Business Leaders
Successful Business Leaders to Follow
#1. Mary Barra
Role: CEO of General Motors
Quote: If we win the hearts and minds of employees, we're going to have better business success.
Birthplace: Waterford, Michigan
Degree: M.B.A. Stanford University
Age: 54
Social Media: Twitter. LinkedIn.
#2. Marc Benioff
Role: Founder, Chairman & CEO of Salesforce
Quote: You must always be able to predict what's next and then have the flexibility to evolve.
Net worth: $3.8B
Birthplace: San Francisco, California
Degree: B.A. University of Southern California
Age: 51
Social Media: Twitter. LinkedIn.
#3. Jeff Bezos
Role: Founder, Chairman & CEO of Amazon
Quote: A brand for a company is like a reputation for a person. You earn reputation by trying to do hard things well.
Net worth: $2.7B
Birthplace: Albuquerqe, New Mexico
Degree: B.S. Princeton University
Age: 52
Social Media: Twitter.
#4. Warren Buffett
Role: Chairman & CEO of Berkshire-Hathaway
Quote: It takes 20 years to build a reputation and five minutes to ruin it. If you think about that, you'll do things differently.
Net worth: $68.5B
Birthplace: Omaha, Nebraska
Degree: M.S. Columbia University
Age: 85
Social Media: Twitter.
Role: Chairman & CEO of Xerox
Quote: The best way to change it is to do it. After a while you become it, and it's easy.
Birthplace: New York, New York
Degree: M.S. Columbia University
Age: 57
Role: Co-Founder & CEO of Slack
Quote: Life is too short to do mediocre work and it is definitely too short to build worthless things.
Birthplace: Lund, British Columbia, Canada
Degree: M.Ph. University of Cambridge
Age: 43
Social Media: Twitter. LinkedIn.
#7. Grant Cardone
Role: Owner of Cardone Enterprises
Quote: Your success will be compromised by your need to be liked by everyone.
Net worth: $100M
Birthplace: Lake Charles, Louisiana
Degree: B.Sc. McNeese State University
Age: 58.
Social Media: Twitter. LinkedIn.
#8. Brian Chesky
Role: Co-Founder & CEO of Airbnb
Quote: If you want to create a great product, just focus on one person. Make that person have the most amazing experience ever.
Net worth: $3.3B
Birthplace: Niskayuna, New York
Degree: B.F.A. Rhode Island School of Design
Age: 34
Social Media: Twitter. LinkedIn.
#9. Tim Cook
Role: CEO of Apple
Quote: You can only do so many things great. Cast aside everything else.
Net worth: $785M
Birthplace: Mobile, Alabama
Degree: M.B.A. Duke University
Age: 55
Social Media: Twitter.
#10. Mark Cuban
Role: Owner of Dallas Mavericks
Quote: Sweat equity is the most valuable equity there is. Know your business and industry better than anyone else in the world.
Net worth: $3.2B
Birthplace: Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Degree: B.Sc. Indiana University
Age: 57
Social Media: Twitter. LinkedIn.
#11. Jack Dorsey
Role: Co-Founder & CEO of Twitter and Square
Quote: My goal is to simplify complexity. I just want to build stuff that really simplifies our base human interaction.
Net worth: $2.3B
Birthplace: St. Louis, Missouri
Age: 39
Social Media: Twitter.
#12. Daniel Ek
Role: Co-Founder & CEO of Spotify
Quote: Put your consumers in focus, and listen to what they're actually saying, not what they tell you.
Net worth: $400M
Birthplace: Stockholm, Sweden
Age: 33
Social Media: Twitter. LinkedIn.
#13. Tomas Gorny
Role: Co-Founder & CEO at Nextiva
Quote: We are living in the era of the customer. Expectations have never been higher, and while businesses are hearing more from customers, they are understanding less.
Birthplace: Zabrze, Poland
Age: 44
Social Media: LinkedIn.
#14. Reed Hastings
Role: Co-Founder & CEO of Netflix
Quote: Stone Age. Bronze Age. Iron Age. We define entire epics of humanity by the technology they use.
Net worth: $1.72B
Birthplace: Boston, MA
Degree: M.S. Stanford University
Age: 55
Social Media: Twitter. LinkedIn.
#15. Marillyn Hewson
Role: Chairman, President & CEO of Lockheed Martin
Quote: I like to know whether you're the kind of person who can set priorities, take initiative and drive results right from the beginning.
Birthplace: Junction City, Kansas
Degree: M.A. University of Alabama
Age: 62
Social Media: LinkedIn.
#16. Ryan Hoover
Role: Founder & CEO of Product Hunt
Quote: Not everyone should start a company and not every idea needs funding.
Birthplace: Eugene, Oregon
Degree: B.S. University of Oregon
Age: 29
Social Media: Twitter. LinkedIn.
Role: President & Editor-in-Chief of The Huffington Post Media Group
Quote: Fearlessness is like a muscle. The more I exercise it the more natural it becomes not to let my fears run me.
Net worth: $3.2B
Birthplace: Athens, Greece
Degree: M.A. University of Cambridge
Age: 65
Social Media: Twitter. LinkedIn.
#18. Jay Z
Role: Co-Founder of Carter Enterprises
Quote: People respect success. They respect big. If you're big enough, people are drawn to you.
Net worth: $550M
Birthplace: Brooklyn, New York
Age: 46
#19. Lynn Jurich
Role: Co-Founder & CEO of Sunrun
Quote: The way to make the biggest difference is to change mainstream behavior.
Birthplace: San Francisco, California
Degree: M.B.A. Stanford University
Age: 37
Social Media: LinkedIn.
#20. Travis Kalanick
Role: Founder & CEO of Uber
Quote: Uber is efficiency with elegance on top.
Net worth: $6B
Birthplace: Los Angeles, California
Degree: B.S. University of California, Los Angeles
Age: 39
Social Media: Twitter. LinkedIn.
#21. Gary Kelly
Role: CEO of Southwest Airlines
Quote: We have to be on our toes and compete with everybody.
Degree: B.B.A. University of Texas
Social Media: Twitter. LinkedIn.
Role: Founder & Chairman of Alibaba Group
Quote: You should learn from your competitor, but never copy.
Net worth: $24.1B
Birthplace: Hangzhou, Zhejiang, China
Degree: CEO Program. Cheung Kong Graduate School of Business (CKGSB)
Age: 51
#23. John Mackey
Role: Co-Founder & Co-CEO of Whole Foods
Quote: It's competition that forces companies to get out of their complacency.
Net worth: $100M
Birthplace: Houston, Texas
Age: 62
#24. Charlie Munger
Role: Vice-Chairman of Berkshire-Hathaway
Quote: I constantly see people rise in life who are not the smartest, sometimes not even the most diligent, but they are learning machines.
Net worth: $1.32B
Birthplace: Omaha, Nebraska
Degree: J.D. Harvard University
Age: 92
#25. Elon Musk
Role: CEO of SpaceX & Tesla Motors
Quote: I would like to die on Mars. Just not on impact.
Net worth: $14.2B
Birthplace: Pretoria, Transvaal, South Africa
Degree: B.S. University of Pennsylvania
Age: 44
Social Media: Twitter. LinkedIn.
#26. Satya Nadella
Role: CEO of Microsoft
Quote: The one thing that defines me is that I love to learn.
Birthplace: Anantapur, Andhra Pradesh, India
Degree: M.B.A. University of Chicago
Age: 48
Social Media: Twitter. LinkedIn.
Role: Chairperson & CEO of PepsiCo
Quote: I'm brutally honest. I always look at things from their point of view as well as mine. And I know when to walk away.
Net worth: $144M
Birthplace: Greenwich, Connecticut
Degree: M.A. Yale University
Age: 60
Social Media: Twitter.
Role: CEO of Alphabet, Inc
Quote: My job as a leader is to make sure everybody in the company has great opportunities, that they feel they're having a meaningful impact and are contributing to the good of society.
Net worth: $38B
Birthplace: East Lansing, Michigan
Degree: M.S. Stanford University
Age: 43
#29. Mark Parker
Role: CEO of Nike
Quote: Be a sponge. Curiosity is life. Assumption is death. Look around.
Birthplace: Poughkeepsie, New York
Degree: B.A. Pennsylvania State University
Age: 60
#30. Sundar Pichai
Role: CEO of Google
Quote: The right moral compass is trying hard to think about what customers want.
Birthplace: Madurai, Tamil Nadu, India
Degree: M.B.A. The University of Pennsylvania
Age: 43
Social Media: Twitter.
#31. Kevin Plank
Role: Founder & CEO of Under Armour
Quote: Brand is not a product. It's an idea. A theory. A meaning. It's how you carry yourself.
Net worth: $3.9B
Birthplace: Kensington, Maryland
Degree: B.B.A. University of Maryland
Age: 43
#32. Carlos Rodriguez
Role: CEO of Automatic Data Processing
Quote: There's a huge culture of learning here.
Birthplace: Havana, Cuba
Degree: M.B.A. Harvard University
Age: 51
#33. Sheryl Sandberg
Role: COO of Facebook
Quote: The goal is to work toward a world where expectations are not set by the stereotypes that hold us back, but by our personal passion, talents and interests.
Net worth: $1.31B
Birthplace: Washington, D.C.
Degree: M.B.A. Harvard University
Age: 46
Social Media: Twitter. LinkedIn.
#34. Dan Schulman
Role: President & CEO of PayPal
Quote: We want to democratize the management and movement of money.
Birthplace: Newark, New Jersey
Degree: M.B.A. New York University
Age: 58
Social Media: Twitter. LinkedIn.
#35. Adam Silver
Role: Commissioner of the National Basketball Association
Quote: One of the great things about the NBA is that we are both influenced by culture and we influence culture.
Birthplace: Rye, New York
Degree: J.D. University of Chicago
Age: 54
#36. Bill Simmons
Role: Owner of Bill Simmons Media Group
Quote: Leaders thrive when they feel creatively empowered, when they trust the people around them, when their confidence is swelling.
Birthplace: Marlborough, Massachusetts
Degree: B.A. College of the Holy Cross
Age: 46
Social Media: Twitter.
Role: Founder & CEO of VaynerMedia
Quote: People don't want to embrace culture shifts because it's not going to happen in the next 20 minutes.
Net worth: $10M
Birthplace: Babruysk, Belarus
Degree: B.S. Mount Ida College
Age: 40
Social Media: Twitter. LinkedIn.
#38. Jeff Weiner
Role: CEO of LinkedIn
Quote: You have to maintain a culture of transformation and stay true to your values.
Net worth: $200M
Birthplace: New York, New York
Degree: B.Sc. University of Pennsylvania
Age: 46
Social Media: Twitter. LinkedIn.
Role: President & CEO of Hewlett-Packard
Quote: When people use your brand name as a verb, that is remarkable.
Net worth: $2.1B
Birthplace: Huntington, New York
Degree: M.B.A. Harvard University
Age: 59
Social Media: Twitter. LinkedIn.
#40. Mark Zuckerberg
Role: Co-Founder & CEO of Facebook
Quote: A simple rule of business is, if you do the things that are easier first, then you can actually make a lot of progress.
Net worth: $48.2B
Birthplace: White Plains, New York
Age: 31
Social Media: Facebook.