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10 people who don't matter
Not everyone with a fancy title really counts. From Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer on down, here are the people you can safely snub at conferences.
By Business 2.0 Magazine staff
June 22, 2006: 3:29 PM EDT


SAN FRANCISCO (Business 2.0 Magazine) - In putting together "The 50 Who Matter Now," we at Business 2.0 Magazine had to make some hard decisions about who we included and who we left out.

Plenty of people are making a difference - but are they making enough of a difference to score a prime position on our list? Those were tough questions.

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But some choices were easy to make. As we winnowed the list, we found ourselves discarding name after name of people whose power had peaked, whose influence had waned, or whose true importance we felt was overstated.

Indeed, there were some heated arguments about which of the seemingly high and mighty should go into the discard pile. We quickly realized that a list of the people who don't matter would make just as interesting reading as the list of people who do matter. Knowing who has buzz and who merely has hype is valuable, after all.

The list may surprise you. Collectively, these people are worth billions of dollars. They command big salaries and have impressive titles. Among them are the creators of the Sony PlayStation, the DVD, and Linux.

But as respected as they might be for their past achievements, their best days are behind them.

To read the list of 10 people who don't matter - in no particular order, click here.