>> The CEO is merely responsible for creating an environment were the workers can effectively create value. With the shortened tenure of CEOs, they often don't

>> The CEO is merely responsible for creating an environment were the workers can effectively create value. With the shortened tenure of CEOs, they often don't even have this responsibility in practice. The average tenure of an S&P 1500 company is something like 6.5 years. These companies generally have 20k-200k employees; I don't think anyone would argue that 6 years is long enough to create an environment where workers can create value in a firm of 200k employees. More like "don't screw up the environment that worked when you got there" in most cases. (Obviously turnarounds are different.) There's another big problem with the theory that wealth is generally deserved because markets allocate it efficiently. CEOs of public companies generally make 100s of times what their employees make, even when they are actively destroying value. For example, compare the wealth destruction on Ballmer's watch with his compensation over the same period.