Imagine getting a positive pregnancy test and then – just a few days later – learning you’ll be prime minister. In hindsight, being willing and able to deal with the unexpected would become the hallmark of former New Zealand prime minister Jacinda Ardern’s political career.

She had always stood out as a leader, but her tumultuous political journey followed none of the predictable pathways. Readers of her memoir will relive what this was like, from her feelings about motherhood through to meeting world leaders.

Review: A Different Kind of Power – Jacinda Ardern (Penguin Random House)

The title of her book promises more than just that, however. Many people hope for a different kind of leader, but what personal qualities or strengths do such leaders need? More generally, can the personal qualities that contribute to great leadership be learned and applied by others?

The answer seems to be a qualified yes. Since leaving office, Ardern has become something of a global influencer. But as her career pivots towards celebrity appearances and international agencies, her memoir also serves as a leadership manifesto – especially for women, or aspirants of any gender, who suffer self-doubt.

In her formative years, working as an assistant to Labour leader Helen Clark, Ardern relates how she let political opponents get under her skin. Was she “too thin-skinned” for politics? She soon learned “you could be sensitive and survive”. Better still, she could use her sensitivity as a strength.

But “it is different for women in the public eye”, she writes. Derogatory terms were used against her, such as the “show pony” epithet coined by a senior woman journalist. There were questions about whether she had “substance”. These things could undermine people’s belief in her competence – perhaps even her own self-belief.

What she did about this is instructive. Lashing out at jibes and cartoon images........

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