The business world is full of powerful people simply because of the nature of the wealthy. While most people focus on making money, the truly rich focus on building connections between themselves and other powerful people. The following are some of the best connected people in the business world.
Warren Buffett
Warren Buffett is more than just a wealthy guy who runs and owns a large portion of the most successful mutual fund in the world. He is also a man who has essentially built powerful investments for himself and his shareholders while ensuring that the company will provide further funds for further investment. The structure of Berkshire Hathaway is such that the cash every component business produces comes under Warren’s direct control. From there,
Steve Jobs
No longer being among the living does not disqualify Jobs’ presence in this article, as his influence continues to live on. Some have speculated that Apple wouldn’t have made it this far without his leadership, considering its state in the mid 1990s. If not for Jobs, we not only wouldn’t have the various i-branded tech toys, but much of the technology used to make them possible would not even have been assembled. Adding to Jobs’ estate’s influence is his huge stake in Disney — he was the largest shareholder.
Anne Mulcahy
Anne was elected CEO of Xerox in 2001, and was eventually declared one of the best business leaders in the country as well as the most influential woman in the business world. She made the difficult decisions of cutting down 30% of Xerox’s workforce and completely cutting out the company’s desktop business.
Lindsay Rosenwald
The Rosenwald Foundation has donated millions of dollars to various charitable organizations over the years, and founder Lindsay Rosenwald built his fortune on investing in high-level biotechnology. Some of the companies he’s been connected with over the years include Enzymed, Cougar Biotechnology and Coronado Biosciences. Between his charitable works and instant name recognition as a Molecular Millionaire, Dr. Rosenwald has a major hand in the business of life.
Brad Smith
Since Brad Smith took over Intuit, he has maintained a solid vision for the company’s future and outlined a sturdy method for achieving those intended ends. By allowing his 8,000 employees to take risks in the growth of Intuit’s current market and the expansion into new markets, Smith has helped both the company and the people working there to develop a great deal.
Robert Kaplan
Sometimes running a business isn’t the only way to be influential. Get CEOs to notice what you have to say, and you have a powerful audience. Kaplan not only co-developed the balanced scorecard system that compares a company’s current actions against its long-term goals, but has also worked to apply his idea of activity based costing to health care and making it more cost-effective. Being an economic thinker can result in having tremendous impact on the business world.
All of the above people have a measure of influence over the entire landscape of American and even global business. Their influence can be felt by nearly everyone.