I've seen "regular, salaried employees" take sabbaticals for personal reasons more than once. Beyond that, comparing a CEO to a typical employee is ridiculous.

I've seen "regular, salaried employees" take sabbaticals for personal reasons more than once. Beyond that, comparing a CEO to a typical employee is ridiculous. You may not like it, but yes, they're viewed as more important by the board and a CEO is more important 99.9% of the time. Devs don't make life or death business decisions and set the cultural tone for the entire company.