Translation of "movers and shakers"

Question

Does anyone have a suggestion to a German translation of the term movers and shakers?

English definition from Merriam-Webster:

a person who is active or influential in some field of endeavor

Answer 1

Since “movers and shakers” is used in an idiomatic manner in English, you’ve got to be lucky to find a German cognate, which I think will be hard to find. Therefore, it depends on the context and the person(s) it’s applied to. Here’s some rash suggestions as asked for:

• Revoluzzer: variation of “revolutionary”, negative connotation
• Mann der Tat: literally man of deed, who gets things done instead of just talking about them
• Macher: literally maker, similar to Mann der Tat
• Wegbereiter: literally way preparer, meaning trailblazer
• Vorreiter: literally ahead rider, meaning precursor
• der Kopf des Ganzen: literally the head of the whole thing, an intellectual father holding the reins; this one lacks the progressive aspect

I think it depends on whether you want to stress the “move” part (moving things and tasks or even thoughts) or the “shake” part (shaking the long-established foundations). If it’s actually about power, an alpha person, a leader and a decision maker, that’d be another story. I think there’s no word for “influential person”, so you would say einflussreiche Person. It’s hard to convey the “powerful” part.

Without a context, my guess would simply be Macher. Incidentally, it doesn’t matter if it’s applied to a single person (der Macher) or a group of movers and shakers (die Macher).