Keep calm and lead like Jacinda Ardern

I’m not a politics person. I am especially unenthused about the tactics and slander techniques used during the current Australian election campaign, and particularly found Bill whatever his name is, and Malcolm, I mean Scott Morrison’s marketing and media activity extremely cringe-worthy – all centred around disempowerment, scare-mongering and narrow-mindedness….yuck.

I personally don’t align with any one party, or feel I can keep up with the policies for that matter, but what is important to me is the demonstration of strong leadership.

Leadership to me is something we’re all responsible for on an individual basis. It’s about how we choose to show up and about the conscious interactions we have with others. Leadership is about how we leave people feeling, and most importantly, despite ranking or positioning, to me, leadership is not about getting people to do things ‘your way’ or even to follow your every move – it’s about being the example you wish see by giving people the space to do the same.

And if we look at the current landscape of world leaders, I think there’s a lot we can learn from New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern.

Hailed by many across the globe for how she handled the tragic Christchurch attack, Miss Ardern teaches us that we can move away from the traditional and ego-centric attitude towards leadership, to a more humble, empathetic and collaborative approach in the way we lead our families, businesses, communities and even ourselves. 

More than that, through her forward-thinking and modern outlook (having recently had a baby and got engaged to her stay-at-home dad partner Clarke), we’re shown that with the right mindset we really are able to have it all if we’re willing to push past traditional views and limitations.

Recently I listened to an interview with Jacinda on Rachel Hunter and Emma Mildon’s 11:11 podcast (check them out on iTunes), titled How to Lead with Love and Grace – and I realised if we all apply some of these very simple concepts into our day to day interactions, the impact we’ll be able to have as leaders will be monumental.

Here are three ways we can become better leaders that are inspired by New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern.

Be humble and relatable

There are two types of influence I find very interesting. The first is aspirational – this is where I see you and I want to be like you. A lot self-comparing but still motivating.

And then there’s inspirational. Someone who is doing something great that we can relate to which inspires us to take action in our own lives based on the personal objectives we want to achieve.

I find Jacinda to be the latter.

With her incredibly humble and down to earth Kiwi attitude, she dubs herself as a small town girl who sees everything as changeable and temporary, including politics.

“I get up in the morning, I change a nappy and I go off to work and do my job. It’s an incredibly privileged position but I see my life as very ordinary otherwise, which is very levelling. I do exactly what other mums do I just happen to do it in the public eye,” she told Rachel and Emma. 

Such a simple statement but a message that have many thinking, ‘Well if she can do it, then maybe I can do it too?’

Human beings want to feel understood, and trust people that they can see elements of themselves in. Be humble. Be relatable.

Leadership that reflects humanity

Often times as leaders we fall into the trap of being laser focused on delivering outcomes and it can be easy to lose our ability to lead as humans, not machines. One of Jacinda’s goals is to reframe how we look at success. Instead of solely looking at things like growth and economic factors, she says measurements of success also need to look at components like connectedness, human behaviour, social markers, the environment and the wider impact we’re having on society in order to fulfil economic objectives. 

“We might look at a family who runs a business and it’s made a good profit that year but in doing so they’ve churned out waste into the local river, or their child has mental health issues and they haven’t had access to decent education that year – well is that really wealth? And is that really a country or a family that’s prospering?”

Jacinda says investing in wellbeing and realistic lifestyle factors will be key going forward for overall success.

The consciousness of this type of leadership shows us that in order to establish real change and lead with integrity, sometimes we have to go against the grain to pioneer a new way of doing things that widely benefits the collective. A human first approach allows us to redefine success in our families, communities, businesses, country and the world at large.

Lose the edge

Gone are the days when hierarchy and dictatorships were the typical go-to way to lead people. The reality is, people know they have options and if they don’t feel heard, valued or like their contribution matters, they’ll tell you to go and shove it. But there are still many people who are aggressive in their approach to leadership and see alternative techniques as weak.

“I don’t see myself as a particularly aggressive person, I do have a tendency to collaborate, I very much enjoy working with teams of people and enjoy seeing them rise and also I have a very strong sense of empathy,” Jacinda told Rachel and Emma.

“Does any of that diminish the sense of strength that you need for a leadership role? Or does any of that make you weak? Absolutely not.”

Move over Mr Burns, humble and empathetic leadership is the new way forward.

There’s no doubt about it – in order to bring forward a more connected and conscious generation, we have to start redefining who we are as leaders in our own lives. That means bucking old social norms and challenging our own views of success and leadership.

Jacinda Ardern is a great pillar of inspiration for this and it is my hope that her approach has a long-lasting affect not only on New Zealand but the rest of the world too.

Listen to the full interview with Jacinda Ardern on Rachel Hunter and Emma Mildon’s 11:11 podcast available on iTunes.