Power Lists Are So Over

Magazines, newspapers, entire books and now blogs, have done them for decades. Everyone does them now. You can’t get through 50 channels with-out seeing some Funniest, Hottest or Power list. They suck you in. However, as you dig deep into the DNA of each list, you discover that “power” simply tells you who’s in charge. It doesn’t tell you who’s moving the meter, and seldom does it tell you the people in, around or from the Middle East who are shaking things up. ALO decided to go in search of the people who are making a difference, making an impact with ideas and action. Some of the choices are obvious, while others will surprise you. However you slice it, their inventive, artistic, risky and rebellious plans are changing the landscape of today’s world.

So now ALO reveals who has “it” and who’s influencing the world because of “it” with our Top 10.

#1 His Highness Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister and Ruler of Dubai

No other leader consistently gets the “There’s no way we’re not going to be the #1 Tourist Destination in the World even if we are in the Middle East!” look on his face than Maktoum. Only months after 9/11 in Dubai, with hotel rooms empty worldwide and travel agents fearing that the Middle East would be swallowed up, His Highness was pushing the Palm Jumeirah project forward (see #7 below). Tourism was on the verge of imploding, and he wouldn’t allow it to happen. He raised everyone else to a higher place.

You feel for him for this reason: Dubai’s a desert sinkhole without him, a rich land whose natural resources are due to run out in 20 or so years. Alas, that’s where Dubai would be. He’s the most striking leader in the world, the guy with the best chance of reinventing every concept of lifestyle by himself, a force of imagination unlike anything we’ve seen since Disney or Edison, someone who spawned more debate, hope and general intrigue than perhaps anyone we’ve ever witnessed.

What he did can’t be measured by statistics; it can’t even be calculated in a few paragraphs like the article you’re reading right now. He transformed the culture of a region. He taught everyone to care about the Middle East.

Cutting through all of the hyperbole, Maktoum has raised his own bar so high that anything less than total dominance seems to be disappointing. Oh, well, such is the price of greatness.

#2 Her Royal Highness Princess Sumaya bint El Hassan of Jordan

One day we’ll remember her for carrying the torch of women’s rights across the Middle East, turning Jordan into a center for technology, carrying herself with grace and aplomb in and out of the palace and fascinating us with a fantastic British/Middle Eastern accent.

Of course, her resume goes deeper than first impressions. It might take an entire issue of ALO to fully list her accomplishments, so let’s cut through it and say there’s a difference between genuine affection for country and duty (the way HH Sumaya does it) and contrived affection (the way some unnamed royals go about it). And over everything else, that’s why she gets the #2 spot on our ballot. She’s the heart and soul of everything she touches. In fact, the most interesting thing about her life is how vociferously her family supports her and how down-to-earth she is.

#3 Carlos Slim Helú, Communications Mogul

When you look at the top three billionaires (as ranked by “Forbes” magazine) you see Warren Buffett (#1), Slim (#2) and Bill Gates (#3), and a mind-boggling factoid: all are self-made. Born in Mexico and son of a Lebanese immigrant, Slim was on the road to fortune when he bought Mexico’s fixed line operator Telmex in a 1990 privatization. Now an absolute staple in the arduous wireless business, he navigated a deal with Yahoo and his Movil software company to provide mobile Web to 16 countries in the Caribbean and Latin America. Today, he holds in his inner circle an enormous eight percent of Mexico’s GDP! We’ve never understood a rich guy who doesn’t give back, and apparently neither does Slim. In recent years, he’s single-handedly revitalized Mexico City’s downtown historical district and various education and health projects within the country with over $7 billion in cash and stock donations.

#4 Kenneth Cole Productions, Inc.

Who would have thought that an American clothing company would be leading the pack for cultural diversity?

Reminding us of the necessities of cultural equality and the rise of diversity, this campaign is comprised of a series of 11 emotionally arresting photographs that celebrate people and relationships. Each photograph features the tagline, “We All Walk in Different Shoes.” The focus is real people who live their lives in a non-uniform way—either by their own choice or through circumstance. By integrating these compelling people of substance into Kenneth Cole’s fashion campaign, the hope is to dispel all forms of social prejudices, while also exemplifying diversity. The campaign, shot by famed photographer Terry Richardson, who notably captures the raw essence of his subjects, shows people who have a point of difference and who live their lives in an unconventional way.

One of the campaign’s ads focuses on Dror Shaul and Hany Abu-Assad, Israeli and Palestinian film directors, who are collaborators and friends. Palestinian Abu-Assad, famous for the Academy Awards nominated Best Foreign Film “Paradise Now,” and Israeli Shaul are featured in the Kenneth Cole campaign, which embodies one of the most significant recent phenomena in technology, business and now the fashion world.

This phenomenon is complex and well documented, but the notable thing here is the trend towards creating a better world. We live on a planet of infinitely diverse interests, and the eccentricity of thoughts and opinions will only grow more diverse in a way that still makes for peace and productivity. This may seem like a contradiction, but the campaign demonstrates beautifully that in fact, over time, the world grows relatively smaller and smaller.

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