Who is the most influential person on the planet?

Every year Time Magazine publishes a list of the 100 most influential people.   In introducing this year’s list, Managing Editor of Time, Nancy Gibbs said “The TIME 100 is a list of the world’s most influential men and women, not its most powerful. Power is a tool, influence is a skill; one is a fist, the other a fingertip”. 

Beyoncéis on the 2014 cover as the most influential person on the planet. Interestingly Beyoncé hasn’t been that happy recently.  She has been trying to have some unflattering photos of her performing at the 2014 Super Bowl pulled, but with no luck.  Even Larry Page and Sergey Brin the founders of Google, have been unable to eliminate photos of them dressed in drag from their college years floating around on the Internet.

So Rule 1 on Influence: Know what you can and can’t influence (even if you are the most influential person on the planet or own Google).

David Sinclair a geneticist also featured in this list.

He has discovered a compound that makes old cells young again, possibly the fountain of youth, this discovery is HUGE.  When interviewed Sinclair said “While it’s a great honour to be on the list and be recognized by Time magazine, I can’t still actually get my kids to pick their stuff off the bedroom floor”.

Mr Sinclair please re read rule 1, there are no exceptions to this rule!

What are your thoughts on influence or influential people? Please comment, I love hearing from you.

PS. I highly recommend buying a copy of this issue, it makes interesting reading.  The writing is also beautiful, particularly President Obama’s piece on Pope Francis.