[manigandham]

What's your track record for handling that kind of position? It's not the money, it's the competence, knowledge and experience that matters. And if you actually have all that then you wouldn't be asking for $1m/year.

It's a tight knit community because there are only a few individuals who get to that level of management and can be selected from to lead (and are even open to a new position in the first place).

The golden parachutes are to offset a bad tenure from hurting their future prospects. There are several CEOs who aren't hired anymore (or anywhere near that level) because of their past performance and they lose their earning potential.