By Our Staff Reporter
Dehradun, 16 Apr: When Nancy Bora, a student of UPES pursuing BA in Journalism and Mass Communication, received a letter from none other than Jacinda Ardern, the Prime Minister of New Zealand, it was a dream come true. Nancy had written to Jacinda to obtain her perspective on leadership and teamwork for a project she and her other classmates had been working on. “We decided to make a documentary on the Prime Minister of New Zealand as she is globally applauded for her leadership style and wrote to her in this regard,” tells Nancy.
Jacinda Ardern has impressed and inspired many around the world with the way she has been leading her people and the country. She is a source of inspiration and motivation to countless youngsters, especially girls.
In her official letter to Nancy, Jacinda shared some pertinent leadership lessons that can pave the way for students like her from classroom to the boardroom:
Lead with kindness: The values an effective leader possesses is kindness, care, motivation, and determination. PM Ardern says, “These are the qualities that make me want to lead and also enable me to do well.” Her parents taught her to be kind and caring which made her join the Labour Party as a teenager because she wanted to make things better for people.
Leaders work hard: A leader is someone who has inspired trust and respect in others and so has gained the opportunity to guide and influence them. She says, “In my own experience of leading it involves a lot of consideration, discussing ideas, planning and sheer hard work to make things happen!”
Lead to change: A leader should be compassionate and thoughtful. She says, ‘It will help you to know why you want to become a leader and what changes you would like to bring about. It will also help other people trust and respect you because they will know you want to do good things as a leader.”
Follow your passion: PM Ardern adds, “Get involved in things you love, whether that is sports or politics or something else.” This helps develop the knowledge, confidence and skill required to be a future leader in the chosen field.
In her letter, PM Jacinda Ardern also shared her personal experience to encourage Nancy and students like her to never doubt their abilities. She said, “I knew I could be Prime Minister and a mother, not because there is anything special about me personally but because women and parents multitask all the time, juggling families and work. I am certainly not the first and I won’t be the last. Women may face some extra challenges in life but that is because of people’s perceptions, not because of our abilities.”
