"[We] are likely entering a period where big companies with big problems create highly leverageable opportunities with the right leaders. The standard pay-for-performance justification for above-market pay doesn't hold in this new world.... Investors will keep pushing for constraints on executive pay based on 'good governance' guidelines while bidding up the stock prices of companies challenging those guidelines to pay for the executives they want. Boards will be caught in the middle, dealing with difficult choices about how to make their investors 'happy.' "  MORE >>