One aspect of leadership is symbolic. If the company falls on hard times and needs to restructure/fire people, we can let the current CEO be associated with all

One aspect of leadership is symbolic. If the company falls on hard times and needs to restructure/fire people, we can let the current CEO be associated with all the ugly stuff, and then bring in a new CEO to raise hope. There is a need for the employees to believe the CEO is important. Pay is one dimension in which this can be accomplished. CEO pay functions as an aspirational goal for all career paths in the company. I think the actual role of CEOs is symbolic, in these and many other ways.