I doubt you'll see anyone here arguing that CEO pay is reasonable, but I think you're overstating things by calling them 'largely figureheads'. I've worked at companies with both good and bad senior leadership, and that difference can sometimes translate to prosperity vs collapse. For example: often an entire organization's ability to deal with business problems depends on whether management tends to push accountability downward, or assume responsibility at higher levels and focus on constructive solutions.

This comes to another part of the CEO compensation problem I don't see being mentioned here enough: the huge payouts received by failed CEOs. Many golden parachute clauses are unconscionable, activating massive bonuses when a company gets bought out because its stock price is in the dirt. This is an even worse perversion of incentives than stock options.