They require no introduction, but I’ll give them one, anyway.
The one had a vision of a company that would use the internet to unite the world peacefully, and make him billions along the way. For a while, it seemed to work, and the company was widely praised as a force for positive, liberal change, particularly during the Arab Spring. But then the potential for social media to be used for evil became obvious, governments started to crack down, and the business model failed, except as a generator of enormous profits. Today, it seems inevitable that the company will be regulated as a public utility, broken up, or both, and it is evolving more into an American national tech champion than a pioneer of globalization.
The other was the head of state of a country with oil and nuclear weapons, but an economy roughly the size of Australia’s. A hard, cynical man who believes in nothing but his own indispensability and regaining the lost greatness of his nation, he used unconventional means, including irregular troops and internet trolls, along with some pure butchery, conservative ideology, and clever diplomacy to expand his influence. He stands for both the power of globalization and its ultimate limits.
I give you the men of the decade: Mark Zuckerberg and Vladimir Putin.