Fortune has released its 2017 list of the world’s 50 Greatest Leaders. According to Fortune, whether in business, government, philanthropy and the arts, and all over the globe, these men and women are transforming the world and inspiring others to do the same. The list includes people like Pope Francis, the head of the Catholic Church; Jeff Bezos, founder and CEO of Amazon; Jack Ma, founder and CEO of Alibaba Group and more.
There are three Africans, a Nigerian, a Zimbabwean and a Ugandan from different fields of endeavour on the list for 2017.
They are Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie – a Novelist and an essayist; Strive Masiyiwa – a Telecoms and technology entrepreneur and Frank Mugisha – an activist for the sexual minorities.
Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie is a prize-winning Nigerian writer who has won admirers with her prose and a pair of viral TED Talks (one of which was famously sampled by Beyoncé). But Adichie has been most powerful in challenging her audiences to think differently and more expansively about Africa, identity, race, and gender.
Strive Masiyiwa is the founder and chairman of Econet Wireless Global Ltd. Telecommunications firm, Econet, came into being in 1998 after a long legal battle with the Zimbabwe government. His victory busted up a state monopoly and helped spur the development of private telecoms across the continent. Masiyiwa has since relocated to London, but his energetic and well-rounded philanthropy still makes an impact in Africa; he chairs numerous boards and has been lauded for supporting orphans, funding scholarships, and fighting hunger, poverty, and Ebola.
Frank Mugisha is the Executive Director, Sexual Minorities Uganda. The 37-year-old, who came out as gay at 14, spoke out against the country’s Anti-Homosexuality Bill, which mandated life in prison for LGBT Ugandans, and he led the campaign that eventually led to the bill’s invalidation by the courts. More battles lie ahead for a leader of a community that faces open hostility.
According to Geoff Colvin, Editor-in-Chief at Fortune, “The World’s Greatest Leaders is a ranking of people who have been particularly effective leaders. We cast a very wide net. We look not just at business, but at all realms of endeavour, whether it is business, government, non-profit, sports…We get a list initially of hundreds of candidates… We then have to narrow it down and that’s where the fun is and that is where the impossible choices are also. But we do it; we get it down to 50.”
Geoff says that the three lessons they teach are as follows:
• Acknowledge reality and offer hope. This central leadership task is more difficult and important in uncertain times. JPMorgan Chase’s Jamie Dimon is again proving excellent at it, talking bluntly about the bank’s challenges, offering optimism without sugarcoating. It’s a fine line to walk.
• Bring followers physically together. Research shows that when groups meet in person, face-to-face, they trust each other more, become better problem solvers, and are markedly more creative. Those are outcomes every organization needs more of. Pope Francis understands the power of physical presence, having set by far the most torrid travel pace of any pope and gathered followers in 27 countries to date, sometimes by the millions. The organizers of the Jan. 21 Women’s March on Washington surprised even themselves when millions of marchers turned out worldwide, drawing energy and inspiration from one another.
• Build bridges. As the acerbity of political discourse threatens to infect the whole culture, the best leaders stay refreshingly open to other views, engaging opponents constructively rather than waging war. Republican Gov. John Kasich of Ohio and Democratic Rep. John Delaney of Maryland, for example, advocate positions the other party favors — and both won reelection easily the last time they faced their home voters.
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