About this item
The former top CEO examines the scandalous and corrupt reasons behind obscene pay packages for corporate executives - and explains how this hurts all of us--and how we can stop it. Today, the pay gap between chief executive officers of major U.S. firms and their workers is higher than ever before - depending on the method of calculation, CEOs get paid between 300 and 700 times more than the average worker. Such outsized pay is a relatively recent phenomenon, but despite all the outrage, few detractors truly understand the numerous factors that have contributed to the dizzying upward spiral in CEO compensation. Steven Clifford, a former CEO who has also served on many corporate boards, has a name for these procedures and practices - "The CEO Pay Machine." The CEO Pay Machine is Clifford's thorough and shocking explanation of the 'machine'--how it works, how its parts interact, and how every step pushes CEO pay to higher levels. As Clifford sees it, the payment structure for CEOs begins with shared delusions that reinforce one other: Once this groupthink is accepted as corporate dogma, it becomes infinitely harder to see any decision as potentially irrational or dysfunctional. Yet, as Clifford notes, the Pay Machine has caused immeasurable harm to companies, shareholders, economic growth, and democracy itself. He uses real-life examples of the top four CEOs named the highest paid in 2011 through 2014. Clifford examines how board directors and compensation committees have directly contributed to the rising salaries and bonuses of the country's richest executives; what's more, Clifford argues, each of those companies could have paid their CEOs 90 percent less and performed just as well.Witty and infuriating, The CEO Pay Machine is a thorough and incisive critique of an economic issue that affects all American workers.
About the Author
Steven Clifford served as CEO for King Broadcasting Company and National Mobile Television. His previous jobs included Chief Financial Officer for King Broadcasting Company and Vice President for Bankers Trust Company. As Special Deputy Comptroller for the City of New York from 1974 to 1977, Clifford played a key role in helping the city avoid bankruptcy.
He has been a director of thirteen public and private companies.
He and his wife of 46 years, Judith have lived in Seattle since 1978. They have two daughters Lee Clifford, former assistant managing editor of Fortune and co-founder of Altruette and Stephanie Clifford, former New York Times reporter and author of "Everybody Rise," a New York Times bestseller.
One of seven children, Clifford attended public schools in Montclair NJ. He holds a BA from Columbia University where he majored in Art History and an MBA with Distinction from Harvard Business School. He served in the United States Army Reserves and was justifiably promoted to Pfc.
Since 2010 he has written a humor blog for The Huffington Post. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/author/s-clifford-658.
In June 2012 he self-published a humor book, "Fools And Knaves," in which an ignorant, mendacious and despicable TV loudmouth is elected president of the United States.
