What is influence?
Jun 18 2008 Brian Aitken, Editor, The Journal
WHAT does it mean to be influential? It is something that we thought long and hard about, believe me, as we developed the idea for the Influential 500.
Its definition, for the record, is: "the effect of one person or thing on another; the power to have such an effect".
There are literally thousands of people across the North East who are influential.
They could exert that influence in their workplace, in their profession, in their community, in a sport, or in any other sphere of life.
As I have indicated, deciding on exactly who to include in our list of 500 of the Most Influential People in the North East has been a tricky process.
The criteria we considered were:
People who hold positions in companies and organisations with the power, influence or ability to greatly assist others in the North East;
People who lead companies that, because of their size or what they do, are of great importance to the region;
People who hold positions of influence in the public sector, in religious communities, public office, sport, culture and other important sectors.
It has been a long process.
At the heart of our decision-making was the contribution from several committees made up of leading names from across the region in the spheres of business, law, sport, culture, politics and the public sector.
There were some tough decisions to be made – and we don’t claim to have necessarily got it exactly right.
We are also going through a time of change – for example, in Northumberland and County Durham the district councils are to be abolished and replaced with unitary authorities.
However, we have sought to reflect influence at the current time, so we decided to consider individuals from these district councils for inclusion.
Inevitably, some personalities will move on – indeed, some did while we were compiling the list.
We have done our best to reflect those changes where possible, without forgetting that people can still exert an influence after they have changed roles – even, sometimes, when they have moved to new posts outside the region.
Today’s supplement will feature many familiar names and faces.
There will also be one or two surprises.
A few names who many would expect to see will, inevitably, be missing.
We are expecting this list to be a talking point in cafes, pubs and boardrooms around the region.
Defining influence and compiling such a list cannot be an exact science.
I am sure that some very worthy candidates have been excluded.
It is also a list which continues to evolve and we look forward in the coming months to having the chance to highlight the next generation of influential people.
This is extremely important as we seek to play our part in helping to address the skills gap in the North East and ensure we have the leaders in place to secure a bright future for the region.
For the time being, though, we hope that today’s publication helps celebrate some of those individuals who – be it through their work, their community spirit or in any other way – have influenced this fantastic part of the country.
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