Being an executive totally requires skills. Are they unique skills that only executives have? Not really. But people management and resource management in general require skills, wisdom, etc. If someone is made an executive and they don't have the required skills, they will usually blow up their project or company.
I don't doubt that an executive requires a certain temperament that lots of people don't have and that the people who become executives are generally intelligent and capable. What I'm saying is that it is not a "trade" or "profession" that has specific teachable skills, knowledge bases and responsibilities like "engineer" or "lawyer" or "plumber"
There totally are specific teachable skills involved with being an executive, although they are abstract for the most part. Above all an executive should have an adequate understanding of the thing they manage. But resource management, estimation, accounting, public speaking, knowledge of relevant laws, workplace psychology, etc. are all skills that executives need and can be taught. If you meet an executive with these skills and then meet one without them, you'll know what I'm talking about. I would also say the same of sales jobs, but sales is relatively narrow.
