Forbes - The World's Most Powerful Women

Plus: Continuing With Female Leadership, NYSE Names Lynn Martin President

Hello everyone,

Apologies for the short delay in this week’s CxO newsletter. It allows me to share with you our 18th annual list of the World’s Most Powerful Women. This year’s list includes 40 CEOs, 19 heads of state, an immunologist and, for the first time in more than a decade, a new number one: MacKenzie Scott.

For many years, Angela Merkel led the list. Putting Jeff Bezos’ ex-wife in the top spot is bound to spark debate and some head-scratching. We looked at not only how much money Scott has given away but how she is doing it, and why. Scott could have quietly lived off the $57 billion she’s now worth or set up a foundation to give it away. Instead, as ForbesWomen Editor Maggie McGrath explains, Scott is single handedly upending the model of how billionaires give away fortunes while supporting causes that aim to promote social justice and disrupt the system that put her into this position of power.  We typically reserve No. 100 for a newsmaker. This year, we chose Facebook whistleblower Frances Haugen. CMO Network Editor Marty Swant explains why she made the list.

Join us this Thursday for the 2021 Forbes Power Women Summit. I look forward to interviewing several newsmakers there, including 23andMe cofounder and CEO Anne Wojcicki. Along with helping to empower people through access to their DNA data—I confess to being an early and loyal customer—Wojcicki is part of a powerful family of high-impact women that includes author and activist Esther as her mom and Youtube CEO Susan as her sister. Anne recently spoke with me about her path to power. 

If you missed it, here’s our fantastic 30 Under 30 list that came out last week. Next up from my team will be the final tranche of our 2021 Next 1000 list, as well as the Halo 100—an intriguing new list that we’ll soon share.

Have a great week.

Diane Brady

What's Next

The omicron coronavirus variant is already delaying return-to-the-office plans and holiday travel. I just had my booster yesterday. Unlike my two Pfizer doses, the latest from Moderna made me have mild hallucinations and vivid dreams. Then again, maybe I was just tired.

Jena McGregor looks at how the coronavirus has changed the office holiday party. We continue to track the impact of the pandemic. As the mother of three Gen-Z kids, I was not surprised to read that people aged 13 to 24 say their lives have been more negatively affected by the coronavirus than Millennials or members of my generation, Gen-X.

By The Numbers

> $1 billion

The total funding raised by Under 30s.

Forget bootstrapping. Money is flowing to the twentysomething founders of startups.

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