Executive Leadership: Requisite Skills and Developmental Processes for Three- and Four-Star Assignments

Abstract : This report describes the investigation of work and skill requirements for three- and four-star general officers. Researchers conducted structured interviews and performed a content analysis to describe the nature of three- and four-star assignments, career paths, and developmental patterns. Requisite skills included consensus building, envisioning, climate setting, self-evaluating, sharing frames of reference, risk taking, and dealing with uncertainty. Implications for executive development are described in terms of level-specific organizational and individual requirements. Executive development, Stratified systems theory, Leadership skills, Career paths, General officers, SST.