Management consultant and author of the book “So… You Call Yourself a Leader: 4 Steps to Becoming One Worth Following” Ken Siegel had an article in Forbes this week titled “CEO Pay As A Tool For Employee Disengagement.”

With median pay for CEOs of the biggest S&P 500 companies at $15.7 for last year, Siegel writes:

“While many of these CEOs and their boards will say they are worth it, few if any are sending the right message--or even a decent message--to their troops…The true reality is that top-level executives are living in an unconscionable fog. And when the fog lifts, the resentment of the underpaid, overworked employees will remain. The resentment harbored by these workers is deep and not forgotten. As soon as they can, they will leave...

There really is no way to defend a huge salary to the average worker… The best explanation is by actively leading the company, supporting the employees and sharing in the pain as well as the gain. Communicating the real issues facing the company and digging into the ranks, down to the lowest level, to find solutions to problems is a start; then, recognizing great work by those in the field and on the assembly line to solve problems--and financially rewarding those people, as well as one's self.

To do this takes communication, and it takes confronting the real problems facing the company to all. It takes creating task forces, including management, workers and others, to address problems. In essence, it takes turning the tables, and letting everyone know that the CEO gets paid "the big bucks" for a reason: to support the company, its jobs, its people--ultimately its shareholders; and that they may suffer a similar fate, together, in the event of failure…

To have a high salary and pull it off without resentment within the company--especially when the business is performing poorly--takes courage, transparency, and, above all, humility. All those human qualities will engage the troops--yet they are too rarely demonstrated, and even more infrequently observed.”