Jacinda Ardern

Leading with Empathy

Supriya Vani, Carl A. Harte

• Publisher: Oneworld Publications
• Year: 2021
• Topic: Politics & International Relations
• eBook ISBN:
  9780861540310
• Subtopic: Political Biographies
• Index: Politics & International Relations

‘It takes courage to be an empathetic leader. And I think if anything the world needs empathetic leadership now, perhaps more than ever.’ Jacinda Ardern

Jacinda Ardern was swept to office in 2017 on a wave of popular enthusiasm dubbed ‘Jacindamania’. 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 celebrated as a model leader. In 2020 she won an historic, landslide victory and yet, characteristically, chose to govern in coalition with the Green Party.

Jacinda Ardern: Leading with Empathy carefully explores the influences – personal, social, political and emotional – that have shaped Ardern. Peace activist and journalist Supriya Vani and writer Carl A. Harte build their narrative through Vani’s exclusive interviews with Ardern, as well as the prime minister’s public statements and speeches and the words of those who know her. We visit the places, meet the people and understand the events that propelled the daughter of a small-town Mormon policeman to become a committed social democrat, a passionate Labour Party politician and a modern leader admired for her empathy and courage.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Other books by Supriya Vani
• Title Page
• Dedication
• Epigraph
• Contents
• Introduction
• PART ONE
• 1 Volcanos and Seismic Shifts
• 2 A Peaceful Valley
• 3 The Activist Awakes
• 4 Nature and Nurture
• 5 The Mighty Totara
• 6 Family and Politics
• 7 Suffrage and Suffering
• 8 Emerging
• 9 When the Student Is Ready
• 10 Mentor and Role Model
• 11 Resolution
• 12 Overseas Experience
• 13 Baby of the House
• 14 Battle of the Babes
• 15 Catch of a Lifetime
• PART TWO
• 16 Ambition or Ambivalence?
• 17 Turmoil and Teflon John
• 18 Star on the Rise
• 19 For the Party
• 20 Pull Up the Ladder, or the Woman?
• 21 Turning Point
• 22 The Worst Job in Politics
• 23 Woman of Mettle
• 24 Tied to the West Island
• 25 Stardust and Jacindamania
• 26 Victory Day for Winston
• 27 Paddles the Polydactyl Cat
• 28 Mother of the Nation
• 29 Changing the Game, Slowly
• 30 Carving a Path
• 31 Acclaim and the Ides of March
• 32 They Are Us
• 33 Engagement
• 34 Whakaari
• 35 Cometh the Hour, Cometh the Woman
• 36 The COVID Election
• 37 Kindness and the Ardern Effect
• Plate Section
• Acknowledgements
• Notes
• Bibliography
• A Note About the Authors
• Imprint Page