The 21st Century Executive

An essential resource for building and maintaining an effective leadership team, this book gives HR professionals and I/O practitioners a greater understanding of executive dynamics, development tools, and proven techniques for managing executives. Written by top-notch practitioners, this volume explores executive performance and documents unique to executive-level human resource applicaitons. It shows how effective executive performance is qualitatively different from that of middle level managers. It also outlines today's state-of-the-art corporate human resource practices, along with lessons learned, and provides guidelines and principles related to effective executive practices. Foreword (Eduardo Salas).

Preface.

The Authors.

Part One: Defining Executive Effectiveness.

1 Deciphering Executive Failures (Jeffrey A. Sonnenfeld).

2 What the Best Business Leaders Do Best (Anthony J. Rucci).

3 Understanding the Personality of the Executive (Leslie Pratch,Harry Levinson).

Part Two: Managing Executive Resources.

4 Selecting Leaders at the Top: Exploring theComplexity ofExecutive Fit (Rob Silzer).

5 Leveraging Executive Teams: What s New (andWhat s Not) in theStrategic Enterprise (Janet L. Spencer, J. Carlos Rivero, David A.Nadler).

6 Coaching Executives: Individual LeaderDevelopment (George P.Hollenbeck).

7 Developing Executives (Val H. Markos).

8 Rewarding Executives (Marianna Makri, Luis Gomez-Mejia).

Part Three: Understanding Executive Perspectives.

9 Finding the Key to the Executive Suite: Challengesfor Women andPeople of Color (Karen S. Lyness).

10 E-Executives: Leadership Priorities for theNew Economy (D.Douglas McKenna, Robert B. McKenna).

11 Growing Global Executives (John R. Fulkerson).

12 Getting an Executive View: An Interview witha Chief ExecutiveOfficer (Lawrence A. Bossidy, Marcia J. Avedon).

Name Index.

Subject Index. Rob Silzer is the managing director of HR Assessment and Development, Inc. For more than twenty-five years Silzer has consulted with managers and executives from more than one hundred organizations. He has specialized in executive and management leadership, team selection and development, and strategically driven HR systems. Silzer is the coeditor with Richard Jeanneret of Individual Psychological Assessment: Predicting Behavior in Organizational Settings. The important job of advising CEOs on the selection, evaluation, and management of executives often falls to HR professionals and other practitioners who have limited experience or knowledge in the arena of executive dynamics.

In twelve chapters, The 21st Century Executive offers insight into the behavior, performance, and effectiveness of executive leadership and includes the most current corporate human resource practices for developing and sustaining organization executives. In addition, the book examines critical business and global influences on executive effectiveness and offers lessons learned, guidelines, and principles related to effective executive practices.

The 21st Century Executive's first section explores executive successes, failures, and personalities and emphasizes the importance of establishing and sustaining specific business practices. In the next section, the authors show how careful selection, focused development, and financial encouragement can cultivate effective executives. They identify a number of selection factors that can lead to executive success and introduce the Strategic Enterprise, a new paradigm of organizational design that leverages executive teams. The book offers a range of approaches that can be used to develop and train executives while also contributing to organizational success.

In addition, the book offers an understanding of the issues and perspectives that challenge specific groups of executives, including women and people of color, e-executives, and global executives. The final chapter presents the candid insights of a highly regarded CEO who offers thoughts on the important factors that contribute to executive success.

The 21st Century Executive brings together today's leading theorists and practitioners-all who have extensive experience working with executives-to help psychologists, human resource managers, corporate executives and other professionals address the most important issues concerning executive success.

The 21st Century Executive--the eleventh volume in the Professional Practice Series--is a comprehensive resource that offers seasoned guidance and current practices on the important issue of executive effectiveness and success. While most books on the topic focus on CEOs, this much-needed volume puts the spotlight on a larger group of executives-general managers, corporate officers, and heads of major organizational functions and business units-and offers a broad range of perspectives on how to build effective executive leadership.

Contributors to The 21st Century Executive
Marcia J. Avedon
Lawrence A. Bossidy
John R. Fulkerson
Luis Gomez-Mejia
George P. Hollenbeck
Harry Levinson
Karen S. Lyness
Marianna Makri
Val H. Markos
Douglas D. McKenna
Robert B. McKenna
David A. Nadler
Leslie Pratch
J. Carlos Rivero
Anthony J. Rucci
Rob Silzer
Jeffrey A. Sonnenfeld
Janet L. Spencer