Arden says she will share deeply personal elements of her experience going from a girl from Morrinsville to New Zealand’s leader.
To be released on June 3, 2025, readers can expect “all the highs and lows, the parts of the job people don’t often see, and the many lessons I learned along the way,” shared Arden in a post on Instagram.
She says she also wanted to share her belief in empathetic leadership: “That kindness isn’t just something we should teach our kids, there’s a place for it in politics too. Especially in these times”.
On sharing the book’s manuscript with a contact, Ardern says they told her they found it, ‘surprising.’
She reflected that she imagines that is because, “I’ve written about things I haven’t shared before.”
Ardern was elected the Prime Minister of New Zealand at the age of thirty-seven, becoming the country’s youngest Prime Minister in more than 150 years.
The book will cover some of the decisions and events that marked her years of leadership.
‘This is the remarkable story of how a Mormon girl plagued by self-doubt made political history and changed our assumptions of what a global leader can be,’ reads the book’s description of the title from Penguin Random House.
‘She guided her country through unprecedented challenges—a volcanic eruption, a major biosecurity incursion, and a global pandemic—while advancing visionary new polices to address climate change, reduce child poverty, and secure historic international trade deals. She did all this while juggling first-time motherhood in the public eye.’
Ardern is currently a Senior Fellow at Harvard University with fellowships at Harvard Kennedy School Center for Public Leadership as well as Harvard Law School’s Berkman Klein Center for Internet and Society, where she is focused on ways to improve content standards and platform accountability for extremist content online.
The former PM says the book will likely resonate with those that are “surprised to find yourself in leadership and for anyone who has ever doubted themselves”.
‘A Different Kind of Power’ is available for pre-order now.