It's fine to talk about hard work and smarts, but you also need to consider risk.

Let's use software engineers as an example. You make a mistake.. it's unlikely you get fired, and even more unlikely that it ruins your career. Most likely, it results in better practices and a post mortem. And even if you do leave, there will be hundreds of job openings for a competent engineer.

It's different for CEOs, even competent ones. One moderately bad decision (or to your point, a little bad luck) can result in a "change of management." And it's non-trivial to just jump into another CEO role.

And that's not even taking into account other aspects such as supply & demand, accountability, stress levels, etc.

Is the comp "fair"? I have no idea. I don't even know how you would evaluate fairness in that regard.