ABSTRACT
As we mentioned earlier, our joint research agenda on globalization and global leadership started about 20 years ago, when the first signs appeared that companies and their executives were headed for an unprecedented surge in the pervasiveness and interconnectedness of globalization. In the late 1990s we launched a major study and over two years conducted interviews with over 130 senior executives in 50 firms based in Europe, North America, and Asia. We also interviewed managers who were identified in their firms as exemplars or role models of the future global leader. Since that time many of the young exemplars we interviewed have gone on to rise to very senior positions. For example, Steve Burke, one of the exemplars identified in our interviews with Disney in 1997, later left Disney and became chief operating officer (COO) at Comcast and then in January 2011 became CEO of NBC Universal, when Comcast purchased the unit from GE. Burke also now serves on the Board of Directors at Berkshire Hathaway and J. P. Morgan Chase. Another example, Steve Holliday, was identified in our interviews at Exxon. He later joined National Grid in 2001 and was made CEO in 2007. He has served on the Board of Directors of Marks and Spencer since 2004.
