There is little difference between a board of directors installed because they are good friends with the CEO and a group of shareholders who are chiefly focused on the short-term return on investment (and most shareholders are institutional stakeholders like mutual funds and pension plan administrators).

The former may grant executive bonuses/salaries bases on friendship, and the latter will grant bonuses/salaries based on who makes them money RIGHT NOW based on risk taking and short-term thinking.

Neither is good corporate policy. Neither is going to promote the kind of long-term growth and stability and (conservatives cringe here) benefits for the nation and its citizens.

Seriously, we have seen enough of the professional manager for the past 40+ years to know that this is not the way.

What do you suppose is the average length of time a corporate executive has with the company today as opposed to 50 years ago?

The problem with management today is there is no institutional memory and no stake in the long term health of a company.

Without those two factors, corporations are just short-term money making machines that reward the fast buck and high-risk taking.

Who decides who gets paid how much does not matter if the focus is wrong, which is practically guaranteed under the present system or a shareholder controlled one.