You Get What You Pay For

“You get what you pay for.”

This axiom has guided my views on executive compensation since my time on the Vancity Credit Union board in Vancouver, BC, in the 1990s. Back then, the board of directors of the world’s largest community-based credit union was struggling to motivate its executives to deliver on its social mission. Then a breakthrough moment occurred: We discovered that all our compensation incentives were directed solely at financial performance, with no incentive focusing on the social numbers. READ MORE