Nicky Marr: Sometimes quitting is brave thing to do
There’s an image of Banksy’s that I used as my screensaver for a while, and it came to mind again this week.
It’s a black painting on a white-washed wall and depicts a little girl sitting cross-legged, her head in one hand. She’s watching a tiny blue bird, which is resting on a twig by her knee. There’s a stillness to the image, and its words really speak to me: “If you get tired, learn to rest, not to quit.”
I’ve never been great at pacing myself, hence the need for that regular reminder. I seem to either be rushing around at breakneck speed, ticking things off my never-ending ‘to do’ lists, or I’m the other version of ‘flat out’, recovering from all that frantic rushing and doing. A little balance? Rationing of energy? Yes, I know. But I’m still a work in progress.
What brought the Banksy to mind was the surprise resignation last week of New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern, who said she had “nothing left in the tank” with which to carry on with the job. Addressing her party she said, simply: “It is time.”
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For having the courage to know when it’s time to quit, and then quitting, she has my utmost admiration. Of all the leadership qualities that exist, surely the self-awareness of when it is time to stop, and the courage to then step down – the relinquishment of the power, position and profile – must be among the greatest, yet most rarely used qualities of all.
Following Banksy’s logic, maybe she should have rested instead of quitting? But no. When you know the time is right to step down, to give someone else a chance to step into your shoes, perhaps to seek new opportunities, the far braver thing to do is to quit.
Her party didn’t hang around. Unlike the months as a rudderless ship that the UK suffered in 2022, New Zealand already has a new PM. Ardern and team acted swiftly and decisively. No mess, no fuss. I’m envious, not just that New Zealand had the benefit of Ardern’s incisive leadership through five difficult years (including Covid), but also that they seem capable of grown-up politics.
Since Ardern’s announcement, details have surfaced of some more of the unrelentless and abhorrent online and in-person abuse that she received during her tenure as PM. As a result, she will be given state security; the first New Zealand PM to need it.
Political differences should – in any decent democracy – be capable of being robustly expressed. Death threats are entirely another matter.
This won’t be the last we see of this remarkable woman. Tributes paid to her both domestically and from around the globe talk of a leader with intelligence and strength but also of empathy and insight. She, herself, wants to be remembered “as someone who always tried to be kind”.
Having had the courage to quit, I hope she gets some rest, before embarking upon the next chapter of her story.
