How Fast Company selected the 10 most innovative people of the last 10 years

Fast Company looks forward, relentlessly, and always has. We cover innovation. Why look back? In certain cases, it’s instructive. It allows us to understand where all this innovation has led us—and to anticipate the big shifts that might be coming next.

A decade ago, we launched the first Fast Company Innovation Festival, our annual gathering of leaders, visionaries, and creators who are forging the future of business. To celebrate our 10th, which takes place in New York City from September 16 to 19, we decided to turn and glance backward—at least for a moment.

We identified the most compelling advances in business over the past decade and the human forces behind them: restaurateur and humanitarian José Andrés; CRISPR co-developer Jennifer Doudna; FTC chair Lina Khan; makeup artist Pat McGrath; actor, producer, and lyricist Lin-Manuel Miranda; Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella; Association of Flight Attendants president Sara Nelson; Issa Rae; Ryan Reynolds; and Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos. We then created a separate cover for each one: the 10 Most Innovative People of the Last 10 Years.

Lists like this are subjective, of course, and subject to debate: Of all the innovators, across all industries, across an entire decade, is it really possible to narrow it down to just 10? How do you choose?

The people on this list had to represent the topics and industries that Fast Company readers care about most: tech and science, creativity and entertainment, labor and social impact. They had to demonstrate industry-wide impact. They had to embody both sustained innovation over time and the potential for future ingenuity. The individuals we selected fit these criteria and more. Their work continues to reverberate across the business world and beyond.

I’m thrilled that all 10 honorees will be speaking at this year’s Innovation Festival, and I hope to see many of you there.

Netflix co-CEO Sarandos will be making what is somehow his first festival appearance. It’s hard to think of a company that has had a more revolutionary impact on its industry than Netflix, which Sarandos runs with Greg Peters. To explore the nuanced and ongoing story of how Netflix is transforming television and film, we enlisted veteran Hollywood journalist Amy Wallace, also making her Fast Company debut. Drawing on hours of interview time with Sarandos (plus Peters, Netflix cofounder Reed Hastings, David Fincher, Guillermo del Toro, and others), Wallace traces the long arc of the streaming giant. She explains how the company has churned through cycles of innovation only to come full circle in 2024 to TV’s beginnings with recent forays into the medium’s bread and butter: medical procedurals, live events, and advertising. “I’ve never viewed disruption as a way to kill anything,” Sarandos told her. “I’ve viewed it as a way to save it. And I actually think that’s what we’re doing.”