Creating a list of the 10 most successful men on the planet is not easy. The main problem is deciding what success means. For some people being successful will mean being rich while for others it will mean being powerful – of course another way to judge success is popularity. Here is a top 10 list of the people who we believe are the most successful in the world.

10- Preet Bharara

Preet Bharara might not be such a well known name to many of us but Time Magazine put him in their top 100 list of the most influential people in the world. Preet is the US Attorney for the Southern District of New York. He is most well known for taking on Wall Street and winning. Preet had to work hard to gain so much power, and his current job is crucial for the future prosperity of the US economy. Somebody needs to deal with the problems on Wall Street and Preet is just the man to do it.

9- Ben Bernanke

Ben Bernanke is currently head of the Federal Reserve which is the central bank in the US. This makes him extremely powerful, and he was one of those responsible for helping the economy deal with the financial meltdown a few years ago. He is the son of a pharmacist who managed to make his way up the ranks until he assumed one of the most important job positions in the world.

8- Larry Fink

Larry Fink is the CEO of Black Rock – this is the largest money management company in the world. After graduating with an MBA from UCLA he got a job in investment banking. He soon made a name for himself and he is given credit for creating the mortgage backed security market in the US. Over the years Larry has had some big wins and some big losses, but he has never backed away from making the hard choices that successful people need to make in order to get to the top.

7- Mark Zuckerberg

Mark Zuckerberg has changed the world of social media and it has made him a very rich man in the process. His impact on the world has been so great that Hollywood is already making movies about him – this is even more impressive when you consider the fact that he is only 28 years of age. His social media website Facebook is known to most people around the world, and it has changed the way people communicate with one another. The internet has made it possible for plenty of innovative people to become rich but Mark Zuckerberg has proved to be the most successful of them all.

6- Tadashi Yanai

The name Tadashi Yanai is not going to be so familiar to those of us who live in the US, but he is one of the richest and most successful businessmen in the world. He is the richest person in Japan with an estimated worth of 6 billion dollars. His company Fast Retailing is hugely popular. Tadashi claims that the secret to his success was that he was never afraid to make mistakes.

5- Tim Cook

Tim Cook took over as CEO of Apple after Steve Jobs died back in 2011. Apple is one of the most successful companies on the planet and Steve Jobs was a hard act to follow. Tim was originally hired by the company back in 1988. He was awarded 1 million shares in Apple in 2012 and he is currently the world’s richest CEO. Tim Cook does not have the same charisma as Steve Jobs, but few would doubt that he is one of the most successful people on the planet.

4- Paul Gardner Allen

Paul Gardner Allen is co founder of Microsoft. He is currently the 48th richest person on the planet with an estimated wealth of 14.2 billion dollars. Paul gives a lot of money to charity, and he is also keen to promote new business ventures. He is also a huge sports fan and owns two professional sports teams – Portland Trailblazers and Seattle Seahawks. He has been listed in Time magazine in the top 100 of the most influential people ever.

3- Chung Mong Koo

Chung Mong Koo is a South Korean businessman who is the chairman of Hyundai Motor Group. This is one of the most successful motor companies in the world and much of the credit for this goes to Chung Mong Koo’s leadership. He had a dream for the company and he worked hard to improve its reputation around the world. It is him who is responsible for moving Hyundai products from being viewed as a cheap to being quality vehicles.

2- Warren Buffett

Warren Buffett is one of the most powerful and influential men on the planet. He is also considered to be the most important inventor of the 20th century. He has not left the top 10 of wealthiest people in the world in years, and in 2012 Time magazine voted him the most influential person in the world. He is now 82 years of age and despite his immense wealth he still believes in the important of living frugally – he has also pledged to give 99% of his wealth to charity.

1- Bill Gates

Bill Gates is responsible for creating the world’s most successful computer software company, and this has made him one of the richest men on the planet. He has a reputation for being ruthless in business, but his charity work proves that he has his generous side too. Bill has revolutionized the world of computing, and it is hard to imagine what things would be like without Microsoft. He is now moving to part-time chairman of Microsoft so that he can devote more time to spending his estimated 60 billion dollars wealth.