Unarguably, Rt Hon Dame Jacinda Ardern is a compassionate, human-centred leader who was greatly admired for the way she guided New Zealand through some challenging situations and shone a light on values driven leadership.
On the weekend, I took myself to see the documentary Prime Minister based on her time in office. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Would recommend!
One of the things I particularly liked is that as an audience we weren’t asked to love or hate, we weren’t being asked to choose a side, or play politics. It was about the person behind the role.
One line right: “Instead of being binary, good or bad, right or wrong, we need to rehumanise each other and work together,” resonated so deeply with me.
And the things I walked out of the cinema admiring most were not her skills as a politician but her:
💙 Jubilation at success (and how she shared that with her team).
💙 Cheeky laughter and banter with her husband.
💙 Consideration and deep care.
💙 Feeding her daughter breakfast while doing an important interview.
💙 Devastation at leaving her family for another meeting.
💙 Crying and asking advisors how she was going to get through.
Her grief.
Her questioning.
Her fear.
Her anxiety
Her strength.
Her joy.
Her human-ness.
….
As someone who has spent the past twenty years being trusted to hold space for leaders, well-known figures and many everyday humans as they balance their private and public realities, it was a beautiful, emotional, and cinematic reminder that while we’re not all Jacinda Ardern (thank goodness!), we do all have a behind-the-scenes version of ourselves.
Some people choose to keep that side of themself hidden. Some don’t mind sharing bits of it from time to time. While others are happy for everyone to have full access to their innermost thoughts and feelings at all times.
Regardless of which category you fall into, it is super important to have trusted spaces where you can be you without being your role, expectations, having to ‘hold it all together’ and be an ordinary human experiencing human things. I am seeking some feedback on a new model around this – let me know if you want to help by offering some thoughts around what I have created.
And as we head for the end of the year, when there is a lot of pressure, planning and things that feel urgent while also having many end of year celebration and connections, it is a timely reminder that parts of ourselves can be shared in many different ways, I’m curious how your human-ness shows in your personal, professional (or public) life right now?
Behind the scenes of humaning
