10 business influencers you should follow right now
Looking for new sources of business inspiration and insights? Check out these recommendations for business influencers and why it’s beneficial for you to follow them, according to students, alumni, faculty and staff across the Warrington College of Business.
1. Barbara Corcoran
@barbaracorcoran on Twitter
@barbaracorcoran on Instagram
“I recommend following Barbara Corcoran on Twitter, LinkedIn and TikTok. Barbara posts a variety of content relating to business advice, encouragement, and hilarious business-related memes. Someone interested in entrepreneurship will definitely benefit from Barbara’s wisdom and can find inspiration from her rags to riches story. Learning that you can come from very little to then owning a billion-dollar business and a seat in the Shark Tank shows that anything is possible if you put your mind to it.”
– Summer Levinson (BSBA ’19, MIB ’20) Marketing Specialist, Chico’s FAS
“Barbara Corcoran, a Shark on SharkTank, provides a fresh, fun, and realistic perspective on business operations and management. She is a true testament of what it means to be a successful entrepreneur: starting with nothing but $1,000 and turning into a billion-dollar real estate enterprise. On her podcast, she answers calls from people who have questions about their career and business. She’s even on TikTok and Instagram, making audiences laugh as she dances in her pink pant suit and gold heels after a winning a deal over Mr. Wonderful, Kevin O’Leary! Barbara is experienced, passionate, and a great inspiration to all in the business world!”
– Caroline Y. Beasley (MBA ’22) Owner, Caroline Y. Beasley, CPA
2. John Walsh
Power of Beyond
“[Students and alumni will gain] career and professional development advice, tips, insight inspiration and direction. He is also a UF MBA Alum.”
– Craig Petrus, Executive Director, Business Career Services
3. Morgan J. Ingram
“Morgan Ingram’s insights are specific to Business Development/Sales Development roles, but the advice he gives is transferable to all sales roles. Morgan has been named the “Top Sales Voice” on LinkedIn 3 years in a row, providing practical advice on how to successfully prospect, develop customer relationships, and ultimately how to be a better salesperson. The different content that Morgan produces includes: Effective prospecting email structure, how to provide value in your cold calls, objection handling tips, useful tools to utilize on LinkedIn, new and innovative techniques like video prospecting, and much more.
As Warrington graduates enter the workforce, many will be sales and business development representatives, or have jobs that require similar skill sets. As a May 2020 graduate and current Business Development Consultant, following Morgan Ingram has given me actionable advice that I have applied in my role and seen direct improvement on my KPI’s as a result.”
– Brandon Bonsiero (BABA ’20), Business Development Consultant, Oracle
4. Sheryl Sandberg
“Sheryl Sandberg’s Lean In organization, an offshoot of her best-selling book of the same name, provides valuable, practical resources for managing bias and other challenges women face in the workplace. The website provides comprehensive reports on the state of women in corporate America, hosts a podcast, “Tilted,” focused on inspirational change makers, helps women create Lean In small support circles, and includes multiple useful resources to guide both employees and employers in combatting bias and gender inequity in the workplace.”
– Fiona Barnes, Director, Management Communication Center
5. Mark Cuban
“[By following Mark Cuban, students and alumni will gain] motivation to achieve your goals and follow your aspirations.”
– Benson Cherian (MBA ’23) Quality Assurance Analyst, CreditRiskMonitor
6. Stanford Entrepreneurship Thought Leaders (ETL)
“A candid exploration of the entrepreneurial journey where informed leaders share personal stories of the secrets and setbacks behind real success.”
– Jamie Kraft, Director, Entrepreneurship and Innovation Center
7. Elon Musk
@elonmusk on Twitter
“Elon Musk has been an inspiration to me, and many other Americans. As an immigrant he managed to become the richest man in America, creating the company Tesla as well as SpaceX. He has a strong passion to develop technology for humanity and has an amazing vision for the future. Musk has simply an unmatchable level of ingenuity, down to earthiness, and a vision for humanity like no other. It is even more impressive he has done this all as an immigrant.”
– Alexander Munguia (BSBA ’24), Business Development Manager, TJ International
8. Sherron Washington
CEOP3 on LinkedIn
“I appreciate Sherron’s authenticity when it comes to being a woman and a leader. I have seen her speak multiple times and each time I have learned something about what it means to be an effective influencer and supporter to my colleagues.”
– Morgan Marvin, Director of Marketing, UF MBA
9. Anindya Ghose
@aghose on Twitter
“Professor Anindya Ghose is the Heinz Riehl Chair Professor of Business at New York University’s Stern School of Business and the Director of the Masters of Business Analytics program at NYU Stern. He is an expert on mobile and location technologies. His research and famous book “Tap: Unlocking the Mobile Economy” examine how the increasing pervasiveness of location-acquisition technologies has dramatically changed the way firms reach their consumers. He tells us how firms can take advantage of the recent advancement of mobile and location technologies and revolutionize the nature of business operations.”
– Liangfei Qiu, Associate Professor, Department of Information Systems and Operations Management
10. Emily Ley
@emilyley on Instagram
“I have been following Emily Ley from Simplified for over 5 years. She is the Founder of Simplified, where their mission is to ‘inspire and empower women with the tools they need to simplify their lives.’ Emily is an Author, Speaker, Founder/Entrepreneur/Business Owner and Mother based on Pensacola, Florida. Students and alumni will gain tactful ideas to simplify their lives in today’s world. Most importantly, how to give yourself grace and when reaching for your goals.”
– Diana Saiz, Associate Director, Business Career Services
