Jacinda Ardern

In his song The Gambler, Kenny Rogers sang that “you have to know when to hold them, know when to fold them”. 

Jacinda Ardern has followed this advice and has decided to resign her post at a time of her choosing for personal and political reasons – personal, because she wants to spend time with her young family; political because one has to know when to leave office gracefully and not wait to be shown the door.

“I believe that leading a country is the most privileged job anyone could ever have, but also one of the more challenging,” New Zealand’s Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern told New Zealanders last week. “You cannot and should not do it unless you have a full tank plus a bit in reserve for those unexpected challenges.”

She added: “This has been the most fulfilling five and a half years of my life. I am leaving because with such a privileged job comes a big responsibility.”

Thus ends a brilliant display of political leadership in which the leader of this small country in the South Pacific demonstrated how a liberal democratic leader should govern. She underscored the fact that a female leader need not emulate male leaders with aggressive and macho stances. In fact, throughout her mandate, she employed a deep sense of empathy and an enviable ability to communicate with voters throughout a number of deep crises that her country faced.

In 2019, 51 people were massacred at a mosque in Christchurch. She immediately visited the mosque comforted the Muslim community, and immediately banned assault weapons in the country. At the time, she told New Zealanders that their country “We represent diversity, kindness, compassion. A home for those who share our values. Refuge for those who need it.”

She demonstrated her empathy by offering that the government help pay for the burial of victims and by publicly mourning their deaths.

In early 2020, when the Covid-19 pandemic broke, she took immediate and radical action to prevent its spread to New Zealand. She and her government shut the borders, required visitors to isolate upon arrival, and eventually shut the country down for eleven weeks -- a tough political decision for any leader to make. 

Her quick, decisive action on assault weapons and Covid-19 has served as an example for leaders around the world. 

Her ability to communicate with honesty and conviction, empathy and emotion, have underscored the fact that leaders can be compassionate yet strong, honest yet effective, and popular yet direct.

She communicated well with her citizens, describing government actions and obtaining their general approval and cooperation with respect to tough decisions that other leaders might well have skirted.

Ardern’s political style is apparently rooted in a deep sense of morality and humanism. She has listened to her constituents closely, communicated through Facebook and other public forums, and has embraced empathy and openness – using these tools effectively to motivate New Zealanders to cooperate on major challenges such as Covid-19 and Islamophobic violence, and doing what is right rather than expedient.

Is this style of leadership contagious? Already we see how Finland’s Sanna Marin and Iceland’s Katrin Jakobsdottir are adapting Ardern’s leadership style and communications abilities to lead their own countries.

These countries are small, but their leadership style underscores what could be a change in leadership concepts in the 21st century.

Feminine traits can create the kind of bonds between people that masculine traits such as stubbornness and aggressiveness cannot.

Ardern showed that true leadership in today’s societies should come from a strong moral center and complete honesty, and not from brute strength.

For this reason, she will always be my political heroine, and, at 42 years of age, I hope that she will continue to find ways to inspire us all.

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Edition: Estefanía Cardeña