Although it was interesting reading about the chronology of her life, particularly her upbringing, she could have thrown some more learnings into the book. I was left with the yearning for more. She was in such a unique position and surely pearls of wisdom would be pouring out of her on reflection of her life and career. 

In all, I enjoyed getting to know the person behind the public persona. Although she didn’t get everything right, she proves to be bold, brave and also compassionate. Qualities many other leaders could lean into for the sake of humanity. 

I would recommend reading this book to understand this ‘different kind of power’ that is her catch cry.

My favourite quote from the book;

Some people thought kindness was sentimental, soft. A bit naive even. I knew this. But I also knew they were wrong. Kindness has a power and strength that almost nothing else on this planet has. I’d seen kindness do extraordinary things; I’d seen it give people hope, I’d seen it change minds and transform lives. I wasn’t afraid to say it aloud, and as soon as I did, I was sure; kindness. This would be my guiding principle no matter what lay ahead.

Enjoy, Brigid x

** This book review was not written using AI