The former top CEO examines the scandalous and corrupt reasons behind obscene pay packages for corporate executives-and explains how this hurts all of us--and how we can stop it.
Steven Clifford served as CEO for King Broadcasting Company for five years and National Mobile Television for nine years. He has been a director of thirteen companies and has chaired the compensation committee for both public and private companies. He holds a BA from Columbia University and an MBA from Harvard Business School.
"So what happened in America that so much is now lavished on the
executive class? And does it matter? To the second question Steven
Clifford, a former chief executive at King Broadcasting and now the
author of "The CEO Pay Machine," responds with an emphatic "yes."
The outsize income, he thinks, feeds inequality and mistrust in our
democracy. In response to the first question he argues that a
system of compensation has emerged over the past four decades that
rewards mediocre executives by stiffing shareholders, employees and
society at large."
--The Wall Street Journal "As Clifford shows with clarity and wit,
using plentiful real-world examples, the [CEO Pay] Machine has
mechanically and inexorably made CEO pay escalation a mathematical
certainty...Passionate, provocative, and eye-opening, The CEO Pay
Machine offers a clear and informed explanation of one of the most
controversial economic and ethical issues of our time, which is
sure to prompt renewed debate about a topic currently at the
forefront of the national conversation."
--800CEORead/In the Books "Clifford's book is enlivened by equal
doses of whimsy and scorching rhetoric. But its main task is to pry
apart the mechanisms by which companies enable CEOs to collect vast
sums with little downside risk."
--Seattle Times "[Clifford] imagines a better future--one in which
compensation packages would be simplified, CEO pay would be
downsized, and incentives would be properly geared toward
companies' long-term success...The issue of executive pay is
sometimes dismissed with the argument that in a big corporation a
few million more or less doesn't matter. But ...[distorted
incentives do matter. And] as we saw in November, Americans are
angry and have stopped trusting the system. [Licensed larceny in
the corner office helped elect a populist demagogue to the White
House]. One step to winning back trust would be to insist that CEOs
be treated like other mortals."
--Fortune "A former CEO of two corporations shatters the myths and
explains the stupidity regarding astronomical salaries at the top
of the business world...a well thought-out, clearly written
exposé."
--Kirkus Reviews "An englightening and refreshingly candid look at
the contentious topic of chief executive compensation."
--Publishers Weekly
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