The idea of "Executive Mind" carries with it the notion of purposeful and effective action. Part I of this paper characterizes three complements to "Executive Mind"--"Observing Mind,""Theorizing Mind," and "Passionate Mind"--and offers historical figures exemplifying all four types. The concluding section of part I, "The Transforming Power of Executive Mind," uses excerpts from an interview with Lech Walesa to illustrate all four types in a single individual. Part II begins by examining Japanese director Kurosawa's recent film, "Kagemusha" (The Shadow Warrior) as a felicitous illustration of "Executive Mind" and of the dilemmas of entering the executive role and of executive succession. Part II concludes by discussing the cultivation of a genuine executive team. The paper's third and final part explores a central feature of "Executive Mind"--"timely action." After proposing that research join existential study, developmental theorizing, and empirical testing, variations on the experience of time are discussed, a six-dimensional space/time model is offered, a theory of timely action and a nine-stage theory of organizational development are elaborated, and the usefulness of two distinct kinds of inquiry--interactional and instrumented--and the incompatibility of "Executive Mind" with ideological rigidity are affirmed. (JBM)