November 12, 2009

• <Some reflections on Forbes’ “The World’s most Powerful people”>

  Forbes just published its annual ranking of the World’s Most Powerful People

  Some quick reflections. Out of these 67 people :

  1. As you could expect, most of them are billionaires. Buffett, Bill Gates are on the list. But the most influential are politicians (1st to 3rd are head of state for US, China and Russia).

  2. Only 2 are under the age of 40. Guess who? Founders of Google, the second most useful tool in human history (the first being air-conditioner). Most powerful people are over 60s. So it take times to build your influence and power.

  3. Only 1 belongs to the “Entertainment” or “Celebrities” group. Oprah Winfrey.

  4. Sorry, no Tiger Woods, no Micheal Jordan, no Lebron James, no Federer, no sports player. Closest are chairman of international sports association (e.g. Blatter of FIFA and Rogge of Olympic Committee). NO scholar as well.

  5. A total 3 countries with both head of state and central bankers on the list (US, China, Japan; Euro-zone not counted). For US and China, their Presidents (1st and 2nd) ranked higher than the central bankers (4th and 48th). But Bank of Japan’s President (26th) ranked higher than the Prime Minister of Japan (35th)

  6. Information is power. Rupert Murdoch (chairman of News Corp.), Michael Bloomberg (founder of “bloomberg”, but also due to his capacity as NYC Mayor), Mark Thomphson (DIrector of BBC), Silvio Berlusconi (politician, a media monopolist), and to some extent Orphan Winfrey.

  7. The rising of emerging economies. B-R-I-C head of state are all on the list. Also included are heads of Pakistan, Mexico. But for people from large corporate are all from developed world (Wal-Mart, Apple, Goldman Sachs etc.).

  One, perhaps the most important one, exception : Li Ka Shing of Hong Kong

  • 5:54 am
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