I grow tired of these comparison articles that look at pay for positions based on the median. It is almost impossible to compare roles across companies, markets, industries, etc. However, there is always one position within a company that takes the main blow…CEO. I’ve been fortunate to work with quite a few highly-skilled CEO’s and been provided the opportunity to see their typical day. The CEO position is extremely difficult even in the “easiest” of positions.
So here comes Salary.com with The 8 Most Overpaid & Underpaid Jobs. And, of course, CEO’s are one of the overpaid positions.
A good CEO helps an organization meet its goals, improves profits, makes shareholders happy, and is worth his or her weight in gold. Unfortunately, bad CEOs seem to be worth their weight in gold too. And the really, really bad ones are paid astronomical amounts for the inconvenience of being fired. With this sky-high median salary, it doesn’t seem unreasonable to expect pay-for-performance.
Really? Pay-for-performance isn’t in play for CEO’s? How about news anchors on failing networks? Or movie actors involved in multiple flops? Those are huge salaries for people who do not head up companies that employ 10’s, 100’s or thousands of people. Most are adept at what they do and are handsomely compensated for it. I’m not sure why that is a stumbling block for so many people.