I agree that there is a tremendous amount of dissonance in the ideas that executives deserve massive compensation and that they don&#x27;t have much control over such gargantuan organizations. The way I resolve this dissonance is by not buying into the idea that corporate executives as a class are worth their extreme compensation packages.<p>Humans seem to have a soft spot for narrativization, and it&#x27;s easiest to pin a narrative on the chief of an organization. But it&#x27;s my belief, and I think the evidence doesn&#x27;t contradict it, that these narratives usually have little to do with the causes of changes in organizational fortunes, particularly in the case of conglomerates.<p>&quot;But Steve Jobs!&quot;... Well, few CEOs are Steve Jobs. None, actually...