Greatest Business Leaders of the 20th Century

1. Samuel M. Walton Wal-Mart
2. Walter E. Disney Walt Disney
3. William H. Gates III Microsoft
4. Henry Ford Ford Motor
5. John P. Morgan J.P. Morgan Chase
6. Alfred P. Sloan Jr. General Motors
7. John F. Welch Jr. General Electric
8. Raymond A. Kroc McDonald’s
9. William R. Hewlett Hewlett-Packard
10. David Packard Hewlett-Packard
11. Andrew S. Grove Intel
12. Milton S. Hershey The Hershey Co.
13. John D. Rockefeller Sr. Standard Oil
14. Thomas J. Watson Jr. IBM
15. Henry R. Luce Time-Life Publications
16. Will K. Kellogg Kellogg
17. Warren E. Buffett Berkshire Hathaway
18. Harland Sanders Kentucky Fried Chicken
19. William C. Procter Procter & Gamble
20. Thomas J. Watson Sr. IBM
21. Asa G. Candler Coca-Cola
22. Estee Lauder Estee Lauder
23. Henry J. Heinz H.J. Heinz
24. Daniel F. Gerber Jr. Gerber Products
25. James L. Kraft Kraft Foods
26. Steven P. Jobs Apple Computer
27. John T. Dorrance Campbell Soup
28. Leon L. Bean LL Bean
29. William Levitt Levitt & Sons
30. Howard Schultz Starbucks
31. Michael Dell Dell Computer
32. Robert W. Johnson Jr. Johnson & Johnson
33. James E. Casey United Parcel Service
34. Herbert D. Kelleher Southwest Airlines
35. George Eastman Eastman Kodak
36. Philip H. Knight Nike
37. James O. McKinsey McKinsey & Co.
38. Charles R. Schwab Charles Schwab
39. Frederick W. Smith Federal Express
40. William Wrigley Jr. Wm. Wrigley Jr. Co.
41. Gordon E. Moore Intel
42. Robert (Ted) E. Turner Turner Broadcasting
43. J. Willard Marriott Jr. Marriott Int’l.
44. James E. Burke Johnson & Johnson
45. David Sarnoff RCA
46. William E. Boeing Boeing
47. Walter A. Haas Sr. Levi Strauss
48. Henry J. Kaiser Kaiser Industries
49. Walter A. Haas Jr. Levi Strauss
50. Clarence Birdseye Bird’s Eye Foods

Based on a survey of 7,000 executives by Harvard Business School’s Anthony J. Mayo and Nitin Nohria for their book, In Their Time (Harvard Business School Press, 2005).