Sunday, July 29, 2007

CEO's More Rat than Cat


Given the state of executive incentive compensation, CEO's fall well short of Parade's assessment of cats.

There are few studies of cats, because it's hard to get a cat to perform on cue for a reward. Another sign of intelligence, perhaps?

Meanwhile, incentive compensation for America's business leaders looks more like rats hitting the bar for pellets. Unless they cheat to get the prize, as did some 30% of publicly traded companies under the most pure reward system, stock options. They look like rats either way...but wait!

In lab experiments, rats have been shown to refuse food if their eating causes suffering for other rats.

It appears CEO's are lower than a rat because they take their prize while their workers suffer.