Marketwire reports that The Corporate Library's Editor and Co-Founder, Nell Minow, testified in front of a Congressional committee yesterday. Her message was "that if you make compensation all upside and no downside that will affect the executive's assessment of risk. It will make it clear to him that he can easily offload the risk onto shareholders. It's heads they win, tails we lose."
I agree with her. Unfortunately, she does not make clear what should replace this system. I've posted on this topic before and have proposed that people who make big bucks should keep on making those big bucks -- but with a twist. Instead of giving them all their compensation up front, put the money in an escrow account for, say, 10 years. If the decisions that these highly paid executives make end up paying off for shareholders, pay them the money in the escrow account. If, by contrast, those decisions lose money for shareholders, pay the money in the escrow account to the shareholders.
Nell Minow pointed out that "with executive compensation you get what you pay for and you pay for what you get." My proposal would provide a powerful incentive for decision-makers to take the risks of their decisions into account as well as the short-term benefits of closing a deal. This is a problem that is not limited to executives -- it has to do with anyone who is paid for closing a sale. These people receive a percentage of the deal amount as compensation -- this makes them eager to close big deals fast.
See how easy that was?
Peter Cohan is President of Peter S. Cohan & Associates. He also teaches management at Babson College and edits The Cohan Letter.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
3-07-2008 @ 6:09PM
phil Kilmnick said...
When the shareholders are asked to vote for the Board of Directors, they should also be asked to vote whether the CEO should have an increase, decrease in his salary or be fired. The CEO's total compensation should be shown on the voting ballot in order for the shareholders to be able to make an intelligent decision. It is also a good idea to show the compensation of what each Board Member is making.
3-07-2008 @ 6:07PM
william lindblad said...
Simple problems deserve simple answers, not vague gooblygook.
Pay the CEO a fair salary. Pay the CEO a bonus in line with a percentage of profit. Pay with options - at a minimum of 5 years into future. If the leadershiop is poor there will be no bonus and the options won't be worth much either. On the other hand, and this person is a go-getter and innovator they get a big chunk of the pie. When Lee I. took over the failing Chrysler his pay was mostly options. When he brought the company back to profit and cashed in it was about 40 mil. He deserved it and got it, but he worked for it. Time this type of ethic made it's way back to U.S. business. Right now losers get paid top dollar and take a substantial bonus when they get canned. Imagine telling a blue collar worker - "you're fired, but we are going to give you 5 years pay to leave. There probably would be a lot of takers and that's why the sans culotte have a gripe with the ivory towers.
3-08-2008 @ 9:05AM
bob said...
None of these executives are worth what they are paid. The multi-millions that they make is because the executive CLASS has construced a self dealing system to enrich themselves. They consider stockholders and employees to be outsiders, the trash that is necessary to deal with so that they can have the rewards (rip off the company). But, anyone who thinks that a better decision is made because the executive is paid $100,000,000 instead of $1,000,000 per year isn't thinking, just hooked by their BS.
3-08-2008 @ 2:03PM
elise cowan said...
The thing I don't understand is why, as now, when ordinary people are loosing everything, there are many people who say they are getting what they deserve. "They shouldn't have taken a mortgage they didn't' understand" "They shouldn't have charged on their credit cards" "they don't need a new car/big screen TV" or whatever. At the same time, our President keeps telling people to spend, spend, spend (after 9-11, and now with his tax rebate). Meanwhile, the people who make the hundreds of millions of dollars running the companies that didn't disclose terms in a way someone who is not a lawyer can understand, failed to check a persons employment history, lied about business deals/used "creative" accounting (telcom meltdown), and I was too young to know what was really going on but old enough to remember the "savings and loan" meltdown a few years before that... say they are NOT responsible and deserve their pay. Then you hear some congressmen agreeing with them. People in charge won't regulate anything or make laws that put these people in prison, saying the market will take care of itself. I feel like I'm really missing something. Why would I go to jail for stealing $5.00 from a Circle K, but they don't go to jail for destoying millions of lives, for millions of dollars? I either need to stop listening to the news, or have someone help me understand. Can anyone out there explain what I'm missing?
3-09-2008 @ 12:05AM
Joe Beaulaurier said...
A newswire distributes press releases for their clients. In this case you're linking to a press release from MW's client, The Corporate Library.
Saying MW or any other newswire "reports" news is like saying FedEx made the item they just delivered to you.