43
The
World’s 50
Greatest
Leaders
The List
42
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FORTUNE.COM // MAY.1.19
THERE ARE PLATFORMS—AND THEN THERE IS the audience available to the
Duke and Duchess of Sussex. Their May 2018 wedding, for example,
garnered nearly 50 million television viewers in the U.K. and U.S. alone.
The couple may project picture-perfect personas, but they use the
global stage to promote causes that might be considered taboo even
in non-royal households. Harry has spoken out about struggles with
mental illness, prompting overdue discourse about how the condition
plagues men, who are less likely to seek help for it. Meghan, having
brought new diversity of ethnicity and economic class to the House of
Windsor, has taken up women’s empowerment as a signature issue,
even declaring herself a “proud” feminist in her official royal biography.
Ford’s visibility soared
last summer when her
promotion to CEO made
her the first openly
gay woman to run a
Fortune 500 company.
Since then, she’s been
an exemplar for bringing
your whole self to work,
serving as an LGBTQ role
model without making
that identity the focus
of her leadership. And
she has deftly steered
the dairy cooperative
during a year roiled by
trade wars and chang-
ing consumer tastes.
beth ford
CEO and President,
Land O’Lakes
DUKE AND DUCHESS OF SUSSEX
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PHOTOGRAPH BY FACUNDO ARRIZABALAGA
