Each era has its own senior-executive profile. A century ago many of the largest, most powerful corporations were led by entrepreneurs—Henry Ford, for example, who had founded his automaker, and Alfred P. Sloan, whose company had been acquired by General Motors. By the 1920s professional managers were hopping from company to company to fill high-level management positions. By the 1950s lifelong employees of corporations were working their way up the ladder to claim the top jobs.
A version of this article appeared in the March 2014 issue of Harvard Business Review.
