Global trends in executive development

As corporations respond to international pressures, exemplified by global “megatrends”, certain trends are emerging concerning the way that corporations use executive development to develop their key assests to respond to the external pressures. This article articulates and describes these trends based on discussions with over 200 companies concerning executive development over the last 18 months. These trends are: (1) processes to align executive development to the business objectives; (2) the parallel development of individuals and learning organisations; (3) the development of critical individual competencies; (4) the creation of a select but comprehensive menu of development options; (5) the development of global partnerships, networks and alliances; (6) the creation of competitive advantage through learning. These trends indicate a focus on developing organisational and individual capabilities aligned to the business objectives in order to create competitive advantage. This focus is not new, but the deliberate attempt to combine these six trends indicates a new awareness of how to achieve competitive advantage through learning. This paper examines each of these trends in executive development and explores implications for the future.