Jacinda Ardern: Leading With Empathy

Jacinda Ardern: Leading with Empathy is a major biography of one of the most important and inspirational leaders of the twenty-first century, based on interviews with the New Zealand Prime Minister herself.

Jacinda Ardern was swept into office in 2017, with a wave of popular adulation dubbed ‘Jacindamania’. Her victory seemed heroic: in less than three months, she rose from deputy leader of the opposition, to the highest office in her nation. 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 and the struggles of the COVID-19 pandemic, brought her international acclaim and a second term.

Jacinda Ardern: Leading with Empathy carefully explores the influences – personal, social, political and emotional – that have shaped Ardern. Acclaimed peace activist and journalist Supriya Vani and writer Carl A Harte build their narrative through Vani's personal 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 into a committed social democrat, a passionate Labour Party politician, and a model modern leader.