JCZ, I get just as pissed with CEO's who destroy companies, or just crank the handle on an existing 'cash cow' and get hugely rewarded for it. Too many stories of corporate greed where everyone suffers, all employees and ultimately their customers.
I do believe that visionary CEO's deserve to be rewarded and the good ones ensure that this get's distributed fairly. Just look at John Bloor and what he has managed with Triumph. Took a stale old brand with tanking sales and made it a force to be reckoned with. His investment capital, his risk. Clearly he needs good people around him to develop and execute such a strategy, but without his vision and risk taking, many jobs in the UK and else where would have been lost.
Good CEO's know that they need good people throughout the organization. It's like the Kennedy story when he asked a janitor what he did in NASA, his response? 'I put men on the moon'. That sense of inclusion gets the job done from shop floor to management. Few achieve it, but those that do are ultimately successful.....for everyone.
Probably not the place to get into a debate over how companies are managed and financed, and the last thing I wanted to do was cause any offence. But I do think that the challenges facing corporate Harley are very real and will require some fairly major changes.
Just my personal opinion