LinkedIn Top Voices 2017: Influencers

These are the 10 must-know LinkedIn Influencers explaining everything from global to office politics.

Every day, over a million posts, videos and articles course through the LinkedIn feed, generating tens of millions more shares and likes among professionals. We dug into the data to reveal our 3rd annual LinkedIn Top Voices list, uncovering today's most engaged writers and creators around the globe. Among those voices were some of today's top world and business leaders — LinkedIn Influencers.

Using a combination of data and editorial signals, we uncovered Influencers with the most engagement in 2017. We looked at total engagement (specifically the likes, comments and shares across each member’s articles, posts and videos); growth of followers tied to publishing activity; and number of times the Influencer had been featured in editorial channels, a signal of high-quality content. (You can learn more about our methodology here.)

These Influencers have written about everything from sexual harassment in the workplace to Dow 20,000 to the battle between Google and Amazon. They are curating what you need to know to stay ahead when it comes to understanding the world and your career.

Here are this year's top Influencers around the world:

Ian Bremmer | President & Founder, Eurasia Group and GZero Media

What he talks about: As head of a political risk consultancy, Bremmer covers global politics and economics — or “basically the things that make the world move,” he tells LinkedIn. “I try to put the world in context for people, and if I can make them laugh while doing it, so much the better.”

Favorite conversation starter: Six months into the Trump presidency, Bremmer tried to cut through the divisive language surrounding voters’ motivation in his article, “In defense of the Trump voter.”

What he’s watching in 2018: “The continued deepening of inequality around the world—inequality of wealth, inequality of opportunities, inequality of ideas,” says Bremmer. “Some of these are being helped by the rise of technology, some are being exacerbated. And we’re still at the relative beginning.”

See more by Ian Bremmer.

Justin Trudeau | Prime Minister, Canada

What he talks about: Prime Minister Trudeau discusses the policies his government is putting in place to improve the lives of everyday Canadians — and why that matters around the world. In particular, he likes to share about his government’s business and economic ideas, which attract particularly high attention among professionals, Trudeau tells LinkedIn.

His standout topics: He shares extensively about business and economic policies, including Canada’s first National Housing Strategy announced in November and reducing the small business tax rate, following up on one of his campaign promises.

Global responsibility: Before heading to the annual G7 leaders’ summit this year, Trudeau spelled out the role of today’s leaders: “We live in a time of tremendous change,” he writes. “We have a responsibility to share the benefits of an increasingly interconnected world, and to help those who are at risk of being left behind.”

See more by Justin Trudeau.

Mohamed El-Erian | Chief Economic Advisor, Allianz

What he talks about: The former PIMCO CEO writes about all facets of the global economy, from stock market volatility and Federal Reserve moves to oil prices and bitcoin. El-Erian’s regular short-form posts and articles are a must-follow for anyone who wants to stay up-to-date on global markets.

Favorite conversation starter: “Does Dow 20,000 matter? Mostly no” One of El-Erian’s most highly engaged articles this year — looked at why this much-hyped milestone likely won’t have the long-term significance that many hope (like getting more millennials to invest in stocks).

What he’s watching in 2018: The U.S. has been in an unusually long-lasting recovery since the Great Recession. That may change. In 2018, we will “get a lot closer to an economic tipping point, the nature and implication of which will depend on politics,” he says.

See more by Mohamed El-Erian.

Liz Ryan | Founder & CEO, Human Workplace

What she talks about: As founder and CEO of a HR consulting firm, Ryan discusses reinventing work for people. She says, “There’s so much more that needs to be done to modernize and humanize employment laws — and to shift away from the old-fashioned command-and-control management model toward a trust-based, human approach.”

What she’s known for: She regularly invites followers to share their stories and questions on workplace quandaries. One of Ryan’s most-engaged responses was to a manager who refused to stack rank his employees. Her advice? “No job is worth sacrificing your integrity over,” she writes.

How she gets her best ideas: “I have hundreds of drafts and thousands of story titles stashed in my house, my car, my purse and who knows where else,” she says. “I get ideas from all over.”

See more by Liz Ryan.

Sallie Krawcheck | Co-Founder & CEO, Ellevest

What she talks about: Krawcheck, a Wall Street veteran and startup founder, culls from her own experience to weigh in on issues ranging from the future of business to the gender investing gap.

Favorite conversation starter: “A letter to young women, in the age of Trump” started as a letter to her daughter but ended up reaching the world; it was read by more than 470,000 and reshared over 3,000 times. “It came from a pretty emotional place for me, since I had suffered sexual harassment earlier in my career and had, honestly, thought it was less prevalent than it has now been revealed to be,” says Krawcheck.

How she gets her best ideas: “I spend a good deal of time engaging with professional women, through the research we do at Ellevest, as well as in my travels,” Krawcheck tells LinkedIn. “All my good ideas come from these conversations.”

See more by Sallie Krawcheck.

Naomi Simson | Founder, Red Balloon

What she talks about: Simson, an Australian entrepreneur and “Shark Tank” investor, talks about what drives successful businesses and careers. “I often call on other businesses and learn from what they’ve achieved,” she explains. “I enjoy writing case studies and talking about other people’s successes.”

Favorite conversation starter: In January, Simson published “I don’t know how ‘she’ does it,” which explored what it means to juggle a job and family life — and why everyone should learn to “mono-task.”

2017’s most interesting news story: The Australian vote on same-sex marriage. “I was curious about the construct of using the Australian Bureau of Statistics to actually understand what Australians thought, rather than using a referendum,” she says. “And, of course, I was very excited about the outcome.”

See more by Naomi Simson.

Adam Grant | Organizational Psychologist, The Wharton School

What he talks about: The author of best-selling books like “Originals” and “Give and Take,” Grant talks about work, psychology and “how can we find motivation and meaning, build productive and supportive cultures, and lead more generous and creative lives,” he tells LinkedIn.

Favorite conversation starter: Every May, leaders around the world deliver words of wisdom to new graduates. Grant was one of those people, but unlike most speakers, he took a unique approach: He started reading studies of graduation speeches. The result was “To be resilient, don’t be too virtuous,” or what Grant calls a “meta-graduation speech” that reveals what he thinks is missing from most commencement speeches.

One thing not on his LinkedIn profile: Grant is a former Junior Olympic springboard diver — and a magician.

See more by Adam Grant.

Sanyin Siang | Executive Director, Fuqua/Coach K Center on Leadership and Ethics at Duke University

What she talks about: Siang works with top CEOs, athletes and scholars as the executive director of the Coach K Center at Duke University's Fuqua School of Business. She shares the insights she gleans from working with those leaders, helping her LinkedIn followers “discover their inner champions,” she says.

Bringing stories to life: Siang takes her followers behind the scenes to meet some of today’s most inspiring leaders, including impressive athletes like Alison Levine, who led the first women’s team to climb Mt. Everest, and CEOs like Allen Gannett of TrackMaven, a marketing analytics software company.

One thing not on her LinkedIn profile: “I love writing and illustrating children's stories and collecting children's books,” she tells LinkedIn. “Writing for kids and reading kids books teaches one to make complex ideas simple, relatable, and accessible.”

See more by Sanyin Siang.

Beth Comstock | Vice Chair, GE

What she talks about: Comstock, who leads GE’s efforts to accelerate new growth, examines what it takes to innovate and lead in times of change. “It starts with discovery, taking risks, trying things and being willing to fail,” she tells LinkedIn. Comstock often shares her conversations with today’s top scholars and leaders, including Walter Isaacson and Penny Pritzker.

Favorite conversation starter: “My favorite was a post about how an uninformed mindset can be an advantage, meaning that sometimes when we know the least about something we can see it more clearly,” she says. “It helps to see connections that might elude others, who are totally dedicated to the issue.”

New adventures: After 27 years at GE, Comstock announced that she will be retiring this year. “Personally, 2018 is my year to set off on discovery,” she says. “Equal parts scary and exciting!”

See more by Beth Comstock.

Nicholas Thompson | Editor in Chief, Wired Magazine

What he talks about: As the editor in chief of Wired, Thompson spends a lot of his day reading about the way technology is changing the world. He shares the best stories he finds, including longform magazine essays, infographics and even cartoons that catch his attention. You’ll also catch a glimpse of him in his new daily video series, where he highlights the most interesting tech story of the day.

His standout article: “I thought the best thing I wrote was my eulogy for my father, who passed away early in the year,” says Thompson. He shared the moving and deeply personal piece on LinkedIn.

2017’s biggest flops: “I thought ‘Blade Runner’ was going to be a massive success. I also expected to see more from chatbots and VR. And I thought men, in general, flopped pretty badly this year.”

See more by Nicholas Thompson.

Check out other top Influencers in the UK, France and Germany as well as more #LinkedInTopVoices — talking about marketing, retail, finance and beyond.

[The list reflects publishing activity over a 12-month period, from November 2016 to November 2017, and as with all LinkedIn Lists, we excluded LinkedIn and Microsoft employees from consideration.]