It is almost 23 years since I wrote my first Financial Times article about executive pay. The prompt was an interview with Sir Ralph Halpern, a flamboyant retail chief executive, who, after becoming the UK's first £1m-a-year boss, announced an incentive scheme with a potential pay-out of a then unheard-of £2.5m.
The arguments Sir Ralph advanced were to become familiar over the years. If companies wanted outstanding performance they had to set top executives testing targets and reward them handsomely when they achieved them. It was essential to pay manufacturing and retailing managers high salaries to dissuade them all from going into banking. If senior managers in the UK – and Europe generally – did not earn enough, they would leave for the US.
The names and details changed over the years, but the story remained the same. A company would announce a scheme with a potentially huge pay-out, a few shareholders would object, the company would say the plan merely matched those of competitor companies and the fuss would subside until the next time.