Ardern speaks of unity and kindness as a productive alternative to division and stirring hate, and I loved what she had to say. 

I struggled a bit with the first part of the book because it was taking a bit to get to the point that she became an MP, but once we got to that part, it was a riveting read. I only wish there had been a bit more detail on the policies and issues her government tried to address. 

I did not know that after the attack in Christchurch, New Zealand managed to reform its gun laws in only10 days. Within a less than year of the change in law which banned semi-automatic rifles and high-round shotguns (both used in the attack) amongst others, 56,000 weapons and 200,000 gun parts were handed in destroyed as part of an amnesty programme. That is a huge reduction in weapons in a short amount of time for a country with a population fo only 5 million people.

I also found many of the other initiatives led by Ardern’s government quite impressive, including the real concern for climate change and environmental issues. Yet, here again I would have liked more details and depth. I know little about New Zealand, and nothing about New Zealand politics, so I would have liked more context on what the gaps were that existing legislation missed out. For some issues like the decriminalisation of abortion, the form of gun laws, and the handling of covid, I understand the impact of the policies, but on other issues such as her efforts in education, health services, and tax reform, I would have loved to get more background.

Still, I really found that this was one book I really loved reading at a time when I really needed to read a book about leadership that is based on data analysis, empathy, a drive to create change for the benefit of all people under the care of the state.    

“As a child, I remember wondering why my dad saw any good in the worlds at all, when he saw the very worst of it. Ans when I was prime minister, I saw moments of true darkness, too. But there’s an inverse feature to seeing the world at its most brutal, because those also the moments that show people at their most humane. Those are moments when I saw that it was possible for people to galvanize behind their collective humanity. Sometimes, those moments are small. Other times, they create a ripple that sweeps across a country.”