The World’s Top 25 Social Business Leaders 2014 [The Economist]

In partnership with IBM, the Economist Intelligence Unit released their 2014 selection of the top 25 social business leaders globally.

I thought I’d share this list of top social business influencers which includes some of the highest profile individuals and organisations in the social media and the social business spaces.

The Economist Intelligence Unit adopted a definition of social business similar to Andrew Grill‘s: “a social business is an organisation whose culture and systems encourage networks of people to create business value”.

Methodology

There is no such thing as a perfect methodology or way to identify the very best persons, companies or social media accounts unanimously.  And in this case, many would argue (even one of the 25 laureates) that the list is missing a number of top social business champions from other industries or other parts of the world, unarguably every person on the EIU list is worthy of the distinction.

You will find more information on the criteria and the advisory board -which includes Brian Solis– on their microsite.  Please note there is also a dedicated twitter hashtag #socbiz25.

They identified 5 key leadership qualities: ‘visionaries’, ‘strategic thinkers’, ‘culture shapers’, ‘storyteller’ and ‘miscellaneous’ ‘adaptive, open, entrepreneurial and fully social’.

SEE ALSO

• FOLLOW the #socbiz25 twitter list
• Top Social Business Leaders: Wendy Arnott – TD Bank’s VP of Social Media
• Top 20 Social Business Videos on YouTube

Top 25 Social Business Leaders

In addition to the usual suspects like Ford’s Scott Monty or Xiaomi’s Lin Bin, it’s great to find no less than four financial institutions represented on the list.  Congratulations to Wendy, Jon, Nathan and John to demonstrate that even leaders at banks and insurance companies can successfully design and implement a digital transformation programme.

Please find below the full list of top 25 social business leaders globally (by alphabetical order):

1. WENDY ARNOTT – Vice-president of social media and digital marketing at TD Bank Group
   THE SOCIAL BANK: Embracing a new world of open conversation
   
2. LIN BIN – Co-Founder at Xiaomi
   OPENING CHINA: Technology for the people, by the people
3. JON BIDWELL – Chief innovation officer, Chubb Group of Insurance Cos, unit of Chubb Corp
   SOCIAL INNOVATION: An internal network for generating new business ideas
4. B. BONIN BOUGH – Vice-president of global media and consumer engagement, Mondelez International
   FUTURE FACING: Embracing the ethos of a start-up
5. PETER BLACKSHAW – Global head of digital and social media at Nestlé
   INSIDE OUT: When a social vision is healing
6. NATHAN BRICKLIN – Head of collaboration and social strategy for wholesale services at Wells Fargo
   DIVIDE AND CONQUER: Remaking a large institution with small, multidisciplinary teams
   
7. BRIAN FANZO – Former digital technology evangelist, IO Data Centers
   ADAPT: Embracing change, seizing opportunities
8. MARTYN ETHERINGTON – Chief marketing officer at Mitel
   RESTRUCTURE: Making customers the focal point of an organisation
9. GILBERTO GARCIA – Director of innovation at Cemex
   SHIFT WORK: Making communication simple within a global enterprise
10. TONY HSIEH – Founder and chief executive at Zappos.com
    BUILD, GROW: Failing all the way to success
11. RICKY HUDI – Chief engineer for electrics/electronics development at Audi AG
    DRIVING VISION: Designing digitised cars that let us be more human
12. CHRIS LAPING – Senior vice-president for business transformation at Red Robin Gourmet Burgers
    COMMUN(ICATE): Giving employees a sense of purpose and ownership
13. MARCO MAGNAGHI – Former business innovation manager at Amadori
    BREAKING BREAD: New recipes for reaching customers
    
14. SHERRI MAXSON – Head of social business at W. W. Grainger
    HUB AND SPOKE: How a business-to-business company got social
15. BRITTA MEYER – Chief marketing officer at WageWorks
    FEARLESS: Using dialogue to drive change
16. SIMON POULTON – Manager of inbound-marketing programmes at Laserfiche
    TEAM PSYCHOLOGY: Assembling social business allies across a company
17. SCOTT MONTY – Former chief of global digital communications at Ford Motor Co
    MAKING MESSENGERS: Using old values to make new connections
18. MICHELLE REGNER – Founder and chief executive at Near Me
    IDEA TRUST: On making digital reputations transportable
19. BILL STRAWDERMAN – Senior director of digital marketing and social media at Siemens USA
    MARKET MODEL: Building circles of trust
20. JULIANA ROTICH – Co-founder and executive director at Ushahidi
    GLOBAL VOICE: Sharing solutions from the edge
21. JOHN STEPPER – Managing director at Deutsche Bank
    FINDING HAPPINESS: Making a culture more open and work more fulfilling
22. LAUREN VARGAS – Head of social media and community at Aetna
    THE ART OF SOCIAL: Marshalling the ground troops
23. MARISA THALBERG – Vice-president for corporate digital marketing at Estée Lauder Cos
    ONLY CONNECT: Using social causes to connect with customers
24. DOUG ULMAN – President and chief executive at Livestrong Foundation
    AUTHENTICITY: Re-establishing trust during crisis
25. KRISTINA VERNER – Director of intelligent communities at Waterfront Toronto
    PUBLIC SERVICE: Creating community and commerce on the waterfront
    

In your opinion, how fair and accurate is this list of 25 social business leaders put together by the Economist Intelligence Unit under the supervision of their advisory board?  Any major omission?

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