And the World's Greatest Leader Is…

Tim Cook gets the crown: the Apple CEO is first among Fortune’s World’s Greatest Leaders. Fortune senior editor-at-large Adam Lashinsky explains how the quiet man “leads different” and proved that Apple without Steve Jobs could indeed thrive, ignoring the naysayers: “I thought I was reasonable at that before, but I’ve had to become great at it,” Cook told Lashinsky. “You pick up certain skills when the truck is running across your back.” (In a LinkedIn Influencer post, Lashinsky, who has written about Apple for years, shares that this is the first time the company actually cooperates. Apple is on a communication binge indeed.) Because a large part of being a great leader, is putting the right people at the right place, Lashinsky also looks at how Cook wooed Angela Ahrendts, his head of retail.
Notably absent from the list is the “leader of the free world,” US President Barack Obama. Fortune editor Alan Murray, also a LinkedIn Influencer, explains why that is. The list’s first woman, coming in at #6, is… Taylor Swift? Influential, smart and business-savvy, no doubt; but leader, I need convincing.