What does leadership look like in the modern world? – Editorial
What does great leadership look like? The answer, based on current evidence, may be easier to define in terms of what it is not.
It is not fevered memes posted and deleted over the span of an evening ending at 4.30am.
Great leadership is intelligent and checks its sources.
US Secretary of Defence Pete Hegseth this week quoted scripture not from the Bible but the film Pulp Fiction at a Pentagon service. It spoke of thunderous violence, of raining vengeance upon their enemy. If you’ve seen the film, you will be familiar with the famous scene involving actor Samuel L. Jackson.
Great leadership does not come armed, making murderous, unprovoked attacks on civilians. It does not speak of wiping out civilisations.
But all leaders, those around the world and here in New Zealand, need to be warned: young people may be disenchanted but they are watching.
US Vice-President JD Vance said last week: “I’ve recognised a lot of young voters don’t love the policy we have in the Middle East.”
An unintended consequence of the Middle East conflicts may be to galvanise young people at the polling booths around the world, and that remains to be seen. But what is happening in New Zealand suggests there is work to do to increase political engagement.
New data from the Electoral Commission reveals only 54% of eligible 18- to 24-year-olds were enrolled to vote as of February 28.
This figure, student news platformTe Waha Nui reported, is significantly lower than older age groups, with 82% of 25–29-year-olds and 94% of 60 to 64-year-olds are currently enrolled.
There has been debate around lowering the voting age to 16 and Make it 16 co-director Jamin Fountain said these figures highlight young people’s exclusion from democracy in New Zealand.
New figures from the Electoral Commissionshow more young people have signed up to vote in Māori electorates. The latest figures show 58% of eligible 18- to 24-year-olds have registered for the Māori roll, up from 50% in 2023.
The hīkoi of 2023 protesting the Treaty Settlements Bill was uabout rangatahi, the young leaders of tomorrow.
It is the young who are going to have to manage the legacy of today’s laws.
For political leaders to not listen and tap into this vital and important demographic is to do so at their peril.
While political leadership may at times be wanting, some of the greatest examples come from those engaged in other endeavours or missions beyond our frame of reference.
Those like Charlisse Leger-Walker, the New Zealand woman who made history by being the first drafted into the WNBA. She said: “I’m just really humble that I can be that role model, and I just hope that everybody watching from New Zealand know that they can be here too, that ... they can be limitless.”
Or former All Black Lima Sapoaga, who on social media called on those in power, leaders in industry and beyond, to rally for Moana Pasifika in the Super Rugby franchise, and cited the impact of its demise on young Pasifika people.
One of the most potent examples of leadership came recently not from the corridors of power but from another dimension, 406,771km away – a scientific and humanitarian endeavour untethered by the forces of gravity and more meaningful than any political rhetoric.
When the Artemis II astronauts, Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Koch and Jeremy Hansen, travelled further than any human being has before, they experienced a 40-minute blackout in communication but even as they passed behind the far side of the moon, they managed to convey something so profound, poetic, and so needed in times like this.
“The Earth was a ‘crew’, a fragile oasis in a void of space.
“We live on a fragile planet in the vacuum and the void of space ... we find joy by creating solutions together instead of destroying.
“When you look up here, you’re not looking at us. We are a mirror reflecting you.”
For anyone, especially young people, who are fearing for their futures, who might have been lacking credible sources of inspiration, these words were uncannily well timed, these brilliant, clever minds delivering hope for a generation, for a world in turmoil.
While social media may bring information, war and violence more urgently and uncensored to a broad audience, it is not always helpful. Young people are said to be suffering from higher levels of anxiety and depression, and this country’s suicide statistics are among the worst in the world.
Times of crisis, existential and material, compound this.
Great leaders inspire us not to panic but to slow down, so that intentional decision-making can happen. It does not happen by accident; it is purposeful. Slowing down is not a woo concept; it allows a nation of crisis-addled young – and old – to pause and contemplate. To consider what we all say or do.
Voter enrolment for the 2026 election is open from now until October 25. Let’s hope that instead of inducing fear in the hearts and minds of young people, our leaders – everywhere – know they are being watched and that the leaders of tomorrow will vote accordingly.