People in power rarely use that power to give themselves less of anything, and that obviously includes money.
For decades, governments and large companies have told themselves that they need to pay massive salaries in order to attract the 'right calibre' of executive.
I have no problem with that at all - provided that the said executive delivers results commensurate with that salary, and does not receive additional bonuses and share options when the company singularly fails to deliver the promised profits.
That unsurprisingly makes a mockery of the concept, but since the people empowered to change that situation are the people who signed off on it in the first place, and enjoy similar salaries under similar agreements than is never going to happen.
For me, executive wage structres are extremely simple - it goes like this.
Mr Executive, your deal is this - you will be paid ten million pounds for the next twelve months.
If the company performs to its standard level, your contract will be extended for a further twelve months.
If the company performs significantly above expectations, you will be awarded a bonus in line with the additional revenue you have helped to create.
If however, the company does not perform to the expectations laid out, you will be dismissed immediately without compensation, and required to repay nine-and-three-quarter million pounds of your salary on the day of your departure.
We believe that the rewards for your skills are considerable, but so are the risks to you personally, but since you are the 'right calibre' of executive, we are sure that you can deliver what you promised when you took the job, and the prospect of being held accountable for your failure will do far more to concentrate your planet-sized mind on doing your job properly, than if we were to let you fail, and then reward you with a bonus, and a further chance to continue to fail.
All good?
Fine, sign there ....