Jacinda Ardern has decided to step down as New Zealand Prime Minister.
Jacinda Ardern announced her resignation this week, stepping down after two terms as Prime Minister of New Zealand and Leader of the Labour Party.
Ardern’s leadership set a new standard for the 21st century. When I first wrote about Jacinda for The Conversation in May 2020, her open, honest, and authentic approach was a welcome change and a bold new example for leaders around the world. I had hoped others would follow her bravery.
Three years on and her timely resignation is a perfect example of contemporary leadership, knowing when to step down at just the right time; the right time for herself personally, the right time for her family, and the right time for her country.
Great leaders know not only how to encourage, enable, and inspire their followers, they also know when it’s their time to step back and pass the torch. Ardern’s tenure has been marked by her self-awareness, transparency, and humility: the hallmarks of authentic leadership.
Knowing your own strengths and limitations is at the core of authentic leadership; and it means that we’ve got to be completely honest with ourselves. There’s nothing easy about admitting that my best right now isn’t good enough, that the role I’m in demands more than I’ve got to offer.
It's tough to let people in to what's really going on inside our minds and our private lives, especially for those of us in leadership roles. Ardern shows us the way forward by sharing her burnout, desire to wed and spend time with her children. Her willingness to be open and vulnerable allowed us to connect with her values and understand her leadership.
Cynics might argue that Ardern is simply getting out before she loses the next election. Two years of stimulus spending left New Zealand fighting with high inflation, the same as Australia and half the countries in the G20. But when people are hurting, they throw stones at their leaders and Ardern’s popularity back home has waned.
Ardern’s decision doesn’t strike me as weakness, but rather reveals humility as the true strength of her character. How many others would have grasped at their power as it slipped away, harming people and country in the process? We need only look to the debacle unfolding across the UK for examples.
Ardern leaves us a legacy of unity and understanding that stretches well beyond the borders of New Zealand. I wrote that Ardern’s authenticity had the power to unite people and that sentiment has been reflected in the how she navigated the COVID-19 pandemic and Christchurch Mosque shooting.
The world faces challenging times, but also times of renewal and hope. The changes we’ll see in the years to come will be far-reaching and complex. Now more than ever we’ll need leaders like Ardern to guide us; selfless leaders who can see past their own personal ambitions to bring us together.
Ardern was the authentic leader we all needed, right to the end.
Dr Andrei Lux is a lecturer in leadership at Edith Cowan University School of Business and Law.
This article was originally published in The West Australian.
