Last April/May, Time released its annual issue dedicated to persons
chosen as the 100 Most Influential People. The Editor offers the
magazine’s hope that the list will introduce influential people you might not
have met before and encourage you to find out more about them. In my case, I also found out many new things
about people I thought I knew. Although
in many cases the names were familiar and expected, there were many
surprises and a wealth of new information. Information excites me and compels me to share it with friends and family.
Let’s start with a clear definition of influence:Influence: (noun) the capacity or power of persons or things to be a compelling force on or produce effects on the actions, behavior, opinions, etc., of others; (verb) to move or impel (a person) to some action; (verb) to exercise influence on; affect; sway.
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| Malala Yousafzai and Beji Caid Essebsi |
When you review Time’s list, you’ll find that the youngest
person on the list for the third straight year is seventeen year old Malala
Yousafzai, Pakistani activist for female education and the youngest-ever Nobel
Prize laureate. Oldest at 88 is Tunisian
President Beji Caid Essebsi, steward of the Arab world’s youngest
democracy. The 100 people on Time’s list were born all over the globe,
including Russian President Vladimir
Putin (St. Petersburg, Russia); Pope
Francis (Buenos Aires, Argentina); US Ambassador to the United Nations Samantha
Power (Castleknock, Ireland); and US President Barack Obama (Honolulu, HI).
In this post, we’ll take a look at some of the 18 people
identified as “The Titans’ and later, we’ll focus on a few of the 21
persons labeled “The Icons”. In future posts, we’ll meet “The Pioneers”, “The Artists”, and “The
Leaders”. If you’re anxious and can’t wait a minute longer, you can view the
entire list of The 100 Most Influential People on line at Time.com.
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| Charles Koch-Tim Cook-Kanye West |
You would expect a group called “The Titans” to include
Apple CEO Tim Cook who runs “the most valuable company on earth” and Disney CEO Bob Iger who spent $15 billion on
Pixar, Lucasfilm and Marvel to transform the company into the world’s largest
entertainment venue. Add Charles and
David Koch to the list based on their immense industrial wealth of $100 billion and
impactful conservative activism. But, in my wildest dreams did I expect “pop
culture juggernaut” and entrepreneur Kanye West and Reality Star Kim Kardashian
West nestled among people in this category.
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| Lorne Michaels-Chanda Kochhar-Kim Kardashian-Lee Daniels |
I rushed to the dictionary and found that a ‘titan” is “a
person or thing of enormous size, strength, power, influence, etc.:”, so I
guess I’ll have to live with that. You have to read Entrepreneur Elon Musk
write about Kanye West’s “long game” as the music superstar moves into the
worlds of fashion, design, and philanthropy. Martha Stewart labels Kim
Kardashian a media phenomenon with 29 million followers on
Instagram and 31 million followers on Twitter. Her reality TV show Keeping Up With the Kardashians is a
favorite with a large and diverse audience. For better or worse, you have to
admit that some of the younger generation wants to look like Kim, dress like Kim, and
imitate Kim in every way possible. I guess that’s influence. You can judge
whether her influence is “enormous”.
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| Mellody Hobson-Janet Yellen-Susan Wojcicki-Elizabeth Holmes |
Personally, I could better identify with other female “Titans”,
i.e. FED Chair Janet Yellen (leader of the most important central bank in the
world), Finance Whiz Mellody Hobson, Tech Visionary and Theranos CEO Elizabeth
Holmes, or You Tube CEO Susan Wojcicki.
ICICI Bank CEO Chanda Kochhar, “a banker with a vision and reach” is the
clear image I equate with a “Titan”. Co-Chief Executive Director of Deutsche
Bank Anshu Jain says:
“You can’t miss Chanda Kochhar as she walks through the congress Centre at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, or into a meeting of the board of directors of the Institute of International Finance...Her calm, soft-spoken and understated demeanor belies her strength of conviction and clarity of thought...When Chandra speaks, people listen carefully.”
To me, that’s enormous.
Another of Time's “Titans” is Lorne Michaels, “King of Comedy”. The seventy year old Canadian-American is a television producer, writer, comedian, and actor best known for creating Saturday Night Live, the Late Night series and The Tonight Show. Among his many awards, he’s been inducted into the Television Academy Hall of Fame and awarded a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
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| Lei Jun-Danny Meyer-Jorge Paulo Lemann-Satya Nadella |
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