Top 20 Business Leaders Who Changed The World For The Better

Just like empires, companies can come and go. However, some last for ages, and great leadership is the secret. Great industry leaders can motivate employees, help others see and believe in a vision, and lead innovation in the company. Having a great leader at the helm is something that all investors, consumers, and employees want. Here is a list of the 20 most influential business leaders that are changing the world.

What Is an Industry Leader?

An industry leader is a reputable business professional with high levels of expertise in a specific field or area. Industry leaders are innovative, driven, strategic, and able to adapt to changing trends in their field. When technological developments arise or demand changes, they know how to respond appropriately and can offer valuable solutions.

On an organizational level, business leaders in an industry understand how to meet company and consumer needs. They research consumers and competitors while providing strategic solutions that address buyer and organizational demands.

To accomplish this, industry leaders must know their employees well, understand how competitors operate, and offer valuable solutions to improve business products and services. Their goal is to help transform a company for the better.

Industry leaders pave the way for company success with new ideas and unique approaches. Leaders can wear many hats, but they most frequently fill one of these roles:

• CEO
• Entrepreneur
• Company founder

What Are the Qualities of a Great Business Leader?

Here are some of the most common qualities exhibited by great leaders in any industry.

Informative and Innovative

Industry leaders remain at the top of their profession. They constantly research trends, examine the latest developments in their area, and devote time to devising solutions that benefit their organization.

Goal-Oriented

Professional leaders across all industries thoroughly understand company objectives (both small and large). They have a detailed vision of what it takes to achieve attainable goals, helping to set the company up for long-term success.

Solid Communication Skills

Industry professionals know how to communicate effectively with board members, employees, and stakeholders to address opportunities and organizational challenges. Successful leaders don’t settle for subtle or abrupt communication. Instead, they lay out their goals and solutions clearly. They also engage in active listening to gain valuable feedback.

Risk-Takers

Every industry needs leaders willing to step into the unknown and embrace risk. Industry leaders understand that company success depends on striving toward goals both easy to attain and longer term.

These daring leaders are not afraid to voice their opinions and put their ideas into action, even in the face of potential failure. These qualities set famous business leaders apart. Here are 20 of the most influential business leaders of the 21st century

20 Business Leaders Who Changed the World

Some business leaders stand out for their ability to embody a unique combination of skill, foresight, and courage while reshaping entire industries. Here are 20 of the most influential business leaders of the 21st century, all of whom have left a lasting impact on corporate culture and society at large.

1) Reshma Saujani

Saujani, an American lawyer and politician, identified a critical gap in the tech industry and took innovative action to change it. As the founder of Girls Who Code, she has been instrumental in empowering women to enter the male-dominated field of technology. Her leadership has not only promoted technology training (specifically coding) for over 10,000 girls in 42 states but has also challenged industry norms and inspired a new generation of tech leaders.

2) Tim Cook

Cook’s resilient leadership has made him a role model for aspiring leaders worldwide. As the CEO of Apple, the most valuable company in the world, he demonstrated unprecedented adaptability and innovation, continuing the legacy of the company’s founder, Steve Jobs, after he succumbed to cancer in 2011. Cook has helped navigate Apple through the transition after Jobs’ death as well as developing new product lines and opening Apple retail stores in China.

3) Sheryl Sandberg

Sandberg is known for her organizational success while advocating for social change. As COO of Facebook from 2008 to 2022, she helped transform the company into a global tech giant. Sandberg’s best-selling book, Lean In, and the subsequent nonprofit founded in her name indicate her an influential advocate for women in business. Her leadership style paved the way for her successful transition from the Treasury Department to the tech industry at Google and Facebook.

4) Bob Iger

Bob Iger’s leadership prowess is evident in his strategic vision and ability to revitalize companies. During his initial tenure as executive chairman and CEO of the Disney Corporation, Iger led transformative acquisitions of major companies like Marvel, Pixar, and Lucasfilm, greatly expanding Disney’s portfolio. His return as CEO in 2022 showcased his management skills—Iger quickly restructured the company and refocused on creative content. Iger demonstrates how great leaders can drive momentum even in turbulent times.

5) Reed Hastings

Hastings’ leadership translated into measures that shook the very foundation of digital entertainment. He is the co-founder and CEO of Netflix, a company that originally started with a simple structure: a no-late-fees, no-due-dates subscription service for film and television rentals. Hastings soon transitioned Netflix into an online streaming platform, one of the largest and most widely known in the modern world. In addition, Hastings constantly uses his position of influence to promote change and reform in the California State Board of Education and through charter schools.

6) Mary Barra

Barra is a notable example of transformative leadership in the auto industry as the chair and CEO of General Motors Company. Prior to 2014, she served as the Executive VP of Global Product Development, Purchasing and Supply Chain at General Motors. Carving space in the electric automobile market, she launched the Chevrolet Bolt EV in 2016, featuring a battery that outlasts Tesla’s. As of 2017, Barra serves on Disney’s board of directors with high regard from Bob Iger.

7) Huateng “Pony” Ma

Ma’s leadership stands out for his ability to innovate and adapt to China’s competitive and fast-moving tech landscape. Also known as Pony Ma, his inclusion in Time’s Most Influential People list in 2007 and 2014 recognizes his significant influence as founder and president of one of the largest internet companies in China: Tencent, Inc. The company has become a tech powerhouse, pioneering social media and mobile payment solutions in China. Ma is known for his secretive lifestyle but wields substantial power both domestically and with foreign companies.

8) Jack Ma

Jack Ma embodies the risk-taking quality of influential business leaders. First learning about the internet during a short trip to the U.S., he harnessed his ability to identify emerging opportunities by creating a small website about China and Chinese products. Despite numerous rejections in his early education and career, Ma persevered and founded Alibaba, a group of internet companies that would long hold the record for largest IPO in history. Ma was the first entrepreneur from mainland China to appear on the cover of Forbes magazine.

9) Jan Koum

As a leader, Koum is best characterized by his ability to identify and find solutions for global communications. Born in Kyiv, Ukraine, he immigrated to the U.S. at the age of 16 and soon discovered his passion for programming, leveraging his technical skills and background to create WhatsApp. This quickly became one of the fastest-downloaded and most internationally used apps, culminating in a $19.3 billion acquisition by Facebook in 2014. Koum demonstrates how great leadership can turn simple ideas into transformative global solutions.

10) Bill Gates

Bill Gates is not only a business leader who changed the world of technology but also someone who shows how great leaders can use success to make a humanitarian impact on a global scale. As co-founder of Microsoft, he’s played a major role in making personal computing accessible to the masses. While he is consistently near the top of the list of the world’s wealthiest people for his business success, Gates has transitioned into philanthropic ventures. His foundation, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, addresses some of the most pressing needs in third-world countries—also promising to leave the vast majority of his wealth to charity.

11) Elon Musk

Musk, born in South Africa, has become a prominent figure in the tech and business world. Musk is most widely known for co-founding PayPal, founding SpaceX, and his involvement in Tesla Motors. Musk’s leadership style is characterized by ambitious goal-setting and a focus on disruptive technologies. His companies have brought increased exposure to solar power, high-speed transportation, and artificial intelligence.

12) Warren Buffett

Buffett is one of the world’s most successful investors, often referred to as the “Wizard of Omaha” after his birthplace in Nebraska. He is consistently named one of the wealthiest people in the world. Buffett is most widely known for his role as the CEO of Berkshire Hathaway, but he’s also committed to shaping the future outside of the world of business: He has pledged to give away nearly 99% of his accumulated wealth to philanthropic causes after his death.

13) Jeff Weiner 

Weiner is an example of the impact of transformative leadership in the fast-paced digital age. As CEO of LinkedIn from 2008 to 2020, Weiner drove the platform’s explosive growth with his vision of creating economic opportunity for a global workforce. Under his leadership, LinkedIn completed its IPO and became one of the most-used social media platforms in the world. His game-changing management philosophy of leading with compassion extends outside his station as well: Weiner is also extremely active in nonprofits, sitting on the board of directors of DonorsChoose.org and Malaria No More.

  14) Jeff Bezos

Jeff Bezos, founder of Amazon, transformed his original online bookstore into what is now the world’s largest e-commerce platform. Under his leadership, Amazon disrupted the retail industry through rapid expansion as he grew the company into a mega-corporation. For four years from 2017 through 2021, Bezos was the wealthiest person in the world. As of 2021, he has stepped down as CEO of Amazon and moved to an executive chairman position.

15) John Zimmer

John Zimmer, co-founder and president of Lyft, excels at identifying market opportunities and pivoting effectively when it counts. Starting with Zimride, a rideshare service on college campuses, Zimmer and his co-founder Logan Green adapted their business model to compete with established giants. His leadership helped make Lyft one of the fastest-growing tech companies.

16) Ursula Burns

Famous business leader Ursula Burns is a lesson in perseverance, journeying from an NYC housing project to becoming the first Black woman to lead a Fortune 500 company. Burns started out at the Xerox Corporation as a summer intern in 1980, becoming president in 2007, CEO from 2009 to 2016, and chair of the board for Xerox from 2010 to 2017. She turned the company into one of the world’s most diversified business services companies during her tenure and has since been a vocal advocate for diversity in corporate leadership.

17) Arianna Huffington

Arianna Huffington possesses an ability to not only innovate in the media industry but also recalibrate when critical workplace issues arise. In 2005, Huffington founded The Huffington Post. She founded and became CEO of Thrive Global, a behavioral technology company, just over a decade later. This demonstrates her foresight as a leader: Thrive Global discussed the idea of burnout (and all but coined the term as a professional buzzword) before it became widely used. Her leadership showcases how great leaders can revolutionize the way a wider population works and lives.

18) Indra Nooyi

Indra Nooyi demonstrates initiative in balancing financial success with social responsibility. During Nooyi’s tenure as chair and CEO of PepsiCo from 2006 to 2019, she created Performance with Purpose, PepsiCo’s declaration to create successful businesses by paying attention to the world’s needs. This pledge included adding more nutritious products to the company’s portfolio, becoming more environmentally sustainable, and revolutionizing the business by highlighting the importance of design. With Nooyi as CEO, PepsiCo’s net revenue increased by more than 80%, and shareholder return was 162%.

19) Meg Whitman

Meg Whitman’s career showcases versatility in leadership. Whitman was CEO of eBay from 1998 to 2008, navigating the company through the dot-com bubble and taking it from $5.7 million to $8 billion in sales. She then took on the challenge of leading Hewlett-Packard as CEO from 2011 to 2015, overseeing its division into Hewlett Packard Enterprise and HP Inc. Whitman’s transition to politics as the U.S. ambassador to Kenya further shows her commitment to versatile leadership that makes a difference.

20) Rosalind Brewer

Brewer’s leadership is distinguished by her ability to drive growth across a variety of industries. Her executive tenures at Walmart, Sam’s Club, Starbucks, and Walgreens demonstrate immense versatility as a leader. Brewer has consistently broken barriers by bringing fresh perspectives in male-dominated industries. At one time, she was the only Black woman CEO for an S&P 500 company. Her trailblazing career continues to inspire greater diversity in corporate leadership.

Leadership as a Global Force

If you’re inspired by these business leaders who changed the world and aspire to make a similar impact in your industry, there’s a lot you can do to develop your leadership potential. Get in touch with CMOE to learn more about how to grow your leadership skills.

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