Source: Jdarsie11 / Wikimedia Commons 
 
 1. Anthony Scaramucci 
 
 > Occupation: White House Communications Director 
 
 Over the nearly five decades that the position of the White House Director of Communications has existed, no tenure has been shorter than that of Anthony Scaramucci. Fired in late July 2017, less than two weeks after his appointment, the White House’s official reason for releasing Scaramucci was to give its new Chief of Staff, General John Kelly, a clean slate. Scaramucci’s tenure in Trump’s cabinet was tumultuous despite being short. The highlights included apparent protocol breaches with the FBI, conflicting statements about his relationship with then Chief of Staff Reince Priebus, and a profanity laced interview with The New Yorker, in which he spoke ill of several other Trump administration officials, including Priebus and Chief Strategist Steve Bannon. In the midst of his brief stint in the White House, Scaramucci’s wife filed for divorce. 
 
 Source: Gage Skidmore / Flickr 
 
 2. Chris Christie 
 
 > Occupation: Governor of New Jersey 
 
 Governor of New Jersey and contender for the 2016 Republican presidential nomination Chris Christie has the lowest approval ratings of any governor in the country and in the history of the Garden State. It’s not hard to see why. The lame duck two-term governor fawned over Donald Trump after the bombastic billionaire won the presidential election. Many speculated Christie was angling for a post in the new administration. Trump did name Christie to head his transition team, but eventually replaced him with Mike Pence. In the end, Trump decided not to include Christie in his cabinet, possibly because Christie was damaged goods. Indeed, Christie’s reputation was sullied by the Bridgegate scandal in which allies created a traffic jam on the George Washington Bridge in early September 2013, hoping motorists would blame a local Democratic mayor for the tie-up. 
 
 The outgoing governor said he does not care about poll numbers. That seemed to be the case last month when Christie and his family were spotted lounging on a state-owned beach while the general public was denied beach access due to a statewide government shutdown. 
 
 Source: Federal Bureau of Investigation 
 
 3. James Comey 
 
 > Occupation: Director of the FBI 
 
 James Comey has been a controversial figure since the middle of the 2016 presidential election. Initially, Comey was criticized for publicly attacking Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton’s judgment in using a private email server during her time at the State Department. Comey garnered even more ire when, in an apparent break with bureau protocol, he announced candidate Clinton was the subject of an FBI investigation only days before the election. While some attribute President Donald Trump’s electoral victory to Comey’s investigation of Clinton, Trump abruptly fired the FBI Director less than five months into his presidency. 
 
 Comey had served as FBI Director since 2013, when he was appointment by President Barack Obama, until he was terminated by Trump in May 2017. The White House has since provided multiple conflicting justifications for Comey’s firing. 
 
 Source: media.ford.com 
 
 4. Mark Fields 
 
 > Occupation: CEO of Ford Motor Company 
 
 Mark Fields, formerly chief executive of Ford Motor Company, is one of several high profile CEOs who were shown the door in 2017. A loyal company man, Fields had been with Ford since 1989, working his way up to COO in 2012 and CEO in 2014. 
 
 Fields’ time at the top was limited largely due to his failure to inspire confidence on Wall Street. Ford shares fell by nearly 40% during his tenure as CEO — even as corporate revenue climbed over 5% from 2014 to 2016. Shareholder confidence was mostly undermined by Fields’ determination to take on Tesla, investing in electric and autonomous vehicle technology. Despite attempts to woo shareholders by announcing a 10% reduction in its global workforce in early May 2017 in order to boost profits, Fields was let go later that month. 
 
 Source: Flickr / Keith Allison 
 
 5. Tiger Woods 
 
 > Occupation: Professional golfer 
 
 With 14 major wins to his name, including four Masters Tournaments and three U.S. Opens, Tiger Woods spent many years as the top-ranked golfer in the world. The golf superstar has been embroiled in controversy on and off since reports of his infidelity came to light in late 2009. He has not won a major tournament since. 
 
 The latest scandal surrounding Woods was what appeared to be a DUI arrest. Found by police stopped on the side of the road early morning on Memorial Day, Woods failed a field sobriety test and was arrested. At the station, Woods passed a breathalyzer, however, and it was later revealed that the golfer was suffering from a dangerous combination of prescription medications. Following the widely publicized incident, Woods checked into a clinic to help him manage his drug use. In the realm of professional golf, Woods is currently ranked 899 — his lowest ranking ever. ||||| Why are tarnished leaders so much easier to name just now than shining ones? Think of disgraced Wells Fargo CEO John Stumpf, indicted and jailed Samsung boss Lee Jae-yong, fired National Security Adviser Michael Flynn, forced-out Democratic National Committee chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz—all those and more brought down over the past eight months. And Donald Trump’s approval ratings are lower than those of any new President for whom such polling exists. What’s going on? 
 
 Here’s a hypothesis: Our age of radical transparency is far likelier to reveal bad stuff than good. Virtually every fallen leader of recent times has been undone by the dramatically expanded availability and light-speed portability of digital data—as mundane as electronic financial records (Lee) or as advanced as remote surveillance ­(Flynn’s conversations with Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak). It all reveals what’s hidden, and the things people try to hide tend to be bad. 
 
 Get used to it. Evidence suggests that for ­broader reasons, radical transparency may be raising the base level of tumult to uncomfortable new highs. In business, for example, easier access to information for customers, competitors, and others causes industry dominance to change more quickly, corporate life spans to decline, and executive tenures to shorten. Knockout leadership gets harder to maintain. 
 
 Yet it’s out there, and we’ve found it. Some of those whom we salute in this fourth annual ranking of the World’s Greatest Leaders are famous—Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos, Fed chair Janet Yellen, basketball great LeBron James. Many are not but should be, such as Lithuanian President Dalia Grybauskaitė , the “Iron Lady” who has dared to call out Vladimir Putin for his misdeeds, and bioengineer Rebecca Richards-Kortum, whose Institute for Global Health is finding innovative ways to save babies. And then there’s Chicago Cubs president of baseball operations Theo Epstein, No. 1 on our list, famous among baseball fans as a data nerd but not as a leader. Turns out, there’s much more to him than you think. 
 
 Read more about Theo Epstein here. 
 
 All those on our list excel at leading effectively in today’s environment. Three lessons they teach: 
 
 • Acknowledge reality and offer hope. This central leadership task is more difficult and important in uncertain times. JPMorgan Chase’s Jamie Dimon is again proving excellent at it, talking bluntly about the bank’s challenges, offering optimism without sugarcoating. It’s a fine line to walk. 
 
 • Bring followers physically together. Research shows that when groups meet in person, face-to-face, they trust each other more, become better problem solvers, and are markedly more creative. Those are outcomes every organization needs more of. Pope Francis understands the power of physical presence, having set by far the most torrid travel pace of any pope and gathered followers in 27 countries to date, sometimes by the millions. The organizers of the Jan. 21 Women’s March on Washington surprised even themselves when millions of marchers turned out worldwide, drawing energy and inspiration from one another. 
 
 • Build bridges. As the acerbity of political discourse threatens to infect the whole culture, the best leaders stay refreshingly open to other views, engaging opponents constructively rather than waging war. Republican Gov. John Kasich of Ohio and Democratic Rep. John Delaney of Maryland, for example, advocate positions the other party favors—and both won reelection easily the last time they faced their home voters. 
 
 Remember as you scan our list that we evaluate each leader within his or her own field of endeavor. Someone leading a small organization effectively may rank above someone far more famous nudging global issues. Our point isn’t to declare that, say, No. 7 on our list is “greater” than No. 9. The point is that great leaders can be anywhere—at the helm of a giant corporation, running a rural college, or in a cramped office exerting influence through sheer personal energy. 
 
 The age of radical transparency draws attention away from today’s shining leaders, but they haven’t disappeared. We give 50 of them their due here. 
 
 Featuring nominations from a panel of expert advisers: Chip Bergh, Levi Strauss & Co.; Christy Turlington Burns, Every Mother Counts; Jean Case, Case Foundation; Arianna Huffington, Thrive Global; Walter Isaacson, The Aspen Institute; Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunization; Thomas Kolditz, Doerr Institute; Rice University, Michael Porter, Harvard Business School; Joey Reiman, BrightHouse; Judith Rodin, Rockefeller Foundation; Michael Schlein, Accion International; Dov Seidman, LRN; Rick Wartzman, Drucker Institute; and the Fortune staff 
 
 Head writers: Erika Fry and Matt Heimer 
 
 Contributors: Daniel Bentley, Stephanie ­Castillo, Scott Cendrowski, Jonathan Chew, Geoff Colvin, Barb ­Darrow, Leigh ­Gallagher, ­Stephen Gandel, Robert Hackett, Tom Huddle­ston Jr., Kirsten Korosec, Beth Kowitt, Sy ­Mukherjee, Tory Newmyer, ­Aaron Pressman, Jeff John ­Roberts, Chris Taylor, Anne VanderMey, Jen ­Wieczner, and Claire Zillman 
 
 A version of this article appears in the April 1, 2017 issue of Fortune as the introduction to our World’s Greatest Leaders package.
– Power: One day you have it, the next you don't. No one likely knows that better than the world's 50 "least powerful" people, described by 24/7 Wall St. as "well-known individuals around the world who have recently experienced a precipitous loss in stature." The top 10: Anthony Scaramucci: Where to begin? Try here, here, and here. Chris Christie: The former head of Donald Trump's transition team has the lowest approval rating of any governor in New Jersey's history. James Comey: The former FBI director lasted not even five months under Trump. Mark Fields: The Ford CEO was canned after shares fell almost 40% during his tenure. Tiger Woods: Blame his DUI arrest and 899th ranking in men's pro golf. Kendall Jenner: Remember that Pepsi commercial? Montgomery Moran: After a wave of issues at Chipotle, the co-CEO stepped down last year. Tomi Lahren: The conservative media personality was suspended from the Blaze after announcing she was pro-choice. Park Geun-hye: The former president of South Korea was impeached and jailed after a corruption scandal involving Samsung. Mitch McConnell: As Senate majority leader, McConnell failed to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act. Click for the full list, which also includes Sean Spicer, R. Kelly, and Theresa May. (See last year's ranking here.)