The 75 Most Influential People of the 21st Century
We set out to find them across every field of endeavor, the people who are bending history right now. It was an impossible task, but together these people are writing the first chapter of the rest of our lives.
We set out to find them across every field of endeavor, the people who are bending history right now. It was an impossible task, but the result is a determined, defiant, earnest, brilliant, philanthropic, space-going, smoking-hot group, and together they are writing the first chapter of the rest of our lives.
1
Media Platforms Design Team
Roman Abramovich
41, oilman and owner of the Chelsea football club, Moscow and London
Because he's one of the richest men in Russia and Vladimir Putin's favorite oligarch.
2Media Platforms Design Team
Mukesh Ambani
51, chairman of Reliance industries, Mumbai
Because India's rise will be fueled by its entrepreneurs. And Ambani -- with his $43 billion fortune and his oversight of India's biggest firm -- is chief among them.
3
Media Platforms Design Team
David Chang
31, chef, futurist, New York
Because he cooks in a spectacular way, but, somehow, without pretense.
4Media Platforms Design Team
Bill Clinton
62, former president, Chappaqua, New York
Because he is both a change agent and an agitant.
5Media Platforms Design Team
Hillary Clinton
60, politician, Chappaqua, New York
Because she will be the next lion of the Senate.
6Media Platforms Design Team
Guillermo Del Toro
43, film director, high priest of the comic-book age, California
Because he isn't content merely to fashion elaborate fantasy worlds. He seeks to invest those worlds with meaning.
7Media Platforms Design Team
Deng Xiaoping
Chinese Communist leader (dead)
Because he's not only responsible for what's happening in China now -- he's responsible for what's about to happen in China.
8Media Platforms Design Team
Larry Page and Sergey Brin
35 and 35, cofounders, Google, Mountain View, California
Because they're not just business leaders. They're scientists.
9Media Platforms Design Team
Ratan Tata
70, chairman of the Tata Group, India's largest privately held company, Mumbai
Because it's nearly impossible to go a day in India without using a Tata product. And it might be that way in many other places, too.
10Media Platforms Design Team
Danger Mouse
31, musician and producer, Los Angeles
Because his approach to music is more cinematographer than soundboard technician.
11Media Platforms Design Team
M.I.A.
33, musician, Everywhere
Because she's the first and only major artist in world music.
12Media Platforms Design Team
Michael Bloomberg
66, mayor, New York
Because he's still rewriting the job description.
13Media Platforms Design Team
Arnold Schwarzenegger
61, governor, Sacramento
Because he's the president of 10 percent of us.
14Media Platforms Design Team
Mark Zuckerberg
24, founder, Facebook, Palo Alto, California
Because he's acting like Gates did when he was 24.
15Media Platforms Design Team
Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum
59, ruler of Dubai, prime minister of the United Arab Emirates, Dubai
Because Dubai will soon stand comfortably in a league with Paris, London, New York, and Rome.
16Media Platforms Design Team
Bobby Jindal
37, governor, Baton Rouge, Louisiana
Because in a party of very few stars, he's the brightest by far.
17Media Platforms Design Team
Michael Milken
62, former financier, philanthropist, activist, founder of FasterCures, Los Angeles
Because he's obsessed with accelerating the long journey it takes drugs to go from
"bench to bedside."
18Media Platforms Design Team
Rory Stewart
35, diplomat, author, adventurer, charitable-foundation director, temporary governor of an Iraqi province, walking enthusiast, Afghanistan and Great Britain
Because he may be prime minister one day, if he finds it interesting enough.
19Media Platforms Design Team
Santiago Calatrava
57, architect, Zurich
Because no architect has ever made the exotic look so intuitive.
20Media Platforms Design Team
Saif al-Islam el-Qaddafi
36, heir to Libya, Tripoli
Because he believes democracy can take root in the Middle East, even in Libya.
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