jon@dakota-truck.net wrote:
> [...]
>> Is the CEO so much more valuable and important a person that he needs
>> his 7 figure salery, stock options, bonuses, and perks?
>
>
> In a word, yes - because the pool of people who can do what he does
> is very small. The responsibility is huge and so are the benefits.
> If you paid your CEO less, you would tend to attract sub-par
> applicants or your existing CEO would be stolen away by another company
> willing to pay them more.
This really is exactly it. (Mind you that there are also a lot of
"CEOs" around who are NOT making this kind of money -- ask everyone who
is a small business owner. Each and every one of them is a "CEO" in
their own right. Being primarily self-employed, Jon, would you say that
you are foolishly overpaid? ;-) )
Unfortunately, I think "CEO" is another word that has been
over-dramatized in the mass media to make a better story. The truly
exceptional CEOs out there really do deserve the compensation packages
that they receive. I'm not one, and I probably never will be, but that
doesn't make me feel differently about it. A truly exceptional,
remarkable CEO is incredibly difficult to find -- and the business is
very dependent on that person. In a truly challenging company (startup,
struggling company, etc.), the CEO is responsible not only for guiding
the company but also for providing and maintaining the inspiration and
confidence of every employee in the organization. Without a strong
leader, most young or struggling companies eventually fail or end up in
bankruptcy. If you want to succeed -- and succeed BIG -- you need a
rock solid leader.
CEO compensation is just one example of what drives our entire society
and economic system. Like it or not, we are motivated by money. If
compensation and benefits beyond your wildest dreams weren't attainable,
why would you want to strive to succeed? This is why you don't see
incredible new innovations or inventions very often from the heavily
socialist countries -- there is no incentive. You can live the same
life by being lazy and working the bare minimum or by striving to do the
absolute best job possible.
As for the widening "gap," I question the "widening" of the gap as well.
I think the gap just becomes more visible as society and technology
advance. To generalize the bottom line, though, we've been living
beyond our means for a long time. Many Americans spend far beyond what
they can afford to spend -- and they finance that with high-interest
debt. People are always looking for instant gratification -- and why
not? Why wait until you save up the money for that new (xyz) when you
can just go down to the store, whip out the plastic and take it home
today? Before long, it's pretty easy to get "stuck" to the point where
it's hard to even keep up with the minimum payment requirements. Where
I'm going with this is that excessive borrowing at high-interest doesn't
just hold the borrower back -- it's effectively taking money and dumping
it on the lawn of the "haves" who are shareholders in the companies
profiting from the debt and spending habits of others.
It sucks sometimes, and it's a hard cycle to get out of, but as Jon
said, this really is still a land of many opportunities. They don't
always come easily, but they are out there. It's very easy to get
discouraged, but that's where the CEO-like figures really come into play
for me. Even most successful self-employed people have encountered
mentors of sorts that provided some kind of advice about how to navigate
the challenges of life. For instance, I was lucky enough to meet a
scholarship donor in college who summed up his advice in one sentence:
"no matter where you're working, always seek and demand equity." Sure,
I realized that equity was a good thing -- but I never really thought
about it in that much detail until that point. And now here I am,
taking a risk working for a salary that is too small for what I do and
how much I work (10 to 16 hour days, 6 or 7 days a week -- gotta love
high-tech startups!) in exchange for stock that I hope will pay off once
we get this plane off the ground. And for whatever reason, I'm foolish
enough to keep taking on more consulting work and eating that much more
into my sleep time.
And yes, we've got to turn off the damn television more often...
-Bill
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : Sun Mar 02 2008 - 02:10:10 EST