Innovation.
In our globalized, social network-connected, ideas-driven economy, the key to success is through innovation. It's how we improve and upend existing infrastructures, may it be in field of education or energy strategy or politics and policy. It's how people in the areas of media, sports and culture make their marks, and cement their legacies. It's how social norms change and how emerging themes develop. It's how we as a society move forward in the 21st century.
Leading through innovation is what the 15 "Featured Doers" in HuffPost's inaugural Spotlight Series are all about. Some are recognizable, bold-faced names. Others are not. But, in varying degrees, HuffPost's "Featured Doers" are people doing amazing things, all innovators and trend-setters in their respective fields:
* Peter Gelb, general manager of the Metropolitan Opera, America's largest classical music organization
* Charles Best, founder of Donors Choose, a peer-to-peer non-profit that allows people to contribute to public school projects
* James Cameron, Oscar-winning director, and producer and screenwriter of the groundbreaking "Avatar"
* Chloe Sladden, Twitter's director of media partnerships
* Steven Chu, Nobel Laureate and United States Secretary of Energy
* Karl Fisch, teacher, technology education specialist and blogger
* Baratunde Thurston, comedian, author, TV host and pundit
* Ashton Kutcher, new media mogul and film and television actor and producer
* Ellen S. Miller, co-founder and executive director of the the non-partisan Sunlight Foundation, which advocates for government transparency
* Elon Musk, Silicon Valley entrepreneur extraordinaire
* Dr. Jay Parkinson, aka "The Doctor of the Future," a pediatrician and preventive medicine specialist
* Macon Phillips, White House's director of new media and overseer of WhiteHouse.gov
* Jamie Oliver, chef, restaurateur and author
* Rachel Sterne, founder of global user-generated news site, Ground Report
* Dwayne Wade, Miami Heat basketball player
Read their bios. Post them questions in our comments box, and vote on the questions submitted by other HuffPost readers. The top 5 finalists who receive the most questions will be interviewed by HuffPost -- and answer top questions from our HuffPost community. In the coming weeks, HuffPost's Spotlight Series will roll out our original video interviews with the top 5 finalists.
It's no coincidence that the word innovation starts with the letter "I" -- because you (yes, you) have a role to play. HP, our partner in this inaugural video series, has introduced "Do Amazing: Tell Us What You Can Do," an online contest in which participants can nominate themselves or someone they know who are doing amazing things.
Get inspired, and vote away.