http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/on-leadership/wp/2015/05/21/the-tao-of-paul-polman/
(Unfortunately, this is not a common attitude on Wall Street, where the non-productive parasites constitute a huge hidden tax on financial transactions, or for that matter with the big law firms and lobbyists in DC.)
"People at our level shouldn't be motivated by salary. If you would pay me double, I'm not going to work twice as much, because I'm already probably maximizing my time available. And would it change the way I do things? Not really, because I try to do the right things for this company for the longer term. So, yes, I am fortunate, and I am sometimes ashamed about the amount of money I earn. It's important that you then put it to good use. That's the minimum you can do.
I've often said that even if I didn't get paid, I would still do the job. I'm still ashamed when the topic comes up. I always feel embarrassed, to be honest. The board is trying to change the compensation and move it up, and we have steadfastly refused to do that—not for heroic reasons, but I think there has to be some sanity.
It is affecting the behavior of CEOs, where people think if they don't get a salary increase, or if they don't earn a lot of money, they are not being seen as good-performing CEOs. This peer pressure drives dysfunctional behavior.
I would not advise regulating the market. I think it's much more powerful that we just set the right example.
Most companies have salary policies that say, “We want to attract the best CEO, so we need to be in a top percentile,” and then you get a race to the top. That is really what has happened over the last decade or two. You have to break that. You don't have to just go with the waves. I've always felt, as a philosophy in life, it's better to make the dust than eat the dust.
You never win that battle. As long as you have a billion people who go to bed hungry not even knowing if they’ll wake up the next day, this discussion is difficult. All you can do is be sure that you don't make it worse and that you change the trend—and hopefully that permeates to others in the industry as well.
(Unfortunately, this is not a common attitude on Wall Street, where the non-productive parasites constitute a huge hidden tax on financial transactions, or for that matter with the big law firms and lobbyists in DC.)
"People at our level shouldn't be motivated by salary. If you would pay me double, I'm not going to work twice as much, because I'm already probably maximizing my time available. And would it change the way I do things? Not really, because I try to do the right things for this company for the longer term. So, yes, I am fortunate, and I am sometimes ashamed about the amount of money I earn. It's important that you then put it to good use. That's the minimum you can do.
I've often said that even if I didn't get paid, I would still do the job. I'm still ashamed when the topic comes up. I always feel embarrassed, to be honest. The board is trying to change the compensation and move it up, and we have steadfastly refused to do that—not for heroic reasons, but I think there has to be some sanity.
It is affecting the behavior of CEOs, where people think if they don't get a salary increase, or if they don't earn a lot of money, they are not being seen as good-performing CEOs. This peer pressure drives dysfunctional behavior.
I would not advise regulating the market. I think it's much more powerful that we just set the right example.
Most companies have salary policies that say, “We want to attract the best CEO, so we need to be in a top percentile,” and then you get a race to the top. That is really what has happened over the last decade or two. You have to break that. You don't have to just go with the waves. I've always felt, as a philosophy in life, it's better to make the dust than eat the dust.
You never win that battle. As long as you have a billion people who go to bed hungry not even knowing if they’ll wake up the next day, this discussion is difficult. All you can do is be sure that you don't make it worse and that you change the trend—and hopefully that permeates to others in the industry as well.
