Most Powerful People In 2015
Have you seen the most powerful people in 2015? Check this out!
How do you define a powerful person? What do you understand when you hear “powerful people”?
The term came from former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, who likened being powerful to ‘being a lady’.
Power comes in many forms, and ‘if you have to tell people who you are, you aren’t truly powerful’.
That sentence and Margaret Thatcher’s speech has been written about, analyzed, and dissected for millennia.
But the most popular definition breaks power into three different kids. Developed by a former U.S. State Department adviser, Joseph Nye, the power definition was contested by many.
These people listed here, are the kind of people that don’t need to introduce themselves when meeting new people.
We have listed ten of the most powerful people in 2015. I say let’s begin with the top!
10. David Cameron
The Prime Minister of the United Kingdom had an interesting year in 2014. He is the guy who almost lost Scotland in a referendum vote on independence in September.
Cameron urged the British Parliament to approve airstrikes against what he described the “psychopathic terrorists,” of ISIS.
He risked a falling out with China by publicly backing the pro-democracy protesters in Hong Kong.
The entire story of how Cameron got this powerful is on his Twitter account. With almost a million followers and several selfies, the leader of British has still more power than the absolute monarch.
9. Sergey Brin and Larry Page
The co-founders of Google are another pair of powerful people in 2015. Google is such a dominant brand that it became a commonly used verb.
Perhaps it is the most influential company of the post-industrial era, two-thirds of all online searching is done with the help of Google.
Google has become such a big brand that it continues to eclipse all competitors and appears to be expanding its lead in the next generation apps like Google Glass and self-driving cars.
CEO Larry Page has recently been behind a string of acquisitions while Brin running the top secret, futuristic Google X.
The company has net earnings of $13 billion on revenue of $60 billion.
8. Mario Draghi
The President of the European Central Bank is another powerful person in 2015.
Imagine how a day of his life goes. Basically he spends the entire day talking about monetary minefields.
However, one wrong step from him and the European Union and global economic growth for the foreseeable future could be damaged.
Not long ago Draghi announced a massive bond-buying program of a trillion Euros to resurrect the European economy.
But because it worked in the United States doesn’t mean it has to work in the Europe. We will live and see how that goes!
7. Bill Gates
The wealthiest man in the world and the co-chair of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation ranks seventh on the list with the most powerful people.
The most generous philanthropist this world has seen is using his net worth to improve lives, change outcomes and effect social change.
Through his Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation he has given away $30 billion since 2000. And recently has announced that the Foundation will “double down” on initiatives to promote major breakthroughs for people in poor countries.
The Foundation is funding programs to develop affordable technologies to reduce child mortality, improve agricultural efficiency, spread the use of digital banking and revolutionize education through software.
6. Janet Yellen
Janet Yellen, the Chair of the Board of Governors of the United States Federal Reserve System is the first woman to head the most influential central bank in the world.
The one of just two women on the list, Yellen controls the monetary policy of the world’s most powerful economy. After all, someone’s got to do this job too!
The money and fates of everyone from Wall Street bankers to unemployed Greeks depend largely on her decisions.
She stated that the Fed will keep short-term interest rates near zero but her top priority is to somehow remedy the gap between rich and poor.
“The extent of and continuing increase in inequality in the United States greatly concern me.”
5. Angela Merkel
There is no way we were going to do a list of the most powerful people without Chancellor of Germany, Angela Merkel.
She runs Europe’s true powerhouse economy since 2005 which makes her Europe’s longest serving elected head of state.
Merkel broke the postwar taboo of German involvement in military actions by arming Kurdish Peshmerga fighter against ISIS.
She has taken Germany into the leadership role in Europe that its economic muscle would dictate.
4. Pope Francis
Pope Francis, the Head of the Roman Catholic Church is another powerful person in 2015.
The leader to one-sixth of the world’s population, talks about a greater role of women and he could transform on of the largest institutions and lift exclusion and prejudice from millions.
He said he chose the name of St. Francis of Assisi because “he brought to Christianity an idea of poverty against the luxury, pride, vanity of the civil and ecclesiastical powers of the time. He changed history.”
And Pope Francis seems to have similar ideas in mind, living far more modestly than his predecessors.
His early efforts to recast the Catholic Church’s image with a softer, more tolerant, compassionate image have received rave reviews.
But he has accepted evolution and the Big Bang and asked, “Who am I to judge?” on the issue of sexual orientation.
3. Xi Jinping
The General Secretary of the Communist Party of China, Xi Jinping has been called the most powerful Chinese ruler since Deng Xiaoping.
He has been known to be tough on the country’s endemic corruption and he also talks tough on his own people.
For that practice he has been often criticized for a ruthless crackdown on dissidents, artists, and religious minorities including Christians.
Because he is not a fan of free speech, he has shut down Hong Kong pro-democracy protests and frequently shuts down social media sites.
For a top Communist, he seems awfully fond of capitalism, an enthusiastic proponent of more privatization.
Last year, China’s economy grew at its slowest pace in 24 years and 2015 opened with weak manufacturing sector numbers.
2. Barack Obama
The President of the United States, Barack Obama is ranked second on our list with the most powerful people in 2015.
Forbes magazine says of Obama’s place on this list: “One word sums up his second place finish: caution. He has the power but has been too cautious to fully exercise it.”
He has a big problem with a hostile Congress and the brutal terrorists of ISIS who not only seem to defy him; they are challenging all of the so-called ‘gains’ of the Iraq war.
On the economic side, markets were flying to record highs before the Oilpocalypse, and unemployment hit its lowest level since 2008.
1. Vladimir Putin
And the most powerful person in 2015 is the President of Russia, Vladimir Putin.
Forbes magazine seems very proud of their choice: “Russia looks more and more like an energy-rich, nuclear-tipped rogue state with an undisputed, unpredictable and unaccountable head unconstrained by world opinion in pursuit of its goals.”
An economic crisis can take all the fun out of being a ruthless dictator. It also seems apparent Putin doesn’t have more power than Obama, Merkel and Xi.
He’s just more willing to use what he has in flagrant disregard for the consequences.
What do you think about the most powerful people in 2015? Is Forbes right?
