Who’s more powerful: the autocratic leader of
a former superpower or the handcuffed commander in chief of the most dominant
country in the world? This year the votes for the World’s Most Powerful went to Russian President Vladimir Putin. He climbs one spot ahead of U.S. President Barack Obama, who
held the title in 2012.
Putin has solidified his control over Russia while
Obama’s lame duck period has seemingly set in earlier than usual for a two-term
president — latest example: the government shutdown mess. Anyone watching this
year’s chess match over Syria and NSA leaks has a clear idea of the shifting
individual power dynamics.
The Most Powerul People in the World list is an annual snapshot of the
heads of state, financiers, philanthropists and entrepreneurs who truly rule
the world. It represents the collective wisdom of top FORBES editors, who
consider hundreds of nominees before ranking the planet’s top 72 power-brokers
– one for every 100 million people on Earth — based on their scope of influence
and their financial resources relative to their peers.
This
year’s list features 17 heads of state who run nations with a combined GDP of
some $48 trillion — including the three most powerful people, Putin, Obama and Xi Jinping, the general secretary of the Communist Party of
China. The 27 CEOs and chairs control over $3 trillion in annual revenues, and
12 are entrepreneurs, including new billionaires on the list, Nigeria’sAliko Dangote (No.
64), founder of Dangote Group, and Oracle’s Larry Ellison(No. 58). Speaking of, this year’s class has 28
billionaires valued in excess of $564 billion.
Here, a quick peek at the Most Powerful People in the
World 2013:
Newcomers: Among the 13 newcomers are Pope Francis (No.
4), Samsung Chairman Lee Kun-Hee(No. 41), Volkswagen’s Martin Winterkorn (No.
49), South Korean President Park Geun-hye (No.
52), IBM CEO Virginia Rometty (No.
56), and Janet Yellen (No.
72), nominated by President Obama as the next leader of the U.S. Federal
Reserve. Rosneft CEO and Putin confidant Igor Sechin (No.
60) andJill Abramson (No.
68), the executive editor of the New
York Times, make a return appearance after dropping of the list in
years past.
He’s Not No. 1: This
is the first year that Putin carries the crown. Obama has been on the top of
the list for every year with the exception of 2010, when Hu Jintao, the former
political and military leader of China, was No. 1.
Women
Moving Up In Numbers: This year
there are nine women on the list, representing 12% of the world’s most powerful
— in stark contrast to being 50% of the world’s population. Both 2011 and 2012
featured six women leaders, and the inaugural list from 2009 included only 3 —
or just 4.4%. Recently elected Park of South Korea joins the other female heads
of state German Chancellor Angela Merkel No.5),
Brazil’s Dilma Rousseff (No.
20)and de facto head of India Sonia Gandhi (No.
21). Two of the world’s most important NGO’s are run by women: Christine Lagarde (No.
35) leads the IMF and Margaret Chan (No. 59) steers the World Health
Organization.
Billionaires: Worth
a cumulative $564 billion. Sure they’re rich but many of these billionaires
deserve special attention for their philanthropic work, including Warren Buffett (No.
13), Michael Bloomberg (No.
29), Li Ka-shing (No.
30), Charlesand David Koch (No.
31), and Mohammed Ibrahim(No. 71).
Entrepreneurs
Represent: There are
12 in total. As expected, many are headquartered on the West Coast:
Google’s Larry Page and Sergey Brin (No.
17), Mark Zuckerberg (No.
24), Elon Musk (No. 47), Ellison and Reid Hoffman (No.
65). Global entrepreneurial spirit spans from Japan’s Masayoshi Son (No.
45) and China’s Robin Li (No.
61) to Africa’s Dangote and Ibrahim.
Year-over-year
growth: The FORBES
Most Powerful started in 2009, seeking to answer a straight yet complex
question: What
is the true nature of power and can we really compare and rank heads of state
with religious figures and drug traffickers? The premise has
always been to select one person for every 100 million on the planet. The first
list had 67 slots. This year we are up to 72. At this fifth edition, it’s
notable that most of the leaders who made the top 10 on the inaugural list are
still on today: Obama, Putin, Bill Gates (No.
6), U.S. Fed Chair Ben Bernanke (No.
7), the King of Saudi Arabia(No.
8), Wal-Mart CEO Michael Duke (No.
10), richest man in the world Carlos Slim Helu (No.
12), Page and Brin, and Rupert Murdoch (No.
33).
Source and more details:http://www.forbes.com/sites/carolinehoward/2013/10/30/the-worlds-most-powerful-people-2013/
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