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There are many things that can't be quantified for practical reasons. Executive talent is one of them.

The article says "There's even an algorithm for this. It seems too easy to be real." - I think that might be literally true; there is no reason why the highest job in the hierarchy should be the hardest. So there may not be anything there to quantify.

We like to think that, don't we. But the more I think about it, the less true it seems.

We seem to be able to measure every other form of talent. I think those with power vehemently resist measurement because they know it opens them to scrutiny.

Literally all they do is facilitate meetings so other people can do things for them.

You are a better executive the more you delegate and the less you actually do.

I'm not making this up, literally this is what the article talks about. If you don't do shit, you get paid more for it.

>Literally all they do is facilitate meetings so other people can do things for them.

No, they define the process for decision making (ie: the values) and then enforce that it is followed. That includes finding those who don't follow it and either providing guidance or ultimately firing them. Of course, the people you're trying to find may be actively trying to hide.

There is a difference between not making direct business decisions and doing nothing.

Dude they don't even do this. You don't get it. They DELEGATE the decision making, the values and the enforcement as well. The firing, the finding guidance is all delegated.

It've very very minimal what they do. The overall performance of the executive is determined by his selection of right hand men. The executives main skill is managing the board and selecting the right people to do things for them.

The executive is not talented at creating, building or running a company. His main talent is selecting the people who do it for him. Also honestly, all this "value setting" stuff is trivial. Ultimately the people underneath him adapt to what works regardless of values.

I've always kinda suspected this just because so many execs seem to have time to be on multiple boards, CEO of whatever, head of some charity, advisor to some startup they have a stake in, et c., all at once, and "they work a lot" can't explain all of that.
Ever notice how management always think estimates have tons of wiggle room as if you are screwing around half the day?

That's because that is their experience in the workplace.

Caveat I should mention. Not all execs are like this, but most are, and this is all that is, in the end, required from the exec.

A contrarian example is Steve Jobs. A man who dipped his fingers into every aspect of the company.

Not true. It was just unpredictable what aspect he would go off on.
Hold on. You say not true but then you say he did dip his fingers in an unpredictable way.... Of course perhaps you meant he didn't dip his fingers into everything at the same time... Well of course he didnt... he did dip his fingers into random things and eventually over time it led to him basically touching almost every aspect of the company.
A line worker must make 1000s of decisions a year, but even if all of them are made wrong, it won't break the company.

An executive only has to make a few decisions a year, but any one of them could make or break the company.

Selecting people and value setting may seem trivial, but that's because you only see the results, and not the process. Start from a blank slate and try to select the right people and choose the right values to make a company, and see how easy it really is.

It's not easy but it's not inhumanly hard that only special people can do it.

Also believe it or not, if the executive wanted to, he could delegate those few decisions as well. The key choice is he has to find the right people to delegate to, that's it...

If the executive has any type of special skill AT ALL. All it usually is, is having the ability to get to his position. That involves navigating politics, convincing people to give him money, making the seed money himself. These are the only things that make him standout if he isn't a founder or worked any other unrelated job.

A fire safety inspector, or people in charge of infecting nuclear facilities should earn millions
The reality of the world is that people are not paid by how much they deserve but by supply and demand.

The even deeper reality is that people aren't even paid by supply and demand but they are paid on the perception of supply and demand.

(Most) executives are paid not by supply and demand but by perception.

But those people don't really make decisions, do they? It's about strictly following a set of rules, to minimize your personal liability.
The rules are not strict or clear cut, in UK we recently had a skyscraper burn down (grenfell tower). The residents complained that it was a fire hazard for years. The court case is going on for the second year, and it's still unclear if regulations were broken, or regulations themselves are broken.

But even if we adopt your point of view, is the civil defining rules for safety of nuclear powerplants paid even 1% of the damage Fukushima has caused?