It is the issue that brings tears to my eyes. Imagine you want someone to write a few words explaining how Viola Davis gets such high praise and positive reactions from her acting. But you don't ask a journalist to write about her. You ask Meryl Streep!! Have you heard of that author, Meryl Streep? Well, sure, there is only one Meryl Streep. Or, take Riz Ahmed. The guy is quite a performer. Who knows performance? Let's get Lin-Manuel Miranda, the author of "Hamilton", the show that more or less conquered Broadway.
See the pattern: Time's annual issue of the 100 most influential people may include people that are very interesting but people you haven't heard of since your life doesn't include the field they star in. They are the most influential people, not the best known. But the emotional kicker is the people that Time gets to review one of the influential people's work and contribution. Take the fighter Conor McGregor. You haven't heard of him maybe. I hadn't. But who explains who the man is? Arnold Swarzenegger. Now him I have heard of.
Maybe you don't know Celina Turchi and her work against the horrible Zika virus and maybe you haven't heard of Tom Frieden but once you find out Frieden is the former director of the Center for Disease Control, you may be persuaded to stay alert.
I think you can see all the names and find out who agreed to write about them here: http://time.com/collection/2017-time-100/
Pope Francis written up by the archbishop of Chicago.
Sandra Day O'Connor by Sonia Sotomayor
Vladimir Putin written up by Mikhail Gorbachev
Theresa May of Brexit by the Prime Minister of New Zealand
Jeff Bezos by Buzz Aldrin
LeBron James by Rita Dove, former US poet laureate
And many others of note written up by people it is fun to meet.
