Vision: Foreseeing global opportunities and challenges in a globalized world. Action: Oversees global growth and economic stability at the world’s most powerful financing institution on behalf of 188 member countries. She works with developing nations to achieve stability and reduce poverty, and with developed nations to promote international trade. www.IMF.org
Vision: To enable leaders to make wiser decisions so that there is less suffering as a result of war. Action: Elworthy has brought nuclear weapons policy makers into dialogue with their counterparts and with their critics, in confidential under-the-radar meetings to discuss the terms of treaties. Nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize three times. www.ScillaElworthy.com
Vision: A democratic Burma. Action: Spending two decades in detainment can dampen your enthusiasm, but Suu Kyi has emerged as an icon for peaceful resistance in an effort to bring democracy to military-ruled Burma. She must get powerful military leaders on board to revisit the constitution to ensure a democratic future for her country. She is commited to non-violent means to achieve her goals. www.SuuFoundation.org
Vision: A world of gender equality. Action: Some campaigns portray the feminist cause as “man-hating.” By involving both genders in the #HeForShe campaign, Watson hopes to abolish the “us vs. them” mentality. She has launched a campaign that aims to galvanize one billion men and boys to end female inequality. As she’s said to men, “It’s your fight too.” www.HeForShe.org
Vision: A world where those who think outside the box don’t have their thoughts bullied back in to a box. Action: Created The 99 superhero comic series, based on the values that Islam shares with humanity. The idea was fought by zealots in both the East and West as it competes for mindshare. It became the first intellectual property from the Muslim world to go global. www.Al-Mutawa.com
Vision: A world in which there is no “them” – the most dangerous four- letter word in the English language. Action: Leads delegations to countries that are understood only as adversaries and that are traditionally difficult to access to hear local perspectives and gain understanding beyond the headlines. He uses photography to convey his message around the world. www.DickSimon.com
Vision: A world in which business becomes a global force for positive social change. Action: Mainwaring wrote We First: How Brands and Consumers Use Social Media to Build a Better World. He started speaking around the world and writing for industry magazines to share these ideas. www.WeFirstBranding.com
Vision: A world that deals with global challenges through social enterprise and impact investing. Action: Skoll believes that you should be as entrepreneurial in impact investing as you would in any other form of investing. He founded the Skoll World Forum, made award- winning movies and started the Skoll Centre for Social Entrepreneurship. www.SkollFoundation.org
Vision: Democracy depends on a citizenry that is highly informed and deeply engaged in the issues that affect their lives. Action: First Look’s insistence on editorial independence has already attracted some of the most fiercely independent journalists around. Omidyar seeks to improve society through journalism and technology, and to hold those in power accountable. www.FirstLook.org
Vision: To make science, technology, engineering and math accessible to diverse groups. Action: Klawe is closing the computer science (CS) gender gap and having stunning success in getting more women involved. She’s not concerned with filling quotas or being nice either. Content is designed around problems women can relate to. Female majors in CS have increased by 300 percent. www.HMC.edu
