Jacindamania
Two months after Jacinda Ardern became the youngest-ever leader of New Zealand’s Labor Party, she became the country’s youngest Prime Minister in 150 years, and its youngest female prime minister. This past month, two-and-a-half years after assuming office, she was faced with a test that many seasoned leaders have not yet faced: the massacre of 50 people in two mosques by a white supremacist on March 15. Watching this young, impassioned leader on the television and media made me think: how do you prepare for leadership, especially the kind of leadership needed more and more all over the world as instances of violence and terrorism plague us? And as our world becomes increasingly complex, often calling for more pastoral leadership that aims to bring people together?
Ardern describes her actions as intuitive, rather than deliberate. In a recent interview in the Guardian (April 6) with Toby Manhire, she describes her course of action after hearing of the attacks: She wrote brief notes on a piece of paper; they are “scrawled in Ardern’s rounded handwriting, growing more hurried and less legible as they cross the page. A handful of words have been highlighted in bright orange. One person custody may be other offndr.Act of exraordnry violence. It has no place in NZ.They are us.”
Apparently Ardern has taken up drinking more coffee after the events of March...
She has also modeled inclusivity and solidarity in all of her actions, visiting mosques and Muslim communities, wearing a headscarf, touching and leaning into people, showing them her sympathy and efforts to understand the understandable. All the while, she is running the country.
Are we born with this kind of intuition, or do we develop it? What exists in our world to tell us when our intuition is the “right” intuition? Ardern has received praise for her swift and decisive action that illustrated and sustains the values of the country she heads. Her ability to follow through with her goal to ban military style semi-automatic weapons, for example, was equally lauded. Less than two months after the massacre, New Zealand’s parliament voted 119 to 1 to ban these weapons.
It goes without saying that as a woman, Ardern provides us with a role model too rarely seen in major leadership roles—a role model for us all, for those who identify as female and male. I also believe that her behavior and approach to her country’s recent tragedy shows all of us, of all genders, races and religions, the power of empathy and understanding — the power of altruism, the strength of a leader not seeking personal gain but rather living the servant-leader model that we so crave.
The Cambridge School of Weston is a progressive high school for day and boarding students in grades 9–12 and PG. CSW's mission is to provide a progressive education that emphasizes deep learning, meaningful relationships, and a dynamic program that inspires students to discover who they are and what their contribution is to their school, their community and the world.