Forbes published a list of America's 100 'most innovative' leaders, and 99 of them are men
- Forbes published a list of America's 'Most Influential Leaders' that ranks 100 of "the most creative and successful business minds of today."
- Of the 100 names included, 99 are men and only one leader is a woman.
- Two male business school professors and a male consultant came up with the ranking, using a methodology of four factors: "media reputation for innovation, social connections, track record for value creation and investor expectations for value creation."
- The ranking received criticism on Twitter, including a thread from TIME Magazine's editor at large.
- Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.
Forbes recently unveiled a list of 100 business leaders that it ranked as the "Most Innovative" in America. Ninety-nine leaders are men, and the list includes only one woman.
Ross Stores CEO Barbara Rentler places at No. 75 on the list.
The rankings are presented by HSBC Bank and are prefaced by the question, "Who are the most creative and successful business minds of today?"
Forbes enlisted two male business school professors and a male consultant to compile the rankings, which they said are based on a methodology of four factors:
- Media reputation for innovation
- Social connections/capital
- Track record for value creation
- Investor expectations for value creation
Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos and Tesla CEO Elon Musk are tied for first place, with Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg, Salesforce CEO Mark Benioff, and Netflix CEO Reed Hastings rounding out the top five.
Leah McGowen-Hare, the vice president of Trailforce, Salesforce's educational library division, noted on Twitter that the list also only included three Latino people (all men) and no black people.
TIME Magazine's editor at large Anand Giridharadas wrote a Twitter thread about the list, noting that "there are twice as many men named Stanley as there are women of any name. And there are only two Stanleys."
He continued: "When a publication like @Forbes has so many eyes on an article and it goes out with this grievous an error in judgment, it shows how so much of the current leadership class needs to go, frankly. These are the editors deciding what and who to publish, what stories to tell."