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BIG Questions Institute Update

August 7, 2025, No. 189 (Read Online)​

What Can Jacinda Ardern’s Legacy Teach Us About Leading Schools During Polarized Times?

“I was a very ordinary person who found myself in a set of extraordinary circumstances.” Jacinda Ardern

Back in 2022, when in-person meetings had just resumed, we were inspired to feature Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern’s example of leading through complexity prominently in our work with school teams.

After all, she was one of the faces of outstanding leadership through Covid (who all happened to be women), with significantly lower death rates in New Zealand than the rest of the world.

Her rapid, clear, and deeply empathetic response following the Christchurch mosque attacks by domestic terrorists helped unite New Zealanders.

She achieved a quick consensus to ban military style semi-automatic weapons less than one month after the Christchurch attacks.

She worked relentlessly on an agenda to bring honest history from a Maori perspective into schools and achieve gender parity on several fronts.

She gave birth to a daughter while Head of State.

She’s wildly down-to-earth. While Prime Minister, she still shopped for herself - at K-Mart!

So, when her memoir was released at the start of the summer, I was eager to read it - as were many of you. We received multiple recommendations to read A Different Kind of Power when we asked for your summer reads. Since it’s already back-to-school season for those who follow a northern hemisphere schedule, I wanted to share some relevant lessons I gleaned and reflections I’ve picked up since finishing the book (btw, I “read” it on Audible, and Ardern herself is the reader, which I really enjoyed).

I’m resisting writing a full book review here, but I will say that while the memoir was long on her backstory (and I was fascinated to read about her upbringing as a Mormon and her grief over leaving the church), it’s lighter on her process around key decision making, her reflections looking back on her choices now, and why New Zealand turned so dramatically against her, which I was hoping for. Nonetheless, her stance on “empathetic leadership” and “pragmatic idealism” as “a different kind of power” has much to teach leaders of all stripes, including educators. Here are five lessons I took away from A Different Kind of Power:

1. Have a clear vision of what you want to accomplish, but keep checking the temperature of your stakeholders/community/constituents.

Ardern and her team were unrelenting in their commitment to minimize casualties during Covid. At first, this was popular among New Zealanders. The experience shows that remarkable social cohesion is possible, but the goodwill won’t last forever and can’t be taken for granted. After multiple lockdowns from new variants, the public sentiment had turned. The cost to the nation in terms of isolation and lost opportunities seemed to have surpassed the benefits.

Rachel Morris, writing for the New Yorker in June observed, “But, perversely, the country’s success in keeping the virus out seemed to have made it hard for people to grasp the trauma and chaos they had escaped. The sentiment was captured by the country’s most influential talk-radio host, Mike Hosking, in a February, 2022, interview with Chris Hipkins, the minister for the covid response. When Hipkins noted that New Zealand had the lowest death toll in the developed world, Hosking retorted, ‘Correct. But at what price?’”

Lesson for school leaders: You might start a policy or program that works well for a time or a cohort, and seems untouchable; but take pulse checks to see if it’s still serving those it’s meant for, and be ready to course-correct in response. Pivoting or adjusting is not a sign of failure. It’s smart and strategic.

2. Embrace the many, unique facets of your personal story. We are all outsiders.

From her telling, Jacinda Ardern’s upbringing seemed humble and down-to-earth; nothing too remarkable in her family, academic, or early career trajectory. As a result, she acknowledges the imposter syndrome she carried, but also that this helped instill greater empathy and commitment to humility – as a servant-leader who carries her own story and who is interested in others’ stories and contributions.
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I often hear of the imposter syndrome that school leaders feel, particularly when newly stepping into their roles. If you can relate, draw from your own stories and experiences to connect with members of your school community (especially the challenging ones), and remember that everyone at some time has felt like an outsider.

3. Outsiders might love you, but your own community/constituents matter most (if you want to keep your job).

While I’m emblematic of “Jacinda-mania,” I wasn’t aware of how resoundingly her party lost in the election following her mid-term resignation or how unpopular she had become at home. This reminded me of some schools and their leaders I know. I have heard individuals give terrific talks at conferences or I have loved their LinkedIn posts, but when I’ve had a chance to peek behind the curtain and work in their schools, in some cases I have found that they are not so effective in their home turf. It might start with a parents WhatsApp group blowing up, some unhappy teachers, or even disinformation that is untrue or unfair to them. But if those constituents aren’t heard and responded to in meaningful ways, the visionary ideas can’t go anywhere.

This could also signal that the leader’s values are no longer aligned to that country/school/organization and it’s healthier for all to move on, as Ardern decided to do. In some cases that is the best course of action. In others, it may reflect your own blind spots, or resolvable differences. For example, in a couple cases last year we found that the leader’s communications (their storytelling) wasn’t working. The narrative they thought they were advancing wasn’t reaching those who are influencing the community, or it was being misunderstood, thus creating great dissatisfaction among families.

Honing your ability to listen to all voices and tell an effective story can go far to address weaknesses or divisions that might arise.

4. Show how leading with empathy and cultural competence are unequivocal strengths.

Earlier in the summer, Mark Ulfers, Director of the Office of Overseas Schools at the U.S. State Department, in response to my call for summer reading recommendations, replied with this thoughtful take on Ardern’s memoir

(Thank you, Mark, for such a thoughtful reflection and contribution!)

5. Amidst mis- and disinformation, intense polarization and vitriolic opposition, she created a new chapter in her story, aligned to her values.

What’s less acknowledged is that a big factor that brought Ardern down was the focused attack on her by “Russian troll farms,” stirring unprecedented unrest and polarization. As the New Yorker profile cited, “In the final month of the Auckland lockdown, however, according to a Microsoft analysis, the consumption of Russian disinformation was thirty per cent higher in New Zealand than in the United States.”

If the story ended with these attacks and her retreat, her legacy would be a sad one. But her reinvention - as a scholar at Harvard, a climate solutions activist, and yes, author of her story - demonstrates the power of human resilience and creativity to forge ahead on a new path. She does have more privileges than most of us, but she also excavated them from her humble beginnings. Her new story also feels like a natural extension of who she’s always been. She’s building on strengths, values, and personal interests to write and tell her new story. This gives me hope.

Conclusion and Some Big Questions

Jacinda Ardern’s leadership is certainly a different kind of power from the examples of leadership that occupy the most attention these days. If you’re leading a school you do have power to choose the type of leader you will be. What are the examples you’re turning to? And what lessons will you take with you as you write your own story?

As always, I'd love to hear your thoughts,

-Homa

Learn (and Partner!) With BQI

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A few spots still remain for new groups of Mastermind Coaching Cohorts for international school Heads, Principals, and Directors of Learning, with Homa, Kathleen, and Tim Carr. Contact our partner, AAIE for information or to register.

Upcoming Sessions through October:

• FREE WEBINAR! Reimagining Director Evaluation: Introducing the VISTA Framework. (AAIE Global Leaders Conversation) September 11, 8 am US Eastern Time, with Homa Tavangar and Kathleen Naglee. Obtain registration link here.
• Registration for the Governance as Leadership Training Institute in Hanoi, Vietnam , September 13-14 at the United Nations International School, led by Homa Tavangar and Rami Madani, is still open.
• The following week Homa will co-facilitate the NAIS Leadership Through Partnership Academy in Chicago.
• ​NESA Leadership Conference - Deep dive on the Pedagogy of Hope for Regenerative Leadership, and support to the Good Governance professional strand.
• ​EARCOS Leadership Conference - New Skills, Literacies, and Dispositions for Leading Through Liminal Times, and an Exploration of the 12 Big Questions

Our team also will be visiting various schools, from British Columbia to Colombia this fall. We would love to explore if a visit to your school makes sense. You can reach out directly to Homa Tavangar: homa@bigquestions.institute to schedule an exploratory call.

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