Jacinda Ardern: "It takes strength to be an empathetic leader."

The former Prime Minister of New Zealand, Jacinda Ardern proved that the future of leadership is kindness. She showed that empathic leaders can also be strong and bold. Check out this interview with BBC News for an example of the future of leadership.

In Leading With Empathy, Ardern says:

“I think one of the sad things that I’ve seen in political leadership is – because we’ve placed over time so much emphasis on notions of assertiveness and strength – that we probably have assumed that it means you can’t have those other qualities of kindness and empathy…

And yet, when you think about all the big challenges that we face in the world, that’s probably the quality we need the most. We need our leaders to be able to empathize with the circumstances of others; to empathize with the next generation that we’re making decisions on behalf of. And if we focus only on being seen to be the strongest, most powerful person in the room, then I think we lose what we’re meant to be here for…

“I actually decided I didn’t necessarily want to build some tough exterior. Instead I just learned how to filter things; how to kind of take on board that criticism and listen to it when I needed to, or otherwise say, ‘Well, actually that person’s just coming from a very different perspective’, and just learn how to filter it. And so that was a really big learning curve, you know? Actually, the world doesn’t need a whole lot of massively thick-skinned politicians; they do need people who care.”

🤔 Are you feeling as desperate as I am for a different style of leadership?