[ArkyBeagle]

I just lack the part of my imagination that makes me care what anybody else makes. So far as I am concerned, it's simply not important.

I'd love to talk to somebody overpaid by three orders of magnitude but only to find out how it happened, in a "The Man Who Would Be King" sort of way. The world is far too arbitrary and random for anything like that to have too much meaning.

Indeed, someone in the office next to me in a dying company went on to harvest quite a bit of stock options - I spoke with her husband years after. She was definitely worth it, but it's still like the opposite of a tree falling on you.

The second rule is that what I make is important, but only to me and no you can't find out. Consistency has its limits.

[sneak]

What other people make comes out of the limited budget for all employees. If you deliver twice the value, it is only fair that you should receive twice the pay.

[ArkyBeagle]

There's nearly never a good system of measurement to determine that. The more elaborate the system, probably the less trustworthy it is. And people game them.

Then they try to gain a position to stop change because that would threaten their position. Once the firm reaches total hidebound status, it's merely a matter of time.

I mean - "second prize is a set of steak knives"....