Is there a word for someone that forces progress?

Pacesetter = a person or organization that is the first to do new or different things and so provides an example for others to follow

Trailblazer = the first person to do something or go somewhere, who shows that it is also possible for other people

Cambridge dictionary

These people, being the first, must be doing it from their own motivation, and not at the behest of others. This means that they are doing it for its own sake. Discomfort and adversity for others may not be intentional, but may come, just as profit and joy might come.

Neither word expresses the disapproval (or approbation) of those who may be compelled to follow.