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Perhaps this is a contributing factor to the insane compensation American CEOs receive? The new CEO refuses to work for less than the old one, and the company

Perhaps this is a contributing factor to the insane compensation American CEOs receive? The new CEO refuses to work for less than the old one, and the company has to offer the new person an incentive to join as CEO. Couple this to the fact that CEOs are fired more frequently, and you get to the number CEOs are paid now?

cmdrfred 10y ago
Sounds like we have a CEO shortage. We should H1B some over here ASAP.
- deleted 10y ago
  [deleted]
- harryh 10y ago
  You sound like you're joking but it's true. There are a shockingly small number of people who are really capable of being a CEO of a large (or even medium sized company) and doing it well. It's an insanely hard job. And two of the biggest tech CEOs (Sundar Pichai of Google & Satya Nadella of Microsoft) are immigrants.
  - cmdrfred 10y ago
    Going solely off the data I have[0] that seems to be untrue. Do you have some other sources or is this more "common knowledge" from the corporate sector? [0]https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2837504 https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2837504
  - kesselvon 10y ago
    The people that parrot this line are usually CEO's themselves, or people angling for the job at some point. I am amused about how CEOs take credit for successes but failures are always driven by external factors out of their control. The reality is that CEOs are as good as their underlings, as they do all the real work and advise the CEO. For that matter, CEOs probably shouldn't be pulling 100x earning multiples compared to their 'normally' paid employees.
    - hnal943 10y ago
      People with your line of thinking are usually IC's who discount how difficult leadership is. How do you affect change without having to do everything yourself? That's a valuable skill.
      - blocktuw 10y ago
        "Do this or you're fired" will typically get those below you to produce the change you desire. Not sure how you can put that much value on a skill inherit to a hierarchical organization. If the organization was flat, then I would concede your point that affecting change without any seniority would be difficult and worth extra compensation. A true leader would need to be persuasive, knowledgeable and visionary. What you describe as "leadership" is people doing their job.
        harryh 10y ago
        "Do this or you're fired" will typically get those below you to produce the change you desire. LOL. If this were true it would be so much easier. But talented employees, who can easily get another job across the street, are more likely to laugh at you then do what you want if you talk to them like that.
        cmdrfred 10y ago
        "Robert we have to complete this report by Thursday" == "Robert work overtime to complete this report by Thursday, or you will be fired" So the main skill of a CEO is he can ask nicely?
        harryh 10y ago
        (We've gotten a bit off topic this deep in the thread. At this point we're really just talking about general management skills which really isn't a big thing for a CEO of any reasonably sized company. That being said....) Robert: Sorry I can't work late this week. It's my kid's birthday tomorrow.
  - wott 10y ago
    Nonsense. It is much more demanding, involving and decisive to be CEO of a small company. In a large company, a CEO is merely a spokesperson for his advisors.
  - hx87 10y ago
    > There are a shockingly small number of people who are really capable of being a CEO of a large (or even medium sized company) and doing it well. How much of this is due to genetics and prenatal environment and how much to education and life experiences? If the former dominates there isn't much we can do for now, but if it's the latter, there's gotta be a massive market for CEO-schools, both public and private. Personally, I suspect that the limiting factor is social capital--most CEOs get hired because they're known among people connected to the board, and it's hard to get known. I'm not sure what the solution in this case is though, except maybe more residential desegregation by class and ethnicity.
    - hockley 10y ago
      Don't confuse being known with being trusted. One is a prerequisite for the other, but they are not the same thing. It's not so much who you know as it is who trusts you.
      - hx87 10y ago
        That's certainly true. I wonder if there is a way to increase the number of people who are trustworthy and seen as trustworthy in a given social circle?
GVIrish 10y ago
And the new CEO requires an even bigger golden parachute in the likely event of his/her failure.
hockley 10y ago
I think the large compensation helps the CEO act on what he/she feels is in the best interest of the company. When you make enough in one year to retire, you can make decisions with a lot more courage.
- CamelCaseName 10y ago
  It all makes sense now. The reason we have wireless iPhone earbuds is because Tim Cook gets paid a lot.

cmdrfred 10y ago

Sounds like we have a CEO shortage. We should H1B some over here ASAP.

deleted 10y ago
[deleted]
harryh 10y ago
You sound like you're joking but it's true. There are a shockingly small number of people who are really capable of being a CEO of a large (or even medium sized company) and doing it well. It's an insanely hard job. And two of the biggest tech CEOs (Sundar Pichai of Google & Satya Nadella of Microsoft) are immigrants.
- cmdrfred 10y ago
  Going solely off the data I have[0] that seems to be untrue. Do you have some other sources or is this more "common knowledge" from the corporate sector? [0]https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2837504 https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2837504
- kesselvon 10y ago
  The people that parrot this line are usually CEO's themselves, or people angling for the job at some point. I am amused about how CEOs take credit for successes but failures are always driven by external factors out of their control. The reality is that CEOs are as good as their underlings, as they do all the real work and advise the CEO. For that matter, CEOs probably shouldn't be pulling 100x earning multiples compared to their 'normally' paid employees.
  - hnal943 10y ago
    People with your line of thinking are usually IC's who discount how difficult leadership is. How do you affect change without having to do everything yourself? That's a valuable skill.
    - blocktuw 10y ago
      "Do this or you're fired" will typically get those below you to produce the change you desire. Not sure how you can put that much value on a skill inherit to a hierarchical organization. If the organization was flat, then I would concede your point that affecting change without any seniority would be difficult and worth extra compensation. A true leader would need to be persuasive, knowledgeable and visionary. What you describe as "leadership" is people doing their job.
      - harryh 10y ago
        "Do this or you're fired" will typically get those below you to produce the change you desire. LOL. If this were true it would be so much easier. But talented employees, who can easily get another job across the street, are more likely to laugh at you then do what you want if you talk to them like that.
        cmdrfred 10y ago
        "Robert we have to complete this report by Thursday" == "Robert work overtime to complete this report by Thursday, or you will be fired" So the main skill of a CEO is he can ask nicely?
        harryh 10y ago
        (We've gotten a bit off topic this deep in the thread. At this point we're really just talking about general management skills which really isn't a big thing for a CEO of any reasonably sized company. That being said....) Robert: Sorry I can't work late this week. It's my kid's birthday tomorrow.
- wott 10y ago
  Nonsense. It is much more demanding, involving and decisive to be CEO of a small company. In a large company, a CEO is merely a spokesperson for his advisors.
- hx87 10y ago
  > There are a shockingly small number of people who are really capable of being a CEO of a large (or even medium sized company) and doing it well. How much of this is due to genetics and prenatal environment and how much to education and life experiences? If the former dominates there isn't much we can do for now, but if it's the latter, there's gotta be a massive market for CEO-schools, both public and private. Personally, I suspect that the limiting factor is social capital--most CEOs get hired because they're known among people connected to the board, and it's hard to get known. I'm not sure what the solution in this case is though, except maybe more residential desegregation by class and ethnicity.
  - hockley 10y ago
    Don't confuse being known with being trusted. One is a prerequisite for the other, but they are not the same thing. It's not so much who you know as it is who trusts you.
    - hx87 10y ago
      That's certainly true. I wonder if there is a way to increase the number of people who are trustworthy and seen as trustworthy in a given social circle?

GVIrish 10y ago

And the new CEO requires an even bigger golden parachute in the likely event of his/her failure.

hockley 10y ago

I think the large compensation helps the CEO act on what he/she feels is in the best interest of the company. When you make enough in one year to retire, you can make decisions with a lot more courage.

CamelCaseName 10y ago
It all makes sense now. The reason we have wireless iPhone earbuds is because Tim Cook gets paid a lot.