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The scions of the business world are enjoying quite the Renaissance.
For better or worse, we've entered an unprecedented era. The world's leading business figures are more prevalent, visible and accessible than ever before. Public fascination with entrepreneurship, startups and company leadership seems to have reached an all-time high, thanks to social media, Silicon Valley and Shark Tank.
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40 Successful Business Leaders to Follow in 2016
Amidst all the hoopla (and an obsession with one business-leader-turned-politician, in particular), we've created our 1st annual list of influential business leaders worth watching in 2016.
Listed in alphabetical order, here are the top 40 most influential business leaders of 2016.
Successful Company Leadership Examples
#1. Mary Barra
Role: CEO of General Motors
Quote: If we win the hearts and minds of employees, we're going to have better business success.
Birthplace: Waterford, Michigan
Degree: M.B.A. Stanford University
Age: 54
Social Media: Twitter. LinkedIn.
#2. Marc Benioff
Role: Founder, Chairman & CEO of Salesforce
Quote: You must always be able to predict what's next and then have the flexibility to evolve.
Net worth: $3.8B
Birthplace: San Francisco, California
Degree: B.A. University of Southern California
Age: 51
Social Media: Twitter. LinkedIn.
#3. Jeff Bezos
Role: Founder, Chairman & CEO of Amazon
Quote: A brand for a company is like a reputation for a person. You earn reputation by trying to do hard things well.
Net worth: $2.7B
Birthplace: Albuquerqe, New Mexico
Degree: B.S. Princeton University
Age: 52
Social Media: Twitter.
#4. Warren Buffett
Role: Chairman & CEO of Berkshire-Hathaway
Quote: It takes 20 years to build a reputation and five minutes to ruin it. If you think about that, you'll do things differently.
Net worth: $68.5B
Birthplace: Omaha, Nebraska
Degree: M.S. Columbia University
Age: 85
Social Media: Twitter.
#5. Ursula Burns
Role: Chairman & CEO of Xerox
Quote: The best way to change it is to do it. After a while you become it, and it's easy.
Birthplace: New York, New York
Degree: M.S. Columbia University
Age: 57
#6. Stewart Butterfield
Role: Co-Founder & CEO of Slack
Quote: Life is too short to do mediocre work and it is definitely too short to build worthless things.
Birthplace: Lund, British Columbia, Canada
Degree: M.Ph. University of Cambridge
Age: 43
Social Media: Twitter. LinkedIn.
#7. Grant Cardone
Role: Owner of Cardone Enterprises
Quote: Your success will be compromised by your need to be liked by everyone.
Net worth: $100M
Birthplace: Lake Charles, Louisiana
Degree: B.Sc. McNeese State University
Age: 58.
Social Media: Twitter. LinkedIn.
#8. Brian Chesky
Role: Co-Founder & CEO of Airbnb
Quote: If you want to create a great product, just focus on one person. Make that person have the most amazing experience ever.
Net worth: $3.3B
Birthplace: Niskayuna, New York
Degree: B.F.A. Rhode Island School of Design
Age: 34
Social Media: Twitter. LinkedIn.
#9. Tim Cook
Role: CEO of Apple
Quote: You can only do so many things great. Cast aside everything else.
Net worth: $785M
Birthplace: Mobile, Alabama
Degree: M.B.A. Duke University
Age: 55
Social Media: Twitter.
#10. Mark Cuban
Role: Owner of Dallas Mavericks
Quote: Sweat equity is the most valuable equity there is. Know your business and industry better than anyone else in the world.
Net worth: $3.2B
Birthplace: Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Degree: B.Sc. Indiana University
Age: 57
Social Media: Twitter. LinkedIn.
#11. Jack Dorsey
Role: Co-Founder & CEO of Twitter and Square
Quote: My goal is to simplify complexity. I just want to build stuff that really simplifies our base human interaction.
Net worth: $2.3B
Birthplace: St. Louis, Missouri
Age: 39
Social Media: Twitter.
#12. Daniel Ek
Role: Co-Founder & CEO of Spotify
Quote: Put your consumers in focus, and listen to what they're actually saying, not what they tell you.
Net worth: $400M
Birthplace: Stockholm, Sweden
Age: 33
Social Media: Twitter. LinkedIn.
#13. Tomas Gorny
Role: Co-Founder & CEO at Nextiva
Quote: We are living in the era of the customer. Expectations have never been higher, and while businesses are hearing more from customers, they are understanding less.
Birthplace: Zabrze, Poland
Age: 44
Social Media: LinkedIn.
#14. Reed Hastings
Role: Co-Founder & CEO of Netflix
Quote: Stone Age. Bronze Age. Iron Age. We define entire epics of humanity by the technology they use.
Net worth: $1.72B
Birthplace: Boston, MA
Degree: M.S. Stanford University
Age: 55
Social Media: Twitter. LinkedIn.
#15. Marillyn Hewson
Role: Chairman, President & CEO of Lockheed Martin
Quote: I like to know whether you're the kind of person who can set priorities, take initiative and drive results right from the beginning.
Birthplace: Junction City, Kansas
Degree: M.A. University of Alabama
Age: 62
Social Media: LinkedIn.
#16. Ryan Hoover
Role: Founder & CEO of Product Hunt
Quote: Not everyone should start a company and not every idea needs funding.
Birthplace: Eugene, Oregon
Degree: B.S. University of Oregon
Age: 29
Social Media: Twitter. LinkedIn.
#17. Arianna Huffington
Role: President & Editor-in-Chief of The Huffington Post Media Group
Quote: Fearlessness is like a muscle. The more I exercise it the more natural it becomes not to let my fears run me.
Net worth: $3.2B
Birthplace: Athens, Greece
Degree: M.A. University of Cambridge
Age: 65
Social Media: Twitter. LinkedIn.
#18. Jay Z
Role: Co-Founder of Carter Enterprises
Quote: People respect success. They respect big. If you're big enough, people are drawn to you.
Net worth: $550M
Birthplace: Brooklyn, New York
Age: 46
#19. Lynn Jurich
Role: Co-Founder & CEO of Sunrun
Quote: The way to make the biggest difference is to change mainstream behavior.
Birthplace: San Francisco, California
Degree: M.B.A. Stanford University
Age: 37
Social Media: LinkedIn.
#20. Travis Kalanick
Role: Founder & CEO of Uber
Quote: Uber is efficiency with elegance on top.
Net worth: $6B
Birthplace: Los Angeles, California
Degree: B.S. University of California, Los Angeles
Age: 39
Social Media: Twitter. LinkedIn.
#21. Gary Kelly
Role: CEO of Southwest Airlines
Quote: We have to be on our toes and compete with everybody.
Degree: B.B.A. University of Texas
Social Media: Twitter. LinkedIn.
#22. Jack Ma
Role: Founder & Chairman of Alibaba Group
Quote: You should learn from your competitor, but never copy.
Net worth: $24.1B
Birthplace: Hangzhou, Zhejiang, China
Degree: CEO Program. Cheung Kong Graduate School of Business (CKGSB)
Age: 51
#23. John Mackey
Role: Co-Founder & Co-CEO of Whole Foods
Quote: It's competition that forces companies to get out of their complacency.
Net worth: $100M
Birthplace: Houston, Texas
Age: 62
#24. Charlie Munger
Role: Vice-Chairman of Berkshire-Hathaway
Quote: I constantly see people rise in life who are not the smartest, sometimes not even the most diligent, but they are learning machines.
Net worth: $1.32B
Birthplace: Omaha, Nebraska
Degree: J.D. Harvard University
Age: 92
#25. Elon Musk
Role: CEO of SpaceX & Tesla Motors
Quote: I would like to die on Mars. Just not on impact.
Net worth: $14.2B
Birthplace: Pretoria, Transvaal, South Africa
Degree: B.S. University of Pennsylvania
Age: 44
Social Media: Twitter. LinkedIn.
#26. Satya Nadella
Role: CEO of Microsoft
Quote: The one thing that defines me is that I love to learn.
Birthplace: Anantapur, Andhra Pradesh, India
Degree: M.B.A. University of Chicago
Age: 48
Social Media: Twitter. LinkedIn.
#27. Indra Nooyi
Role: Chairperson & CEO of PepsiCo
Quote: I'm brutally honest. I always look at things from their point of view as well as mine. And I know when to walk away.
Net worth: $144M
Birthplace: Greenwich, Connecticut
Degree: M.A. Yale University
Age: 60
Social Media: Twitter.
#28. Larry Page
Role: CEO of Alphabet, Inc
Quote: My job as a leader is to make sure everybody in the company has great opportunities, that they feel they're having a meaningful impact and are contributing to the good of society.
Net worth: $38B
Birthplace: East Lansing, Michigan
Degree: M.S. Stanford University
Age: 43
#29. Mark Parker
Role: CEO of Nike
Quote: Be a sponge. Curiosity is life. Assumption is death. Look around.
Birthplace: Poughkeepsie, New York
Degree: B.A. Pennsylvania State University
Age: 60
#30. Sundar Pichai
Role: CEO of Google
Quote: The right moral compass is trying hard to think about what customers want.
Birthplace: Madurai, Tamil Nadu, India
Degree: M.B.A. The University of Pennsylvania
Age: 43
Social Media: Twitter.
#31. Kevin Plank
Role: Founder & CEO of Under Armour
Quote: Brand is not a product. It's an idea. A theory. A meaning. It's how you carry yourself.
Net worth: $3.9B
Birthplace: Kensington, Maryland
Degree: B.B.A. University of Maryland
Age: 43
#32. Carlos Rodriguez
Role: CEO of Automatic Data Processing
Quote: There's a huge culture of learning here.
Birthplace: Havana, Cuba
Degree: M.B.A. Harvard University
Age: 51
#33. Sheryl Sandberg
Role: COO of Facebook
Quote: The goal is to work toward a world where expectations are not set by the stereotypes that hold us back, but by our personal passion, talents and interests.
Net worth: $1.31B
Birthplace: Washington, D.C.
Degree: M.B.A. Harvard University
Age: 46
Social Media: Twitter. LinkedIn.
#34. Dan Schulman
Role: President & CEO of PayPal
Quote: We want to democratize the management and movement of money.
Birthplace: Newark, New Jersey
Degree: M.B.A. New York University
Age: 58
Social Media: Twitter. LinkedIn.
#35. Adam Silver
Role: Commissioner of the National Basketball Association
Quote: One of the great things about the NBA is that we are both influenced by culture and we influence culture.
Birthplace: Rye, New York
Degree: J.D. University of Chicago
Age: 54
#36. Bill Simmons
Role: Owner of Bill Simmons Media Group
Quote: Leaders thrive when they feel creatively empowered, when they trust the people around them, when their confidence is swelling.
Birthplace: Marlborough, Massachusetts
Degree: B.A. College of the Holy Cross
Age: 46
Social Media: Twitter.
#37. Gary Vaynerchuk
Role: Founder & CEO of VaynerMedia
Quote: People don't want to embrace culture shifts because it's not going to happen in the next 20 minutes.
Net worth: $10M
Birthplace: Babruysk, Belarus
Degree: B.S. Mount Ida College
Age: 40
Social Media: Twitter. LinkedIn.
#38. Jeff Weiner
Role: CEO of LinkedIn
Quote: You have to maintain a culture of transformation and stay true to your values.
Net worth: $200M
Birthplace: New York, New York
Degree: B.Sc. University of Pennsylvania
Age: 46
Social Media: Twitter. LinkedIn.
#39. Meg Whitman
Role: President & CEO of Hewlett-Packard
Quote: When people use your brand name as a verb, that is remarkable.
Net worth: $2.1B
Birthplace: Huntington, New York
Degree: M.B.A. Harvard University
Age: 59
Social Media: Twitter. LinkedIn.
#40. Mark Zuckerberg
Role: Co-Founder & CEO of Facebook
Quote: A simple rule of business is, if you do the things that are easier first, then you can actually make a lot of progress.
Net worth: $48.2B
Birthplace: White Plains, New York
Age: 31
Social Media: Facebook.
More Insights from Successful Business Leaders
If you're a business team leader who's noticed an oversight on our list, let us know. We want to hear who you've been watching closely in 2016, so add your feedback and recommendations in the comments section below.
For more business team leadership inspiration, check out these 35 Business Leadership Quotes from Sports. We hope you enjoyed our inaugural list of business icons. Thanks for reading!
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