As per the latest research by Fortune, New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has topped the list of top 50 greatest leaders globally. Adar Poonawalla has occupied the tenth place in the Fortune list. He is the only Indian among the top 10 global leaders. mRNA pioneers; Paypal CEO Daniel H Schulman, NBA Rescuers, Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention’s John Nkengasong, Ping An’s Jessica Tan are the other names included in the top 10 list.
Here are the details of the Top 10 Global Leaders of Fortune 2021 list:
1. Jacinda Ardern
She is a well-deserved candidate for the first position. As a Prime Minister of New Zealand, she tackled the Covid-19 situation very well. Currently, when the whole world is fighting against Covid-19, New Zealand citizens are living Corona free life. It is commendable the way she leads the health department to bring covid cases to zero.
Talking about Jacinda, Fortune said:
“Though there have been a few scares, her strategy largely proved successful; New Zealand, a nation of nearly 5 million people, has seen fewer than 2,700 cases and only 26 deaths. Ardern and her cabinet ministers took a six-month, 20 percent pay cut in 2020 to show solidarity with people who had lost their livelihoods owing to the pandemic.”
2. mRNA Pioneers
Most of the COVID-19 vaccines depend upon the mRNA formula, founded in the early 1960s. In the 2000s, Pharma companies like Moderna, BioNTech discovered that mRNA can be modified for health benefits. That was the biggest breakthrough that helped to produce current covid vaccines.
Fortune said:
“mRNA molecules were discovered in the early 1960s, but it wasn’t until the mid-2000s that researchers figured out how to modify the building blocks of those molecules for therapeutic purposes so that mRNA strands could safely interact with the body. Moderna, based in Cambridge, Mass., and BioNTech, based in Mainz, Germany, saw the potential in the breakthrough, and licensed the relevant discoveries.”
That is why mRNA Pioneers ranks second in the list. Thus, the mRNA Pioneers made it to the list.
3. Daniel H Schulman
He is an American businessman and Chief Executive Officer of PayPal. As a CEO, he revolutionized the employees’ pay. He came to know that employees’ pay rates are not up to the mark and he brought a big change. He decided that all workers should have at least 20% of net disposable income.
When asked about his amendment and why he got the third position among leaders, Fortune explained:
“Schulman’s investment in PayPal’s employees has been just as groundbreaking.”
Fortune further added:
“For most call center and entry-level workers, that figure at the time was well below 10%; by the end of 2020, after PayPal boosted wages and picked up a larger share of health premiums, the figure was 16% and climbing.”
4. Dr. John Nkengasong
Dr. John is the man responsible to tackle the Covid-19 disease in Africa. He is currently working as the first Director of the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC). He is serving the people for the last 30 years.
He understood the severity of covid-19 and directed all African nations to close the borders to break the corona chain. And he got immense success in his mission to save Africa.
Praising Dr. John, Fortune stated:
“In that role, he helped to steer Africa’s 54 nations into an alliance that—thanks to measures that included closing country borders early on and instituting national curfews and mask mandates—has weathered the COVID crisis much more successfully than many far richer countries, including the United States.”
5. NBA Rescuers
On March 11, 2020, National Basketball Association(NBA) was suspended due to a few officials’ Covid-19 positive reports. NBA commissioner Adam Silver; Michele Roberts, executive director of the National Basketball Players Association (NBPA); and Chris Paul, a longtime star point guard (currently with the Phoenix Suns) and the president of the NBPA came forward to restart NBA season again.
It was not an easy task to restart the season due to the Covid threat but they created a strong bubble plan to tackle covid. And the trio got success. That is why NBA rescuers are a fifth rank holder in the Fortune list.
Talking about their efforts, Fortune said:
“A total of 172 games were played without a single-player testing positive for COVID by the time the Los Angeles Lakers defeated the Miami Heat to claim the Larry O’Brien trophy in October.”
6. Jessica Tan
Due to Tan’s efforts in Chinese finance insurance, patients got access to the right health advice. She created a telehealth app to bring doctors on a single platform. Her online health consultation initiative became an instant hit and more than 1.11 billion queries were answered online. Fortune said:
“And none was better positioned to help than Ping An Group, an insurance giant whose “technology plus finance” strategy reflects the vision of co-CEO Jessica Tan…” As the COVID-19 pandemic started spreading, many patients resorted to Ping An Good Doctor, the company’s telehealth app.
It further added:
“The company says Ping An’s spinoff free online consultation service received 1.11 billion visits at the peak of the pandemic, serving as a vital first line of defense.”
For her extraordinary efforts, she is placed at sixth position in the list of greatest leaders.
7. Justin Welby
Justin is the 105 Archbishop of Canterbury and the most senior bishop in the Church of England. He is serving as a bishop since 2013.
He is not just a religious figure. Justin supports global causes like climate change and he also actively participates in critical issues related to society. He always speaks about the betterment of the world.
Praising him further, Fortune wrote:
“A former oil executive, Welby is now outspoken on climate change and has encouraged the Church’s investment arm to push major emitters on their climate policies. Though he’s one of Britain’s most high-profile institutional leaders, Welby has hit out at the British government on welfare reform and the implementation of Brexit.”
8. Stacey Abrams
She is a politician who lost the election in 2018. As per her claims, she lost it due to suppress the vote. That incident motivated her to start an organization named Fair Fight Action that helps to address the voter suppression issue. Currently, she is considered a strong politician without an office.
Fortune said:
“Now Abrams may very well be one of the most powerful politicians without a political office. Don’t expect that to last long. Abrams, who was floated as a possible Biden running mate and also happens to be a novelist, is widely expected to run for governor again in 2022.”
9. Reshorna Fitzpatrick
She is the founder and Pastor of Proceeding Word Church in Chicago, Illinois. She started a mission to feed the hungry people in her neighborhood.
During Covid-19, she changed people’s lives with her food delivery mission for hungry people. Due to covid, people were jobless and without food, her mission brought happiness to hungry people faces. Fortune placed her at ninth position among global great leaders.
10. Adar Poonawalla
He is the CEO of Serum Institute of India(SII(, the largest vaccine manufacturer firm in the world. He sent the Covid vaccine to a major part of the world. In short, you can say that there are very few countries in the world where he did not send the covid vaccine manufactured by his company.
Not only Covid, but SII is also known to provide low-cost vaccines to fight diseases like influenza, measles, and tetanus.
In the coming year, SII has pledged to deliver up to 2 billion vaccine doses to middle-income countries. These initiatives helped him to get the tenth position in the list of global leaders curated by Fortune.
