Fwd: CEO compensation

[Michaela Pierro]

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Bob Brandon <robertg...@gmail.com>
Date: Tue, May 17, 2011 at 3:36 PM
Subject: Re: CEO compensation
To: Jaclyn Solimine <jvsol...@gmail.com>
Cc: michaela pierro <michae...@gmail.com>, emily deldotto <edeldo...@gmail.com>

Howdy,

 

I am assuming that CEO stands for Chief Eecutive Officer when answering the questions.

 

1. No I do not believe CEOs are paid to much.  In my opinion the pay of a CEO is based on the performance of the individual.  If an individual is in charge of increasing the performance, and therfore value, of a company and they succeed, the person should reap the benefits of their labors.  When a person assumes a job, compensation is explicitly determined at the time of hiring and is acceptable to both parties. 

 

2.  If the CEO performs as stated in their contract, thereby earning the agreed  compensation they are obviously deserving of the pay within the structure of their employment.

      If the question is the fairness of the compensation in regards to other employees, those with a higher skill level will almost always make more money.

 

3.  I do not believe it is fair to put a limit on the amount of money any person can earn legally.  Hard work and a  good skill set should be rewarded. 

 

4.  I am not exactly sure what you mean by "remedy the situation", I assume you mean the fact that some people make more money than others, sometimes lots more and the common perception is that this is an unfair situation.  Having said that, it seems to me that a person does not need 15 million dollars a year to lead a good life.  Society should instill in people, as they mature, a sense of giving back to the community in whatever form it may take.  In the case of Warren Buffet and Bill Gates, both men have determined that the majority of their money is utilized to better certain areas in society, such as education.  All people within a society should give back something to their community, be it time or money.

 

5.  Managing a company by regulation does nothing but drive up costs, making a company ineffiecent, ultimately causing a business to fail.  Fair has nothing to do with running a company efficently and profitably.  A CEO is charged with making a company the best it can be.  Good leadership will always understand the cost of whatever decision they make, especially in terms of the people involved in the company.  Bad leadership will trim the workforce first because it is a proven way to quickly increase profits.  Good leadership will look at the total picture, trimming the workforce if necessary, but first looking at alternatives allowing the company to keep productive personnel.

 

My thoughts on your excellent questions.

 

Mr. Brandon

 

 

 

On Mon, May 16, 2011 at 5:31 PM, Jaclyn Solimine <jvsol...@gmail.com> wrote:

Here are our questions for Mr. Levine's video project about CEO compensation. Thank you for taking the time to answer them for us.

 

1.) In your opinion, are CEOs being paid too much?

 

2.) Do you think that there any CEOs that deserve the amount of money they make?

 

3.) Do you think that it would be fair to put a limit on the amount of money they can earn in proportion to the average worker?(for example, would it be fair to say that a CEO can only make 10X the average worker as opposed to 100X?)

 

4.) Can you think of any other ways to remedy the situation without major injustices to either the workers or CEOs?

 

5.) Some CEOs fire workers to downsize the company in order to raise stock values and recieve more compensation. Do you think this is fair or should something be done about it?