There are dozens of “best” lists put out by the media every year. These stories have catchy titles like the most admired companies, the largest companies, the wealthiest billionaires, the most well-liked billionaires, the most powerful women, the most powerful people under 40 and the most powerful women under 40. The “24/7 Wall St. 100 Least Powerful People In The World List” is one of a kind.  It is the most important list you will ever read.

This article could be called “The Emperor Has No Clothes.” The people on this list used to be powerful.  They have powerless titles, or they never had power at all. Each person on the list is an impostor, even if he or she does not mean to be. The powerless can be well-intentioned. It may not be their fault that they have been rendered impotent. Conversely, many of the people who make the list deserve far worse fates than being on the list. A 24/7 Wall St. analysis identified five major groups that are powerless: (1) corporate executives, (2) sports figures, (3) politicians, (4) royalty, and (5) celebrities.

This list is necessary, much more so than many of the “best” lists. Too many people represent themselves and their institutions as the “best” when they are flawed, useless or irrelevant. It is often harder to find the least powerful than it is the most powerful. The best speak up for themselves.  Those who pretend to have power often try to hide the fact they lack it.

Here is 24/7 Wall St.’s 100 Least Important People In The World, listed in no particular order.

> Former CEO of BP

> Most notorious CEO since Enron’s Ken Lay. Hayward was seen yachting a week after the Deepwater Horizon disaster. Did not admit the seriousness of the environmental calamity for several weeks. Was the board’s sacrificial lamb.