POWERLIST 2008
How we did it, and why
S
igma (G+Y+4W)*N/Y. Believe it or not, this is actually
an equation someone came up with to calculate how
infl uential a person is.
Admittedly tongue in cheek, it takes into account the
number of Google pages they are mentioned on, how many
YouTube videos they are in and the aggregate is divided by
a random number to rule out the Jade Goodys of this world,
who would score high on both measures.
We deliberately avoided an overly formulaic approach
when we put together the Powerlist because we are acutely
aware of the necessity for a human touch in something that is
always going to be, in the main, a subjective judgement.
I’ll explain the method behind our madness in a moment,
but perhaps I should fi rst of all tell you why we considered it
necessary to put together a list such as this in the fi rst place.
It was quite simple, really. For far too long, black people in
Britain have failed celebrate our successes. We’ve been quick
to beat ourselves up when things have gone wrong, but slow
to give credit when and where it is due.
The result is that everyone else jumps on the bandwagon
to have a go at us, too. Glance at the papers, watch the TV or
listen to the radio and your chances of picking up a positive
story involving people of African or Caribbean heritage are
about the same as mine of beating Usain Bolt in a foot race.
One of the reasons for this is because we have not given them
anything else to write about. Until now. infl uential black people in their fi eld.
Then, there’s the fact that everyone needs a role model – To qualify a person had to be of African, Caribbean or
someone to look at and say: ‘I want to do what they’ve done.’ African-American heritage and be either based in Britain or a
If that person looks like you and is from the same background British citizen based anywhere in the world. We decided that
as you, it makes it easier to believe you can emulate their we would measure people’s level of infl uence by using two
achievements, or do better than them. The Powerlist is full indices: how infl uential they are within their immediate sphere
of black role models and if the life path of even one child is of expertise and how far their infl uence extends outside it. But
changed for the better as a result of something they read in that threw up other conundra.
this magazine, then it’s been worth doing. Do all MPs, for example, or all peers, automatically make
And fi nally, we wanted to address the paucity of black the shortlist? Does someone who ostensibly holds a powerful
directors on the boards of FTSE 100 companies. One of the position automatically get on, even though their demonstrable
reasons fi rms give for this lack of diversity is that they don’t infl uence is minimal. The answer to both questions was no.
know where the people are of the right calibre. At least now Power, we concluded, is merely latent infl uence.
we can say: ‘Here are 100 to choose from.’ We marked the nominees out of 10 on each index and the
Back to how we put it together, though, and fi rst, some panel were then presented with a shortlist (of the 200 with the
clarity: this is not a list based on popularity, neither is it a highest aggregate scores) to deliberate over for a week. Then
list of wealth; it is not about fame, nor is it necessarily about we locked them in a room to come up with the fi nal 100, which
excellence. It is purely and simply a list of the women and men they did after seven hours of disagreement, compromise,
the Powerlist panel deem Britain’s 100 most infl uential black grudging acceptance and strong opinion; emotions, which, I
people. am willing to bet, will consume many of the readers of this
We started off with a defi nition of ‘infl uence’, which we magazine as they discover who is on and who didn’t make the
made as all-encompassing, yet concise, as we could. After list. But that’s all part of the fun.
much toing and froing, we settled on: ‘The ability to alter Enjoy.
events and change lives.’
Then we sought nominees. To fi nd them we scoured every Michael Eboda
profession and trade we could think of and asked experts Publisher
within those areas who they considered to be the most mike@powerful-media.com
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