There is an ongoing scam that pushes C-suite pay ever higher, and it needs to stop.

It builds on exactly the reasoning you lay out, and goes something like this:

- "We need the best CEO we can find. We have to understand how to set compensation to attract them."

- So the board hires an executive compensation consultant.

- "If you want better than average, you have to pay above average." So they target something like 85th percentile compensation for their market.

- No board goes into an executive search saying "We want a mediocre CEO, so we'll pay below market." Over time, executive compensation ratchets upwards everywhere. <- YOU ARE HERE