World Economic Forum · CC BY-SA 2.0

A psychologist and former New York Times science journalist whose 1995 book Emotional Intelligence spent a year and a half on the bestseller list and popularized, for a general audience, the idea that self-awareness and empathy matter to success as much as raw intellect. It has since been published in 40 languages, and Goleman went on to write on meditation, ecological crisis, and the Dalai Lama's vision for the future.