Fast Company has release their list of the 100 Most Creative People in Business 2013. The list is composed of data geeks, thought leaders, actors, musicians and anyone else who has prove to create massive value in the business world through their creativity and influence. They come from all industries across the globe and have shared all of their experiences with Fast Company in hopes to inspire and motivate the rest of the world.
Just as they did in the past years, Fast Company has only included people who haven’t been profiled by the magazine or been in previous lists, and still there is no shortage of outstanding candidates. People from Ford, Twitter, Dropbox, Live Nation, The NFL and NBA, Yahoo, Samsung, AMEX, FourSquare, Gap and many other companies are featured.
The best way to experience Fast Company’s list is to scroll through it. A collection of slideshows that tell the stories of these people and offers a window into their minds and ideas to help make the task of scrolling through a list of names just a little more tolerable.
Sound clips are also inserted into the list, such as clips from Roman Mars’ 99% INVISIBLE podcast, or tracks from the DJ/Producer Diplo. Fast Company has also provided personal interviews of influencers telling epic stories, like Marc Maron’s guide to great conversations, titled “Lean In To Your Neuroses”, or Daniel Graf’s lessons on competing with Apple (Daniel Graf led the development of Google’s mapping experience).
The list is still being updated and stories, audio and video clips and excerpts are constantly being added. We have provided a list and description of the top 10 influencers below.
1. Nate Silver is known for interpreting data in sports and politics. One of his greater accomplishment is an analytical model for baseball stats known as “PECOTA” early in his career. Recently, his FiveThirtyEight.com blog used polling and economic data to predict the outcome of the 2008 presedential election, calling 49 of the 50 states correctly, followed by 50 out of 50 in the 2012 election. He now creates analytical models that can predict Oscar winners, outcomes of major sports events and even the distribution of support for gay marriage.
2. Dong-Hoon Chang serves as the lead Design Director for Samsung and was the mastermind behind the Galaxy Note 2 and the Galaxy S III, which for a hot-second de-throned the iPhone last year as the top smartphone in the world. Chang led his design team on a trip around the world, taking them on adventures like hot air balloon rides in Africa and hanging out in Singapore’s Skypark on the Marina Bay, in hopes to spark inspiration in himself and his team. He said the design of the Galaxy S III’s oval, pebble-like shape and shimmer color were inspired by the trip.
3. Diana Balmori is co-author of the book “Groundwork” with Joel Sanders, and argues that designers must “pursue a new approach that overcomes the false dichotomy between architecture and landscape”. Balmori’s main focus is incorporating nature in the city (and vise versa) through designing innovative, unique, nature-focused projects that look great and also offer multiple benefits to the infrastructure and design of cities and buildings.
4. Kirthiga Reddy serves as director of Online Operations for Facebook India and has grown the website from 8 million to 71 million users from 2010 to 2012. Reddy states that Facebook’s “flat culture” is radically different from the hierarchical and bureaucratic norms of Indian culture. She also has an advanced look into how India uses the platform differently than other countries, like how most Indian Facebook users are active on mobile devices instead of desktops, or how Facebook Messenger is used more often in India than anywhere else. Reddy’s applicable response to these cultural differences is just one of the many reasons for her massive success in growing Facebook’s user base in India.
5. Daniel Graf is recognised as a pioneer in technology with a strong background in home entertainment, consumer electronics and mobile and internet services. After being dismissed from being part of the iPhone map space development, Graf began serving as the director for Google Maps and created a new programme design that shot up to number one in the iTunes store. His method was to keep the application as simple and user-friendly as possible while focusing on the user experience.
6. Max Levchin co-founded PayPal and now heads a new mobile-payments business called Affirm. He has a very distinct method of how to start-up business ideas. Alongside jumping at every chance to talk to random, creative people and asking as many questions as possible, his start-up philosophy is centred around making lists, regularly checking those lists and following the random leads he encounters on a daily basis. Levchin also sits on the Evernote board and hopes to launch a health care-focused company later in the year. His prior incubator, MRL, helped to launch Yelp and Slide.
7. Jill Applebaum and Megan Sheehan were the creative directors at the ad agency DraftFCB when Oreo’s 100th anniversary rolled around last year. To celebrate, Applebaum and Sheehan released an ad campaign that featured a Photoshopped image of the classic cookie on Facebook, every day, for 100 days in a row. The idea transformed the Oreo into a “clever, real-time brand with personality”. Applebaum now works for JWT, while Sheehan is doing freelance work.
8. Bryan Cranston is featured in the recent, groundbreaking series “Breaking Bad” as the genius-level, high school chemistry teacher Walter White, who is battling with cancer. He does he cope? By creating a crystal methamphetamine empire using his chemistry and business skills. Cranston sat down with Fast Company at Albuquerque’s Grove Cafe for an exclusive interview on the final season of the series and the techniques he used to create the legendary character Walter White.
9. Tracy Bleczinski is responsible for the transformation of NFL jerseys into their female-friendly states and injecting some life into the NFL merchandising line for women. She raised the sales of women’s apparel and accessories more than 76% in just three years and also helped launch a new line of “pop-up lounges” in ten different NFL stadiums that feature feminine products and fully-equipped dressing rooms. Bleczinski also designed the flashy NFL ad campaign that now collaborates with Marchesa and others. She is the Vice President of consumer products for the NFL.
10. Scott Harrison is a former Manhattan nightclub promoter who found his true calling after traveling to West Africa, realising he wanted to improve global access to clean water. His vision was to design a charity that could be trusted, and with a new model, he raised $95 million in only six years. Charity: Water, was designed and created around three basic rules that Harrison lives by: Be uplifting, be meaningful, and be thankful.
Trevor Micklow is a business writer and content curator based out of Chicago, IL. US. He specializes in digital strategies, social media, psychology, executive education and business school related topics. He has been working and coordinating the general content of IntelligentHQ’s business school directory, which gives key information and programme details on the top business schools in the world. He has a BS, Psychology from Central Michigan University.
