The 2025 Top 100 People: What would you change?

It’s a common question: If you could go back and change anything, would you?

In the case of the 2025 Top 100 Most Influential People, we framed it in a professional context, asking: “If you could go back, what is one thing you would change in your career?”

Many said they would not change a thing, and others shared that their only regret was not getting into the profession sooner. Still others recalled specific pivots, forks in the road, or other ways they would have steered their careers or approached their work.

(To see the full responses of all the candidates for the Top 100, click here. And to see who the Top 100 voted the most influential, see here.)