The Evolution of the Concept of the 'Executive' from the 20th Century Manager to the 21st Century Global Leader

The purpose of this paper is to take an in-depth look at the profiles of executive skills and competencies drawn across the expanse of seventy-five years framed in the backdrop of management philosophy changes. In the early 1900's, Chester Barnard outlined the competencies he felt the executive of the future would need in the 20 th Century. At the beginning of the 21 st Century, Morgan McCall and George Hollenbeck interviewed over 100 expatriates and reported a list of needed competencies for the global executive of the 21 st Century. This paper chronicles the changes in the management arena over that 70 plus year period of time to frame the backdrop of these two executive skill profiles. The journey is interesting and the outcome is surprising at times. Just as organizations are a product of their past, so to is the executive of today. He/she is an anthology of all the things that an executive needed in early 1900's, with a couple dynamic dimensions thrown in to maintain their sustainable competitive advantage in the new millennium global marketplace.