We have a 50 percent turnover rate for our 2012 Power 100 list, which publishes Jan. 30. Managing Editor Joe St. Arney and I were surprised when he calculated that stat. (The exact percentage is still a bit in flux as we love to torment ourselves—and the Design department—by making changes until the last possible minute.)

So if you were on last year’s list, there’s a 50 percent chance you’re off the 2012 list. Of course, it’s a bit more complicated than that. For example, Gov. Chris Christie has more than a 50 percent chance of being on the 2012 list because, well, he’s Chris Christie, who’s all about pushing a pro-business agenda.

The good news: if you were not on last year’s list, about 50 slots opened up and maybe you landed in one of them. The reality is the first year of an NJBIZ power list serves as a beginning benchmark, often capturing the perennial powerhouses. For subsequent lists, we ask, “what have you done lately, and what are you likely to do in the upcoming months?” That results in turnover. (Our 2011 Power 50 Real Estate list had a 40 percent turnover rate from the prior year.) It also can result in wild swings in rankings for those who remain on the list: on the 2012 Power 100 list, we have one person dropping 50-some spots and another jumping forward nearly as much.

We aim to make the lists as timely as possible, so there is changeover each year, because the state’s business landscape—and the players in it—is constantly shifting.

Sometimes, a 50 percent shift.