Will’s Word: Why we might be writing off leaders too quickly

I just finished reading Grant Robinson's memoir, Anything Could Happen, over the weekend. A thoroughly enjoyable read from start to finish, perhaps even the best political memoir I've read to date.

For those with a short memory, Robinson was our Finance Minister and Deputy Prime Minister. What I found most fascinating was his account of working under Helen Clark when she was Prime Minister.

Particularly, his reflections on her grit and determination during the years she spent in opposition, through the 1990s, facing relentless pressure to step aside. This same weekend, I stumbled upon an old TVNZ profile of Clark from that very era.

The story's angle: Labour's plummeting polls and a caucus reportedly circling, ready to roll her. I'm not trying to toot Helen's horn here, but can you imagine a New Zealand that wasn't led by her?

Think back: prudent fiscal management, public debt reduced to historic lows, consistent surpluses, interest-free student loans, civil unions, and the introduction of KiwiSaver.

I'm not saying all of that was solely Clark's doing, Michael Cullen deserves huge credit too, but it is hard to imagine and argue that leadership like Clark's doesn't matter.

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Sticking with her through those tough years ultimately paid dividends for Labour in the country. It's a lesson National could have heeded back in 2020. Instead of rallying behind Simon Bridges, the party rolled him months out from the election.

What followed was utter chaos. Todd Muller's short-lived leadership, then Judith Collins' bruising tenure. In hindsight, keeping Bridges might not have won them the election, but it could have preserved credibility, stability and unity.

Fast forward to today, and that old TVNZ story on Helen Clark reads almost word-for-word like the ones we're now seeing about Chris Hipkins. The New Zealand Herald recently reported that CEOs were warning that Labour risks becoming invisible under his leadership.

We've heard all this before, the whispers, the speculation, the premature obituaries. Are we too quick to write leaders off? You could argue Hipkins had his chance at the last election, but it's not as though he had much of a runway to work with.

To Labour's credit, his caucus has remained remarkably unified and loyal since the election, something that can't be said of the Scherer or Cunliffe eras. Of course, there are moments when it's right to question leadership. Joe Biden is a perfect example of that.

His decision not to seek re-election was the right one, perhaps even long overdue. But I keep circling back to this point: maybe in our obsession with the next headline, the next poll or the next saviour, we've forgotten the power of persistence.

Leadership, maybe, takes time to mature. Helen Clark proved that, Simon Bridges never really got the chance to and Chris Hipkins, for all the noise, might actually deserve one.

That's Will's Word.