While Mark Cuban doesn’t believe in mentors, still: we’re all a product of our influences. Even truly groundbreaking business thinkers use the ideas, the perspectives, and the advice of others as the basis for their own thoughts and actions.
So if you want to become a better leader, who should you be listening to?
In 2014 I published Top 50 Leadership and Management Experts, a list that used rankings, ratings, links, search ratios, and number of X followers to quantify popularity.
To update that list I took a similar approach, one that weighs credibility, reach, and current relevance. I used independent global rankings such as Global Gurus and Thinkers50, often described as the Oscars of management thinking. If an expert ranked highly in recent years, that’s a great sign their influence has legs.
I also considered recent publishing impact: leaders whose books in the last five years became bestsellers or award-winners, like Amy Edmondson’s Right Kind of Wrong, which have fresh ideas shaping today’s workplaces.
Then I looked for voices repeatedly appearing on top leadership podcasts like Brené Brown’s Dare to Lead, Adam Grant’s Worklife, and HBR IdeaCast, since podcasts like those rival books in setting the leadership agenda.
The new list also provides greater diversity of perspectives. The 2014 list was (ugh) heavily male-dominated; a much broader range of voices shapes today’s leadership discourse. The 2025 list rightfully includes women like Amy Edmondson, Liz Wiseman, Whitney Johnson, Frances Frei, Indra Nooyi, Dorie Clark, Sally Helgesen, Herminia Ibarra, and others who offer vital insights into inclusive leadership, organizational health, and the future of work. This gender balance more accurately reflects today’s leadership landscape, where diverse perspectives fuel innovation.
I also evaluated real-world experience at scale. Several leaders on the list are current or former CEOs of multibillion-dollar enterprises, like Satya Nadella and Garry Ridge, whose cultural transformations and performance turnarounds are well-documented. Their inclusion grounds the list in the real world, showing how ideas yield translate into results in complex global organizations.
Another important filter was social media presence and broader visibility. I assessed the social media footprint of many candidates, weighing not just the size of their followings but also the quality of their contributions: recent TED Talks, high-profile media interviews, op-eds, and fresh research and frameworks.
The 2025 list intentionally highlights the expert-practitioner and scholar-coach blend that defines modern leadership development. Many honorees straddle academia and practice, running labs, publishing peer-reviewed research, and advising executive teams. Others are world-renowned executive coaches who translate research into behavior change at the top: think Caroline Webb, Carol Kauffman, and Peter Bregman, alongside practitioner-scholars like Amy Edmondson, Herminia Ibarra, Tomas Chamorro-Premuzic, and more.
The 2025 list includes a handful of enduring contributors from the 2014 list (like Marshall Goldsmith, Marcus Buckingham, Simon Sinek, and Brené Brown) who continue to influence how we think about leadership. Sadly, some of the experts from that list have passed away: Peter Drucker, Dale Carnegie, Stephen Covey, Jack Welch, Clayton Christensen, and Tony Hsieh.
A few speakers are listed as pairs, since their research and thought leadership are partnerships. A prime example is Chester Elton and Adrian Gostick, whose work on culture, engagement, and recognition are collaboratively produced collaboratively. Listing them together reflects how their impact is multiplied through co-authorship, joint research, and shared frameworks that leaders around the world rely upon.
Bottom line? I did my best to list people whose work is both proven and useful: perspectives, strategies, and tips you can add to your leadership toolkit. The goal was to create a list that balances timeless wisdom with fresh insights.
Most importantly, the people on this list don’t just talk about how you can become a better leader. They’ll make you want to be a better leader.
And show you how.
My 2025 Top 50 Leadership and Management Experts (in alphabetical order):
The opinions expressed here by Inc.com columnists are their own, not those of Inc.com.
Jeff Haden
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