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At a glance, the past year has been a sunny one for commerce. In the U.S., stock and house prices are riding high, and consumer sentiment is as good as it has been in decades. The latest reading on the economy shows it is growing nicely.

But business leaders have faced some awkward surprises. Tariffs have complicated supply chains. Banks preparing for an earnings boost on rising interest rates now find that rates are expected to fall again. Car makers and semiconductor firms have hit a demand slump. Big tech outfits are being circled by trustbusters. Meanwhile, familiar sources of upheaval remain. Television broadcasters need an answer for streaming, and retailers must find a way to remain relevant in the age of e-commerce.

The 30 leaders on this year’s list of the World’s Best CEOs have handled these challenges and others with great success. Our list is selected by Barron’s editors after screening the S&P 500 index and a roster of large non-U.S. companies for standout results in recent years on growth in revenue, earnings, and shareholder returns. The 30 chief executives aren’t ranked, but are separated into three groups: visionary founders, growth leaders, and change agents.

Visionary founders run the thriving companies they built. New to that group this year is Stephen Schwarzman, who co-founded Blackstone Group (ticker: BX) in 1985. It was an early backer of a risk-management firm called BlackRock (BLK), whose founder, Laurence Fink, also appears on our list. Today, Blackstone is a dominant fund-raiser in alternative investments, while BlackRock is a leader in exchange-traded funds. Both companies are taking share from active mutual fund managers.

Growth leaders are nonfounder CEOs whose operational momentum is the envy of their industries. For example, plenty of TV companies have announced streaming services. None except Walt Disney (DIS) has derisked its move to streaming by turning decades of deal making into one of history’s biggest box-office booms, and then investing to bring its hit films to life in its parks, driving traffic and spending there, too. That’s the work of Robert Iger, Disney’s most important figure since Walt himself.

In less than a decade and with careful attention to risk, Brian Moynihan has turned Bank of America (BAC) from a loss maker into the second-most-profitable bank, behind JPMorgan Chase (JPM). He joins longtime JPMorgan chief Jamie Dimon on our roster of growth leaders.

New to the List

Change agents are restoring their companies to greatness. This list is short by design; its most successful members graduate to become growth leaders. To see what Steve Easterbrook is changing at McDonald’s (MCD), pop by a restaurant and order through a digital kiosk, or make your selections beforehand, via smartphone. You might even notice speedier drive-through service. What investors are noticing are rising same-store sales and a sharply higher stock price.

Our CEOs list isn’t a popularity contest, except to the extent that public perception of a chief executive can be good or bad for business, or investor returns. Facebook’s (FB) Mark Zuckerberg and Alphabet’s (GOOGL) Larry Page face widespread criticism for their market dominance, handling of user data, and more. They remain among our top 30, in part because growth at their companies is still explosive, even as we watch to see how they respond to difficult questions.

About a third of our list turns over each year. Some CEOs fall off for technical reasons. James Whitehurst’s Red Hat is being bought by IBM (IBM). Robert Sands at Constellation Brands (STZ) and Hubert Joly at Best Buy (BBY) stepped down, becoming executive chairmen. Aditya Puri at India’s HDFC Bank (HDB) retires in October 2020, and the bank hasn’t named a successor.

Fred Smith remains a storied founder, but growth has slowed at FedEx (FDX) amid a swirl of challenges, including tariffs and high costs for expanded ground delivery, and the stock has tumbled. Electronic Arts (EA) under Andrew Wilson is investing in the cloud-based videogaming of tomorrow, but it has had some misses in key games today.

Off the List

Carlos Tavares at PSA Groupe (UG.France) turned Peugeot around, but must diversify away from Europe. The auto maker hopes to return to the U.S., but not for a few years. James Gorman at Morgan Stanley (MS) has outperformed Goldman Sachs (GS) for years, but the company’s profit-margin improvement has slowed, and its stock has slid over the past year. And Jensen Huang’s Nvidia (NVDA) has disappointed on new Turing graphics chips, key to its gaming business.

Phebe Novakovic’s General Dynamics (GD) has seen business-jet orders come in below expectations, and its shares have lagged behind the market. Bernard Arnault at LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton (MC.France) remains a leader in luxury, but has been outshined of late by gains at rival Kering (KER.France).

Returning To the List

Speaking of which, other new arrivals include François-Henri Pinault at Kering, who sold retail operations to focus on luxury goods, with booming results for the company’s flagship brand, Gucci. Mary Dillon at cosmetics chain Ulta Beauty (ULTA) has nearly doubled the S&P 500’s yearly return since she took over in 2013. Dave Lewis has turned around the largest U.K. grocer, Tesco (TSCO.UK).

Henry Fernandez has expanded MSCI (MSCI) into a vast supermarket for financial benchmarks amid the rise in index investing. Marillyn Hewson has led Lockheed Martin (LMT) through government see-sawing on defense spending, while beating the stock market. Lisa Su has transformed Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) from a perennial also-ran to Intel (INTC) into a genuine threat.

Tell Us What You Think Whom do you consider the world’s best CEOs? Write to us at mail@barrons.com and we might publish your view. Find out more.

Craig Jelinek at Costco Wholesale (COST) takes a rock-bottom approach to operating costs, except when it comes to minimum pay for workers, which he has raised twice in a year, to $15 an hour from $13, while earnings estimates have risen. James Robo has turned NextEra Energy (NEE) into the world leader in wind and solar energy while steadily growing profits.

Read on for more details about what’s working for these leaders, and what’s in store for the companies they run. Read more about Blackstone’s Stephen Schwarzman and the Visionary Founders here, read more about Bank of America’s Brian Moynihan and the Growth Leaders here, and read more about AMD’s Lisa Su and the Change Agents here.

Write to Jack Hough at jack.hough@barrons.com