After securing the position last week, there wasn't much surprising about Bill English being confirmed as our new Prime Minister today.
Except in the way he chose to begin the job, with a poem aptly titled Lead.
The woman who wrote it, poet Selina Tusitala Marsh, says it's about seeing the potential in everybody.
"You work with what you have, and everybody has something to contribute to your leadership vision," she says.
Mr English and Marsh both spoke at The Global Women Breakthrough Leaders Celebration Dinner on Thursday, shortly after his two rivals for the top job dropped out.
As Marsh read her poem, she spotted the Prime Minister-elect in the crowd.
"He was taking notes, writing down the words of the poem so he could colonise them, so he could riff off them," she says.
Marsh hopes it shows Mr English will be a compassionate leader.
"I think it means he recognises how the creative and critical can work together, not just in terms of knowledge production and stimulation, but in touching people and connecting people."
And while she's thrilled her poem has been given a national audience, Mr English shouldn't expect to avoid paying a royalty cheque.
"The bill is definitely in the mail," Marsh jokes.
Newshub.
