Creative people are always sort of outside-the-box thinkers, you know? They’re the ones who, while walking down the street, might be able to look at something abstract and turn it into something that gets hundreds of likes, shares and comments on social media, getting others to engage with something by simply sharing an idea.
While that’s definitely an ability of creative people, another part of owning that distinction is being a visionary, a leader and someone who isn’t afraid to disrupt their industry. Sure, the word “disrupter” gets thrown around a lot — and is somehow becoming one of those trendy words in the business or social media world — but, hey, in this case, it’s fitting, because one needs to be bold in order to break away from the norm and become great.
All of us have some creativity in our bodies, it’s just a matter of tapping into strengths in order to apply it. And, although it can be difficult at times to do so, for others out there, it’s just as natural as breathing.
That’s why Fast Company recently released its annual list of the Most Creative People in Business, with some big-time names finding their way in the mix. From media personalities to athletes to people reimagining processes to work more efficiently, here are the 100 people who are deemed to be most creative — so take some notes for yourself to see if they can’t encourage you to try and be a disrupter yourself.
1. Seth Meyers: NBC’s Late Night With Seth Meyers
2. Tamer Hassan: Co-Founder and CEO at White Ops
3. Isabel Garvey: Managing Director at Abbey Road Studios
4. Kate Crawford: Co-Founder and Co-Director at AI Now Institute
5. Desmond Meade: Executive Director at Florida Rights Restoration Coalition
6. Lisa Jackson: Vice-President, Environment, Policy & Social Initiatives at Apple
7. Roberto Orosei: Radar Scientist, University of Bologna
8. Liz O’Neill: Executive V.P. of Product Innovation and Supply Chain at Levi Strauss & Co.
9. Ivy Ross: V.P. and Head of Design for Hardware Products at Google
10. Sara Menker: Founder and CEO at Gro Intelligence
11. Alex Morgan: Co-Captain, U.S. Women’s National Soccer Team
12. Carli Lloyd: Co-Captain, U.S. Women’s National Soccer Team
13. Megan Rapinoe: Co-Captain, U.S. Women’s National Soccer Team
14. Dev Stahlkopf: General Counsel at Microsoft
15. Tim Brooks: Vice President of Environmental Responsibility at Lego Group
16. Kristine Belson: President at Sony Pictures Animation
17. Khoi Vinh: Principal Designer at Adobe
18. Eva Galperin: Director of Cybersecurity at Electronic Frontier Foundation
19. Heidi O’Neill: President of Nike Direct at Nike
20. Kevin Lin: Vice President at Alibaba Group
21. Christine McConnell: Baker, Author and Host
22. Jean-François Gagné: Co-Founder and CEO at Element AI
23. Shimrit Perkol-Finkel: Co-Founder at Econcrete
24. Bom Kim: CEO at Coupang
25. Ron Crawford: Vice President of Global Benefits at Starbucks
26. Nico Walker: Author
27. Jeff Lehman: Mayor of Barrie, Ontario
28. Diane Lipscombe: Director, Carney Institute for Brain Science at Brown University
29. Leah Culver: Co-Founder and CTO at Breaker
30. Signe Preuschoft: Primatologist at Four Paws
31. Dev Hynes: Producer and Singer-Songwriter (AKA Blood Orange)
32. Neil DiPaola: Founder and CEO at Autocamp
33. Valerie Casey: Head of Design at Walmart
34. Mark Sullivan: Founder and Managing Director at Medicines Development for Global Health
35. Sara Clemens: COO at Twitch
36. Norman de Greve: Chief Marketing Officer at CVS Health
37. Marti Romances: Founder Partner and Creative Director at Territory Studio
38. Lisa Burger: Executive Director at National Theatre
39. Gene Hogg: Major and Area Commander for the Salvation Army of Central Maryland at Salvation Army
40. Mate Rimac: Founder and CEO at Rimac Automobili
41. Michelle Pfeiffer: Founder at Henry Rose
42. Emil Wilbekin: Founder at Native Son
43. Alyssa Henry: Seller Lead at Square
44. Earl Maize: Cassini Program Manager at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory
45. Emily Collins: Creative Director and Partner at Might Oak
46. Michaela Olsen: Creative Director and Partner at Might Oak
47. Jess Peterson: Co-Founder and CEO at Mighty Oak
48. Alexa L. Fogel: Casting Director
49. Peter Lord: Co-Founder at Aardman Animations
50. David Sproxton: Co-Founder at Aardman Animations
51. Damian Kulash: Band Leader and Video Director of OK Go
52. Tim Nordwind: Bass Guitarist and Vocals of OK Go
53. Andy Ross: Guitar, Keyboard and Vocals of OK Go
54. Dan Konopka: Drums and Percussion of OK Go
55. Carsten Nygaard Brøgger: Founder and CEO at Casusgrill
56. Mariana Vasconcelos: Co-Founder and CEO at Agrosmart
57. Kerby Jean-Raymond: Founder and Designer, Pyer Moss
58. Adam Cosner: President at International Association of Fire Fighters Local 1165
59. Gabriel Weinberg: Founder and CEO at DuckDuckGo
60. Jenny Town: Managing Editor and Producer at 38 North
61. Marsai Martin: Actor and Producer at Genius Productions
62. Steph Hay: Vice President of Design, Conversational AI and Integrated Experiences at Capital One
63. Aaron Garbut: Art Director at Rockstar North
64. Chris Lyons: Partner at Andreessen Horowitz
65. Alessandro Babini: Co-Founder and CEO, Humon
66. Steph Sherer: Co-Founder, President and Director of Innovations at International Cannabis and Cannabinoids Institute (ICCI)
67. Chris Gibson: Co-Founder and CEO at Recursion Pharmaceuticals
68. Jonathan Marvel: Founder at Marvel Architects
69. Elena Sigman: Director of Collaborative Learning at John Jay College of Criminal Justice’s Prison Reentry Institute
70. Andrea Thomaz: Co-Founder and CEO at Diligent Robotics
71. Jimmy Chin: Filmmaker, Photographer and Adventurer
72. Tokini Peterside: Founder and Director at Art X Lagos
73. Luke Saunders: Founder and CEO at Farmer’s Fridge
74. Renee James: Founder and CEO at Ampere
75. Jessica Zhang: Manager of Culture and Entertainment at Lyft
76. Romitha Mally: Vice Chairman, Investment Banking at UBS
77. Fernando Machado: Global Chief Marketing Officer at Burger King
78. Miranda Qu: Co-Founder at Xiaohongshu
79. Erin Craig: Vice President, Energy and Climate Practice at 3Degrees
80. Alfonso Cobo: Co-Founder and CEO at Unfold
81. Heidi Schreck: Actress and Playwright
82. Federico Vega: Founder and CEO at Cargox
83. Emily Feistritzer: Founder and CEO at Teach-Now Graduate School of Education
84.Kagiso Lediga: Filmmaker, Comedian and Actor at Diprente Films
85. Davida Herzl: Co-Founder and CEO at Aclima
86. Sheela Søgaard: CEO at Bjarke Ingels Group
87. Kotchakorn Voraakhom: Founder at Landprocess
88. Janelle Shane: Founder at AI Weirdness
89. Hao Yan: Director, Center for Molecular Design and Biomimetics Biodesign Institute at Arizona State University
90. Yusuf Sherwani: CEO at Digithera
91. Amanda Seales: Comedian
92. Lindsey Schuyler: Co-Founder at Diet Prada
93. Tony Liu: Co-Founder at Diet Prada
94. Yannick Nézet-Séguin: Music Director at The Metropolitan Opera
95. Nick Foley: Director of Hardware at Jump Bikes
96. Menaka Guruswamy: Senior Advocate, Supreme Court of India
97. Arundhati Katju: Independent Litigator and Advocate, Supreme Court of India
98. Karla Welch: Stylist and Designer
99. Mette Hay: Founder at Hay
100. Rolf Hay: Founder at Hay
To see full commentary on the Most Creative People in Business, head on over to Fast Company‘s website, which details some of the incredible things that some of those selected for the list have done.