10 Business Leaders Who Changed The World

The world is full of innovators but very few of them see the success their ideas deserve. In a time when our ability to focus on one thing shrinks by the minute, these leaders have cemented their legacies that command our full attention. Here is our baker’s dozen list of pioneering men and women who continue to break new barriers every day.

1. Tony Hsieh – Author of Delivering Happiness and former CEO of Zappos, Tony was one of the most prominent champions of investing in company culture. He took Zappos from a company in the middle of the dot-com bubble burst to a multi-billion company that was acquired by Amazon and repeatedly listed as one of the Best Places to Work in America. Unfortunately, Tony died in 2020 from an accidental house fire leaving his legacy of creating innovative and disruptive company cultures available for the next thought leader to take on.

2. Tim Cook – Steve Jobs, founder of Apple, chose Tim Cook to be his successor as he saw Tim’s vision for Apple as an exciting way to continue Jobs’ legacy. Apple is now one of the largest companies in the world, holding more assets than many countries do, and with no plans to stop growing.

3. Bill Gates – Philanthropist and an OG Disruptor, Bill Gates created Microsoft with the goal of making PCs available to everyone. Now at the forefront of many philanthropic efforts that span throughout medical, technology, and health, Bill and his wife Melinda have left their impact on the world with no signs of slowing down any time soon.

4. Elon Musk – Serial entrepreneur and a perpetual favorite of the wallstreetbets subreddit, Elon has had his hand in innovating a number of sectors. He was one of the main creators of Paypal which normalized online payment methods and then moved onto a number of exciting projects including Tesla, Space X, and the Boring Company.

5. Jeff Bezos – Another entrepreneur who began his company in his garage, Jeff Bezos started Amazon in the late 1990s as a way for booksellers to have a global audience. One of the few survivors of the early 2000’s dot-com boom and then burst, Amazon is a powerhouse of online shopping. Though Bezos plans to step down as CEO in 2021, he’s set his sights on space travel with the launch of Blue Origin.

6. Reshma Saujani – Lawyer, politician, and champion of women coders around the world, Reshma Suajani is the founder of Girls Who Code, a non-profit organization that promotes diversity in the tech space by supporting and increasing the number of women employed in the computer science industry. Keep an eye out for her work drafting legislation that helps bridge the gender gap in tech.

7. Reed Hastings – Co-founder of Netflix and perpetual movie nerd, Reed Hastings is no stranger to being flexible in his mission to disrupt the entertainment sphere. Hastings famously launched, then walked back, a plan to split Netflix into two companies: Netflix and Qwikster. He then said, “It is clear that for many of our members, two websites would make things more difficult, so we are going to keep Netflix as one place to go for streaming and DVDs.” This ability to be accessible to customers has made him one of the most popular and well-liked CEOs in the world.

8. Oprah Winfrey – A pioneer in the world of influence, Oprah has one of the most loyal fanbases of all time. Her empire began on a network talk show and then branched into a multi-billion dollar enterprise that included her own channel, magazine, and merchandise. Having a product on “Oprah’s Favorites” list became a highly-coveted and life-changing opportunity for many small business owners.

9. Warren Buffet – If you’ve looked at the stock market, you’ve seen the influence of Warren Buffet. As CEO of Berkshire Hathaway, his intuition for savvy business investing has made billions for his company, himself, and his clients. It’s no secret why he’s considered the “Oracle of Omaha!”

10. Martha Stewart – The queen of savvy business strategies and original Pinterest board of beautiful ideas, Martha turned homemaking into a multi-billion dollar commodity. Martha Stewart has created movements that have inspired other home decor, cooking, crafting, and photography influencers that have earned Martha Stewart Omnimedia a spot in many stock market indexes.

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