> So are you suggesting that every time an employee commits a crime, CEOs should go to jail alongside them?
Pretty much, yeah.
Happens in the military (not always, of course, but more common).
The argument I always hear, justifying the enormous pay differential, between the CEO and their staff, is that the CEO is ultimately responsible for everything.
Are they filled with other CEOs? I thought boards were filled with different people concerned with different topics. Where do you see that they're filled with other CEOs?
Just as a quick first check, of the three most influential/connected directors listed on the front page: 2 are ex-CEOs, and the third is a mixture, including having been Obama's ambassador to the EU. How did you see how many are CEOs out of the total?
The website doesn't have an overall table of stats. You yourself noted that 2/3 of the top 3 are ex-CEOs. They might have taken on those directorships when they were still CEOs. They might take on new CEO roles in the future. I think the overall point stands.
It doesn't seem to - 2 of the top 3 people might be ex-CEOs, but that doesn't mean that all board members are CXOs. That's why I was asking how we see it for all board members, and not just the top 3.
> that doesn't mean that all board members are CXOs
Yes even one contrary example would disprove this statement. I thought the original sentiment was boards are dominated by top executives in industry, and not that literally 100% of board members are currently a CEO. The former isn't obviously untrue to me, the latter is easily disproved.
It isn't even necessarily wrong to have mostly CEOs or ex-CEOs on boards. You really do want experienced businesspeople as board members. But that conflict of interest or "class loyalty" should be kept in mind when discussing whether CEO pay is set by a competitive, open market.
I just acquired this belief from throwaway comments in the FT over the years. I do know that generally boards are filled with CxO people, because they tend to have the right experience.
I'm just complaining about the ethical rot. I have always believed that leaders need to be held to higher standards than anyone else, and, if they want to cry about it, they should distribute their pay to the folks that have to bear those standards, because their "leaders" won't.
Pretty much, yeah.
Happens in the military (not always, of course, but more common).
The argument I always hear, justifying the enormous pay differential, between the CEO and their staff, is that the CEO is ultimately responsible for everything.
In practice, this almost is never the case.