[ParetoOptimal]

> My wife is an exec and most of her direct hires are clueless as to their worth

I like how it's assumed your wife or any other exec reliably knows their worth.

> One of her direct reports got a promotion and when another found out, he complained. Meanwhile, he did less than half the work of the other.

Metrics used for measuring amount of work done are reliably unreliable in many fields.

[theGnuMe]

C level execs know their worth by comparing against other equivalent companies. That data comes from public companies who are required to disclose it.