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by ChrisMarshallNY 729 days ago
> So are you suggesting that every time an employee commits a crime, CEOs should go to jail alongside them?

Pretty much, yeah.

Happens in the military (not always, of course, but more common).

The argument I always hear, justifying the enormous pay differential, between the CEO and their staff, is that the CEO is ultimately responsible for everything.

In practice, this almost is never the case.
1 comments
robertlagrant 729 days ago
The main reason for CEO pay is that's what it costs to hire a CEO.
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disgruntledphd2 729 days ago
As determined by Boards filled with other CEOs.

I'm pretty sure that SE salaries would be much higher if the only people allowed to determine their salaries were their peers.

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robertlagrant 729 days ago
Are they filled with other CEOs? I thought boards were filled with different people concerned with different topics. Where do you see that they're filled with other CEOs?
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triceratops 729 days ago
https://theyrule.net/ is a good visualizer of boards of public companies, and the titles of the directors.
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robertlagrant 729 days ago
Just as a quick first check, of the three most influential/connected directors listed on the front page: 2 are ex-CEOs, and the third is a mixture, including having been Obama's ambassador to the EU. How did you see how many are CEOs out of the total?
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triceratops 728 days ago
The website doesn't have an overall table of stats. You yourself noted that 2/3 of the top 3 are ex-CEOs. They might have taken on those directorships when they were still CEOs. They might take on new CEO roles in the future. I think the overall point stands.
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disgruntledphd2 728 days ago
I just acquired this belief from throwaway comments in the FT over the years. I do know that generally boards are filled with CxO people, because they tend to have the right experience.
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ChrisMarshallNY 729 days ago
I'm not complaining about the pay.

I'm just complaining about the ethical rot. I have always believed that leaders need to be held to higher standards than anyone else, and, if they want to cry about it, they should distribute their pay to the folks that have to bear those standards, because their "leaders" won't.

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triceratops 729 days ago
Idk if that's true you could hire me as CEO for much less.
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robertlagrant 729 days ago
I'm sure they could. But would they?
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