Does your boss make too much?

• Author: Falconi, Robert R.
• Position: Executive compensation - Says Who?

When my daughter graduated from the sixth grade, she asked me to come to an awards ceremony because she d be collecting an award or two. I thought I'd be in and out in less than an hour. Boy, was I wrong.

The ceremony lasted three hours because everyone in the sixth grade got an award for something. An endless parade of children all marched up to the podium for one kind of recognition or another - Best Athlete, Worst Athlete, Comeback Kid of the Year.... The process denigrated the value of the awards for the kids who truly were deserving.

It's the beginnings of the ever-growing notion that everyone brings equal value to his or her environment. That's one reason it has become a popular American pastime to knock high-paid executives. They're never portrayed as extremely smart, reasonable, well-intentioned, fair or good looking. (There's some truth to this stereotype - when it comes to CEOs. My many sources and numerous years of experience substantiate that the overwhelming majority of chief executives are, in fact, not very good looking, at least not in comparison to CFOs, who are almost always extremely good looking. I'm not sure why this is.)

But the image conjured up by the media - of a Type-A, Scrooge-like character whose biggest pleasure is squashing some poor, downtrodden and yet loyal employee - is unfair. "Now, see here, Jenkins, you've got a lot of nerve asking for a raise when you know the country club just raised my dues. Besides, didn't I just give you a raise?" "Three years ago, you say?" "Even so, with the membership cost going up and all that's going on with the economy, I can't do it now. You understand, don't you? Of course, you do."

I learned a great lesson at an early age: Sometimes, it doesn't matter how hard you try; sometimes, some people are just better at some things, and because they're better, they get whatever rewards go with their turf. When I tried out for my high-school basketball team, I gave it everything I had. The coach told me I put forth more effort than anyone else - just before he cut me from the junior-varsity team and made me a manager. (You have to be really bad to get cut from junior varsity.) You see, they didn't keep everybody. Everybody didn't get to play. As a manager, I had to be Johnny-on-the-spot when one of the players needed a towel. I also had to mop the floor at halftime in front of the rest of the student body. That's sobering work - but worthwhile.

WHAT'S ANOTHER MILLION?

Critics of high...