There are a few reasons I take the stance I do. (as a slight edit, sister post Jonnathanson summarized my broader point far better than I could have, whereas my below is more a "more on why the current system isn't great")
1. We are currently living in a world without the constraint I propose, in which CEO comp is often a pro-factum given and attribution of blame almost unheard of. I do not pretend that the system I propose will _always be correct_, but I do believe it would motivate better behavior, as tighter accountability often does in other systems even if it doesn't necessarily "make sense".
2. Given the innate ambiguity of most of these situations, who gets to make that call anyway? (fault of failure). Is it even possible to make? My bet would be in many situations, difficult at best; but there is a massive power discrepancy currently at play, where executives have significantly more control over message/direction/response than those they can saddle with blame, so I suggest structuring systems in ways that help offset that imbalance. Does this put more duress on CEOs to take responsibility for their employees? Yes, and despite what I conceded above re: "making sense" not being necessary, I truly do think that sort of responsibility does "make sense" especially in a world where as CEO you take a massive percent share of those employees value. To coopt an old turn of phrase, "No free lunches."
1. We are currently living in a world without the constraint I propose, in which CEO comp is often a pro-factum given and attribution of blame almost unheard of. I do not pretend that the system I propose will _always be correct_, but I do believe it would motivate better behavior, as tighter accountability often does in other systems even if it doesn't necessarily "make sense".
2. Given the innate ambiguity of most of these situations, who gets to make that call anyway? (fault of failure). Is it even possible to make? My bet would be in many situations, difficult at best; but there is a massive power discrepancy currently at play, where executives have significantly more control over message/direction/response than those they can saddle with blame, so I suggest structuring systems in ways that help offset that imbalance. Does this put more duress on CEOs to take responsibility for their employees? Yes, and despite what I conceded above re: "making sense" not being necessary, I truly do think that sort of responsibility does "make sense" especially in a world where as CEO you take a massive percent share of those employees value. To coopt an old turn of phrase, "No free lunches."