Former New Zealand Prime Minister Dame Jacinda Ardern delivered a speech at Yale University’s graduation ceremony that troublingly glorified self-doubt and pushed a globalist agenda, while subtly critiquing conservative values and national sovereignty.

Ardern’s address leaned heavily on promoting “imposter syndrome” as a virtue, a stance that risks undermining confident, decisive leadership. She claimed the doubt and sensitivity it brings have “a power of their own,” saying, “It drives you to seek information, to listen to experts who can teach you, and advisors who can guide you.”

This reliance on so-called experts over independent judgement raises concerns about leaders surrendering their authority to unelected bureaucrats.

She boasted about New Zealand’s handling of Covid-19 and the cattle disease Mycoplasma bovis, crediting heavy-handed state intervention and expert-driven policies. “I am proud that New Zealand is now on track to be the first country in the world to eradicate M.Bovis, and that our approach to Covid saved an estimated 20,000 lives,” she said.

Such claims conveniently gloss over the economic and social toll of her government’s draconian lockdowns and restrictive measures, which many Kiwis still resent.

Ardern’s speech took a darker turn as she painted a grim picture of global crises—wars, climate change, and a supposed “decreasing regard” for civil and human rights, “including the right to be who you are.”

This vague nod to identity politics drew cheers from the Yale crowd, as did her mention of New Zealand’s knee-jerk ban on semi-automatic weapons after the 2019 Christchurch mosque attacks—a move conservatives argue stripped law-abiding citizens of their rights under the guise of safety.

Most alarmingly, Ardern railed against isolationism, framing it as a dangerous political tool. “In the same way that fear is a tool of politics against our long term self-interest, so is isolationism, the illusion that closing yourself off from the world somehow means you are simply prioritising your own people, because it ignores how connected we are,” she said.

This thinly veiled jab at nations prioritising their own borders and interests dismisses the legitimate concerns of Kiwis and others who value sovereignty over globalist entanglements.

She also made pointed remarks about the United States, suggesting its new leadership is failing to balance domestic and global obligations. Her call for international cooperation “based on shared values” reeks of an elitist push for homogeneity, ignoring the diverse priorities of individual nations.

Ardern’s plea for graduates to embrace their “curiosity,” “humility,” and “empathy” as strengths feels like a recipe for weak, overly sensitive leadership that prioritises feelings over pragmatic governance.

In a time when New Zealand and the world need strong, self-assured leaders who put their people first, Ardern’s speech instead championed self-doubt, globalism, and an overreliance on experts—ideas that many conservatives would argue are dangerously out of touch with reality.