Top 20 most inspirational business leaders

More than 1,000 UK employees have voted on the business leaders they find most inspiring, and (fairly unsurprisingly) Richard Branson has topped the lot. (By the by, you might enjoy lots of pictures of Richard Branson picking up women.)

Branson was followed by Bill Gates, Lord Alan Sugar, Steve Jobs and Anita Roddick, in that order. You can see the full results below.

The research, from the National Business Awards and Opinion Matters,shows that over 90% of those surveyed said good leadership is the most important influence on the success of an organisation

The survey found that the top five personality traits of a good leader are being honest, hardworking, a good communicator, trustworthy and intelligent.

Bad leaders’ top five personality traits are being untrustworthy, patronising, a poor communicator, instilling fear, and being over-confident.

The research highlighted a telling difference too – that workers see overconfidence as a poor trait, but leaders believe that indecisiveness as a bigger problem.

1.     Richard Branson

2.     Bill Gates

3.     Lord Alan Sugar

4.     Steve Jobs

5.     Anita Roddick

6.     James Dyson

7.     John Cadbury

8.     Henry Ford

9.     Joseph Rowntree

10.  Mark Zuckerberg

11.  John D Rockerfeller

12.  Duncan Bannatyne

13.  Theo Paphitis

14.  Deborah Meaden

15.  Donald Trump

16.  Sir Terry Leahy

17.  Larry page

18.  Jeff Bezos

19.  Sir Philip Green

20. Warren Buffett