Many artists and intellectuals are scorned during their lifetimes but are appreciated later, posthumously. In the meantime, mediocrity might sit on top (Britney Spears, etc.). Nietzsche hated the ruler of Germany but at the same time wanted the "real elites" to arise; yet he also often confused existing elites with the "natural elite."
If one always goes by who's currently respected, one might get an ugly assortment of folks -- in the 80s pop music world that would have meant Richard Marx. But who likes him now? (And being admired or considered important is very much a social thing, dependent on admirers and others to keep you in an exalted status.)
But like I said before, when the "important people" have gone on strike in the real world, when Atlas has really historically shrugged, they come in the form of owners engaging in lockouts (dependent on the labor of subordinate security guards), bosses abandoning workplaces as in Argentina, capital flight or capital strike, or workers chasing out their bosses a la Spain '36.
-B.
Carl Remick wrote:
"Each evening after dinner, Wright, Olgivanna and these courtier-apprentices would retire to a spacious room where Wright and Olgivanna (seated on a raised platform) would dispense lofty wisdom to Wright's worshipful followers."