Book Review: A Different Kind of Power
Here’s my review of A Different Kind of Power by Jacinda Ardern. Leave a comment if you’ve read it too, or if you plan to read it. Then see today’s writing prompt at the bottom of this post.
A Different Kind of Power: A Memoir by Jacinda Ardern is a book that will leave you feeling pragmatically hopeful when you're done reading it. It not only captures Ardern's early life in New Zealand and pivotal historical moments she (and many of us) personally lived through, but a path forward for us all.
Ardern begins her memoir by sharing her humble beginnings in a small town in New Zealand and how her family, education, religious upbringing, and work experiences shaped her and her life's trajectory. She shares examples of how her father's empathetic small-town leadership influenced her. How her mother’s work ethic and drive to be useful influenced her. How a beloved teacher influenced her. And how her friends and extended family influenced her. Which makes it read like an honest and vulnerable diary.
Throughout the memoir Ardern never shies away from sharing what she struggled with in life— everything from dealing with self-doubt and imposter's syndrome to faux pas with foreign officials, to difficulties trying to conceive and raise a child, to seemingly impossible political battles, to her internal turmoil around leaving the Mormon church. And her sense of responsibility to be useful and deeply humane to others, to see what they are enduring and need through it all, was so palpable and genuine.
What stuck out to me the most when reading this memoir was how Ardern focused mostly on the little moments in her very big life and how they influenced her— like when her mother instructed her to wrap a cabbage in newspaper to prepare for a job, and when a child hugged her at a school event after learning she was sad, and how small conversations and moments with supporters and loved ones, as well as challengers, influenced her in big ways. And how she was always quick to give others credit for all the work and support they gave her.
I have only cried while reading one other political memoir before, Jamie Raskin's Unthinkable. But I truly bawled my eyes out when reading Ardern's passages about her experience during the Christchurch massacre in 2019 in this memoir. Her leadership during such a horrific tragedy is an example for every leader to follow. An example that should be modeled because it has more practicality and common sense than anything else.
Ardern is kind and empathetic, and that is precisely what has made her a strong and pragmatic leader. She is not strong and decisive despite her empathy but because of it. And this candid yet accessible memoir will leave you wondering things like: why aren’t all leaders like this? Because if they don't genuinely care about us as human beings first, why would we want them to lead us anyway? By the end of this memoir, you will see how empathy creates viable paths forward while the alternatives to it do not.
Jacinda Ardern is one of the greatest humanitarian leaders of our time, whose humility and practicality will make everything she did (and has yet to do) seem easy and like common sense one day, especially to those of us who care about others, though it is anything but common right now. I highly recommend reading this book if you need a reminder of all the good everyday work that good people are doing out there in the world, and that you can be one of them too.
One notable passage from the book:
“But there's an inverse feature to seeing the world at its most brutal, because those are also the moments that show people at their most humane. Those are the 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.” (p.337)
Subscribe below to receive future book reviews in your inbox, along with daily reading and writing inspiration.
Want to express your appreciation for this particular post?
Buy me a coffee one time, or become a free or paid monthly suscriber for less than the cost of a coffee. Please and thank you! My writing and I are fueled by loyal readers, caffeine, and kind gestures.
© All Rights Reserved by K.E. Creighton; Creighton’s Compositions LLC.
You may also enjoy:
Today’s Writing Prompt
Writing Prompt: Free Write, Farming
Set a timer for ten minutes. Once you start the timer, start free writing about farming and why it's important to you or what you know or want to know about it. Write about whatever comes to your mind as soon as it comes to your mind, and don't overthink what you're writing about. Don't stop writing until the timer goes off. And feel free to repeat this free writing exercise for any topic in the future, especially when you find yourself stuck or needing a bit of creative inspiration.
Be sure to share what you write for any of the daily writing prompts in a subscriber chat thread so we can read and discuss what you wrote.
