It's nothing short of ironic that on Halloween, the Wall Street Journal published a headline about how frighteningly high executive pay has become. The story focused on an 81-year-old executive whose transition from CEO to merely chairman triggered a clause in his compensation package that resulted in a $100 million payout.
No wonder people want to occupy Wall Street; the pocket change alone could be incredible.
We need a new name for the compensation paid to key talent in a business. "Executive benefits" is often equated with C-Suite perks in public companies, not with the incentives used in American businesses to encourage top performers to perform to their highest potential. In tax parlance, a common phrase for key players is a "highly compensated employee" (HCE). This too has a pejorative ring to it.
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