A Different Kind Of Power - Book Review

Disclaimer: This book is the memoir of the former Prime Minister of New Zealand and leader of that country’s Labour Party. I have never been a member of the NZ Labour Party. I also only voted once for Labour, almost eight years before Jacinda Ardern was born. My vote then may just as much have been influenced by the fact that the Labour candidate – Ethel McMillan – shared the same surname as that of my mother’s maiden name.

 

A Different Kind of Power¹ is a refreshing read coming from a politician. Instead of focussing on the political intrigues, power plays, and other external trappings of a leader of a country, Jacinda Ardern allows us, the reader, a candid glimpse into her childhood and family life. These glimpses enable us to make sense of the different kind of power she espoused and later brought to her role as Prime Minister of Aotearoa/New Zealand.

Ardern grew up in two regional towns (Murupara and Morrinsville) and her family often shopped in Rotorua (my own birthplace.) Her family were Mormon and the lessons she learnt in door-knocking then were well utilised in her later life as a politician.

Yet, door-knocking was the least of the lessons she learnt in her younger years. By the time she had entered her mid-teens her mother had had a breakdown, her uncle was severely paralysed following a car accident in which two others were killed, and the brother of her best friend had committed suicide. These events provided the young Ardern with lessons in grief, empathy, and coping with tragedy. All valuable lessons for when, as Prime Minister, she was thrust onto centre stage in three tragic events to shock New Zealanders – a terrorist shooting at mosques in Christchurch where 51 people were killed, an eruption on the island of Whakaari/White Island killing 22 people, and the coronavirus pandemic.

A school experience that Ardern carried with her into her public life as leader of one of New Zealand’s major political parties was debating. She represented her school many times in debating competitions. One of the topics from her school debating years was, That the difference between what we are and what we could be is the greatest waste. She was to think about this topic often in her coming years. That topic and the thinking that went with it undoubtedly influenced her desire for a different kind of power – one based on kindness and empathy. Her answer to a reporter questioning her on her first day as Prime Minister was informed by this debating topic. ‘I want this government to feel different… that it’s going to bring kindness back.’

Becoming Prime Minister though was not comfortable for Ardern. As a youngster she had suffered from imposter syndrome and that stayed with her as she stepped into the most prominent position in New Zealand. A meeting with Queen Elizabeth II however, helped her overcome that hurdle. Not long before Ardern learned that she was going to be New Zealand’s youngest Prime Minister in 150 years, and also only its third female PM, she had been told she was pregnant. Meeting with Queen Elizabeth in private, Prime Minister Ardern asked the queen how, as a woman who had raised children at the same time as holding a prominent public office, if she had any advice for her. Queen Elizabeth’s reply was simple, ‘You just get on with it.’

Jacinda Ardern did so. She got on with it. I do not intend delving into the various policies she and the Labour party implemented during the term of her office. Rather, I wish to concentrate on those moments that displayed her intent to be kind and how others responded to this.

One such moment came five days after the 2019 terrorist shooting at Christchurch mosques.  She visited a school where two of the student’s schoolmates had been killed in the shooting. After a short speech in which Ardern told the students that it was okay to feel sad and that they should not be afraid of asking for help, she asked if there were any questions. After a pause a young girl at the front raised her hand. In Jacinda Ardern’s words, ‘Slowly, with thoughtful deliberation, she asked something I didn’t expect: “How are you?”’ The moment is touching, poignant, and full of hope. It also shows how many community members responded to and reflected back Ardern’s seeking for a different kind of power; kind and empathetic.

Sadly, not all New Zealander’s responded to her with such empathy and grace as this young woman. Ardern relates a couple of personal moments when she was the butt of hatred and bitterness. What she does not write about in the book, though, is that police figures show an increase in threats to her rose from 18 in 2019 to more than 60 in 2022 – a whopping 60% of threats made to all New Zealand MPs combined at the time. A large percentage of these threats were motivated by various conspiracy theories that arose during the covid pandemic. New Zealand was one of the countries that opted for measures that included lock-downs. Sadly, for her, the response by leaders all over the world was a “damned if you do, damned if you don’t.” She was, similar to all other world leaders, ‘faced with impossible choices.’

But, just as the Queen had advised here a few years earlier, Jacinda Ardern just got on with it – until it was time to go.

Many have suggested that Jacinda Ardern’s decision to step down as the Labour Party leader, and hence the Prime Ministership, was because she could not face the degree of hate and vitriol she was subjected to. In this memoir she makes it clear that there were other factors involved in her decision. The initial prompt was the discovery of a lump on her breast. She asked herself, ‘what if this is cancer?’ How could she continue if that was the case? In her office bathroom a thought arrived – Perhaps I could leave. This experience and the thought it brought to mind was the first in a number of thoughts that brought her to the final decision to step down as Prime Minister.

Whilst she had been Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern had continued visiting schools. Often she would ask students the same question – What does a politician look like? More often than not the answers she got back contained a similar theme – selfish, old, untrustworthy, liar, bald. They were answers that disturbed her.

A week before she announced her official resignation she visited another school, this time on a marae (the focal point of a Māori community.) She asked the same question. This time she got a different answer, from a young woman: “’Kind’ she said. ‘I think politicians can be kind.’ I smiled at her. ‘Yes,’ I said. ‘I think they can be kind, too.’”

Jacinda Ardern may not have convinced all in the New Zealand community (not even of her colleagues in parliament) of the need and possibility of a different kind of power based on kindness. But, for that young woman at the school that day it was distinct possibility.

It remains to be seen whether kindness does permeate political thinking and debate. A Different Kind Of Power helps to keep the possibility alive.

Note:

1. Jacinda Ardern, A Different Kind Of Power, Penguin Random House, Australia & New Zealand, 2025