Jacinda Ardern: Leading with Empathy

Jacinda Ardern was swept to office in 2017 on a wave of popular adulation. In less than three months, she rose from deputy leader of the opposition to New Zealand's highest office. Her victory seemed heroic. Few in politics would have believed it possible; fewer still would have guessed at her resolve and compassionate leadership, which, in the wake of the horrific Christchurch mosque shootings of March 2019, brought her international acclaim. Since then, her decisive handling of the COVID-19 pandemic has seen her worldwide standing rise to the point where she is now acclaimed as a model leader.

Supriya Vani carefully explores the influences – personal, family, social, political and emotional – that have shaped Jacinda Ardern and made her a leader with a ‘different way of doing things’.