Every year, the SUCCESS editors select a panel of influential individuals who have accomplished something great in the fields of personal development, business or entrepreneurship.
In 2015, we decided there were simply too many people doing great things to pick a single achiever. So instead, we present to you five SUCCESS Achievers who inspired and motivated us by their accomplishments:
TRAVIS KALANICK
The co-founder and CEO of Uber has disrupted not only an industry, but a way of life.
“My next guest is the co-founder and CEO of ride-hailing app Uber,” Stephen Colbert on one of the first episodes of his Late Show before taking a beat to tap on his smartphone. “And he’ll be here in 10 seconds.”
Indeed, by September 2015, the 5-year-old private transportation company had become so pervasive in American culture that its CEO was granted a prime seat at the relaunch of a marquee late-night franchise. There was Travis Kalanick, booked for airtime alongside Vice President Joe Biden, with actresses Scarlett Johansson and Amy Schumer as well as rapper Kendrick Lamar among the premiere-week guests.
– See more at: https://www.success.com/article/2015-success-achiever-of-the-year-travis-kalanick#sthash.JChOakD3.dpuf
“My next guest is the co-founder and CEO of ride-hailing app Uber,” Stephen Colbert said on one of the first episodes of his Late Show before taking a beat to tap on his smartphone. “And he’ll be here in 10 seconds.”
Indeed, by September 2015, the 5-year-old private transportation company had become so pervasive in American culture that there was Travis Kalanick, booked for airtime alongside Vice President Joe Biden and with actresses Scarlett Johansson and Amy Schumer among the premiere-week guests. Continue Reading
JACK ATLEY/THE NEW YORK TIMES/REDUX
MISTY COPELAND
Last summer, this ballerina became the first black woman to be named a principal dancer of the American Ballet Theatre.
“My next guest is the co-founder and CEO of ride-hailing app Uber,” Stephen Colbert on one of the first episodes of his Late Show before taking a beat to tap on his smartphone. “And he’ll be here in 10 seconds.”
Indeed, by September 2015, the 5-year-old private transportation company had become so pervasive in American culture that its CEO was granted a prime seat at the relaunch of a marquee late-night franchise. There was Travis Kalanick, booked for airtime alongside Vice President Joe Biden, with actresses Scarlett Johansson and Amy Schumer as well as rapper Kendrick Lamar among the premiere-week guests.
– See more at: https://www.success.com/article/2015-success-achiever-of-the-year-travis-kalanick#sthash.JChOakD3.dpuf
“My next guest is the co-founder and CEO of ride-hailing app Uber,” Stephen Colbert on one of the first episodes of his Late Show before taking a beat to tap on his smartphone. “And he’ll be here in 10 seconds.”
Indeed, by September 2015, the 5-year-old private transportation company had become so pervasive in American culture that its CEO was granted a prime seat at the relaunch of a marquee late-night franchise. There was Travis Kalanick, booked for airtime alongside Vice President Joe Biden, with actresses Scarlett Johansson and Amy Schumer as well as rapper Kendrick Lamar among the premiere-week guests.
– See more at: https://www.success.com/article/2015-success-achiever-of-the-year-travis-kalanick#sthash.JChOakD3.dpuf
At the end of her autobiography, Life in Motion: An Unlikely Ballerina, Misty Copeland writes that, for all her accomplishments, she still had a major unmet goal: to be principal dancer with the venerable American Ballet Theatre (ABT). A year later, in June 2015, she checked that off her to-do list, becoming the first black woman to be named a principal in the New York City-based company’s 75-year history. Continue Reading
CAROLYN COLE/CONTOUR BY GETTY IMAGES
BOB BAFFERT
This legendary horse trainer won racing’s biggest prize, the Triple Crown.
Bob Baffert began 2015 as a horse trainer whose legacy was already carved in stone. He’d been inducted into racing’s Hall of Fame in 2009 and had more than 2,500 victories and north of $220 million in earnings. He’d been in the business for more than 40 years; his career was the stuff of legends, and he had the respect of his industry. He was just missing this one thing. Continue Reading
HORSE PHOTOS/GETTY IMAGES
ELIZABETH HOLMES
Her company, Theranos, may own the future of health care.
“You’d have to look really hard not to see Steve Jobs in Elizabeth Holmes,” Inc. wrote before the storm broke over the 32-year-old’s $10 billion blood-testing company, Theranos. Indeed, Holmes might deserve the comparison. She resembled the Apple founder quite a bit in 2015, looking every bit the tenacious visionary. Continue Reading
MICHAEL KOVAC/GETTY IMAGES FOR VANITY FAIR
MATT SALZBERG
The co-founder and CEO of Blue Apron helps people get food the way they want: fast and fresh.
Matt Salzberg grew up with a full dinner plate in middle-class Edison, N.J., a town named for the “Wizard of Menlo Park,” whose invention factory was just up the road. “My mother was a great cook,” says the CEO and co-founder of Blue Apron. “We ate out occasionally, but what I mainly remember is the wonderful home-cooked meals. And as a result, food became a major passion of mine.” Continue Reading
COURTESY OF BLUE APRON
Take a peek into our archive of the past Achiever of the Year honorees—the who’s who of accomplishing major goals.
This article appears in the February 2016 issue of SUCCESS magazine.
