It depends, owner-CEOs have true stock, not just options, so are balanced between upside and downside risk. For-hire CEOs often are also paid in equity, not ju

It depends, owner-CEOs have true stock, not just options, so are balanced between upside and downside risk. For-hire CEOs often are also paid in equity, not just stock options. But even with just call options (Which have no downside risk), there is the risk of the professional reputation of the CEO, if you just do middling for a few years and leave, still plenty of job opportunitiess. If you crash and burn the company down... Very tough to find another good exec position again.