Usain Bolt can run 100m in around 9.58s, and gets paid a lot for that ability (indirectly via sponsors etc). Assume I can run half as fast, say 100m in 19s; do I 'deserve' half of Bolt's fame and half of his sponsorships?

Similarly, you can't hire five 20% generals to put in charge of your army, and expect the same result as hiring one 100% general.

Or try hiring five 20% novelists or film makers or artists or actors etc.

> That's the whole point here - CEOs aren't paid proportionately like you or me.

Yes, and pay _not_ being proportional to ability is common and normal in all kinds of fields. It's nothing specific to CEOs.

If anything, pay being (even approximately) proportional to ability is probably the exception.