Theo Epstein is the world’s greatest leader, according to Fortune magazine’s latest list of “The World’s 50 Greatest Leaders.”
Fortune named the president of the MLB’s Chicago Cubs as the No. 1 world leader, putting him ahead of Pope Francis and others.
This comes after the Cubs put a period on their 108-year championship drought.
Epstein, who played a pivotal role in ending a drought for the Red Sox in his hometown of Boston in 2004, said he doesn’t look at himself as one of the world’s greatest leaders, despite the announcement on Thursday, CBS Boston noted.
Epstein responded with humor when he was contacted by ESPN’s Buster Olney.
“Um, I can’t even get my dog to stop peeing in the house,” Epstein told Olney. “That is ridiculous. The whole thing is patently ridiculous. It’s baseball – a pastime involving a lot of chance. If [Ben] Zobrist’s ball is three inches farther off the line, I’m on the hot seat for a failed five-year plan. And I’m not even the best leader in our organization; our players are.”
Fortune categorizes what constitutes a great leader as those who are “transforming the world and inspiring others to do the same.”
Among other notable individuals on Fortune’s list was Pope Francis (3), Amazon founder Jeff Bezos (5), German Chancellor Angela Merkel (10), LeBron James (11) and even Chance the Rapper (46) from Chicago, who some questioned as to how he landed on the list, according to the Chicago Tribune.
“Chance is also a political force as an antiviolence campaigner in his hometown of Chicago, and he may only be getting started,” according to Fortune. “His latest salvo: A $1 million donation to Chicago Public Schools, after he called Illinois Gov. Bruce Rauner to task for what Chance called Rauner’s neglect of educational funding.”
Here are the Top 10 greatest leaders, according to Fortune’s list of “The World’s 50 Greatest Leaders.”
- Theo Epstein, president, Baseball Operations, Chicago Cubs
- Jack Ma, executive chairman, Alibaba Group
- Pope Francis, head of the Roman Catholic Church
- Melinda Gates, co-chair, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation
- Jeff Bezos, founder and CEO, Amazon
- Ava DuVernay, film director and screenwriter
- H.R. McMaster, U.S. National Security Adviser
- Tsai Ing-Wen, president, Taiwan
- John McCain, U.S Senator, Arizona
- Angela Merkel, chancellor, Germany
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