[borisjabes]

Some public CEOs comp packages are defined by them exceeding $SPY so boards do expect more than just the economic cycle.

[somebodythere]

50% of SPY constituents are going to beat SPY. That in itself doesn't imply the CEO is a meaningful factor in company performance.

[HDThoreaun]

This isn’t true because of the weighting. If apple doubles in value SPY will be up 8% from that alone. It’s easy to see a scenario where one massive company has an incredible year and every other company returns below the average.

[vkou]

Or, alternatively, one massive company has a bad year, and everyone else comes out smelling like roses.

On average, 50/50 is a pretty decent benchmark here.