Your 50 Greatest Leaders

Naked Leader Week – 50 – Monday 12 April 2004

To celebrate the 50^th Naked Leader Week – Your 50 Greatest Leaders

 Well, I asked for your “greatest leaders” and you responded in spades! Deliberately

vague (“greatest”), it prompted a massive 641 different names from 1297 lists from 154 countries. Nominated leaders that made the final list nominated from Aristotle to Alexander the Great, and from Mother Theresa to Bart Simpson!

 These are your top 50. Later in the year the new www.nakedleader.com will feature a rolling top 30, and you can vote online.

1          Nelson Mandela (Runaway winner, nominated in 964 lists)

2          Mother Teresa (Lifelong dedication to the poor, mostly in India)

3          Martin Luther King (Civil rights leader – “I have a dream”)

4          Mahatma Gandhi (Leader Indian Nationalist movement against British rule)

5          Oprah Winfrey (Modern communicator who made TV her own)

6          Abraham Lincoln (Preserved the Union during the American Civil War)

7          Jesus Christ (The son of God – becoming “in” again in the new century)

8          Helen Keller (Transcended physical handicap to help millions of blind people)

9          Richard Branson (Global business leader – Mr Virgin brand)

10        Alexander The Great (Macedonian conqueror nominated world-wide)

 

11        Ho Chi Minh (Founder and president of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam)

12        Charles de Gaulle (Symbol of French resistance during World War 2)

13        Tony Robbins (Reinvented personal development, and fire walks!)

14        Mikhail Gorbachev (Unleashed a democratic flood that washed away the cold war)

15        Adolf Hitler (The only leader nominated in every leadership event I facilitate)

16        Linus Torvalds (Creator of Linux – free source code)

17        Vince Lombardi (Led Green Bay Packers from losers Super Bowl champions)

18        Lech Walesa (Leader of Communist Poland’s 1^st independent trade union)

19        Pope John Paul II (International ambassador for the Church and for God)

20        Walt Disney (Pioneer of animated cartoon films)

21        Napoleon Bonaparte (“He who fears being conquered is sure of defeat”)

22        George Washington (Chief in the American Revolution, 1^st President of USA)

23        Diana, Princess of Wales (Loved by millions who mourned her death in 1997)

24        Martin Johnson (captain of England Rugby world-cup winning team)

25        Sigmund Freud (He opened up the sub-conscious, changing the way we view ourselves

26        Rudolph Giuliani (Mayor of New York at time of September 11^th 2001)

27        Aristotle (Ancient Greek thinker, philosopher, scientist and writer)

28        Robert E Lee (Beloved General of Southern armies in US Civil War)

29        Sir Alex Ferguson (Manager of Manchester United)

30        Norman Vincent Peale (Author of “The Power of Positive Thinking”)

31        Andrew Carnegie (Embodiment of entrepreneurial success / responsibility)

32        Thomas Jefferson (Principal author – The Declaration of Independence)

33        Bart Simpson (The pre-teen who will never grow up, we hope)

34        Steven Spielberg (Film-maker extraordinaire – from E.T to Schindler’s List)

35        Muhammad Ali (Floating and prophesying, adored athlete who transformed boxing)

36        John F Kennedy (Youngest USA President, charismatic and amazing orator)

37        Albert Einstein (One of the greatest scientific minds of all time)

38        Tim Berners-Lee (Wove the WW Web, creating THE mass medium of 21st century)

39        Emmeline Pankhurst (Led movement that won women the right to vote – UK)

40        Dale Carnegie (Pioneer in public speaking and personality development)

41        Erkhart Tolle (21^st century’s most successful mind/body/spirit author)

42        Albert Schweitzer (Selfless commitment to humanity)

43        Pelé (Arguably the greatest footballer of all time – Brazilian inspiration)

44        Alan Turing (Invented the Turing Machine – forefather to the computer)

45        Rosa Parks (Sparked civil-rights changes by not giving her bus seat to a white person)

46        Margaret Thatcher (1^st woman in European history elected as prime minister)

47        The Unknown Rebel (The lone Chinese hero who stood in front of that tank)

48        Bobby Moore (Captain of England World-Cup winners, 1966)

49        Rachel Carson (Before the environmental movement, there was one brave woman)

50        Golda Meir (Founder of the state of Israel)