Home Podcasts Leadership Matters: Semler Brossy on People, Pay, and Performance

Leadership Matters: Semler Brossy on People, Pay, and Performance

Semler Brossy 1 Episodes Oct 8, 2026

Executive pay decisions shape company performance — and company performance shapes executive pay. Semler Brossy brings boardroom-level insight to both sides of that equation. Each episode unpacks the real issues facing comp committees and management teams today: pay-for-performance design, CEO succession, incentive structures, and the governance pressures reshaping how companies pay their people. Straight talk from the advisors who sit in the room where these decisions get made.

Episodes

Planning Successful Successions: What the Best Boards Do Differently Oct 8, 2026 00:36:47 If your CEO stepped down tomorrow, would your company actually be ready? Semler Brossy’s Deborah Beckman and Heidrick & Struggles’ Natalie Strand Frost break down what separates genuine succession planning from the “emergency candidate in a drawer” version. They also discuss why CEO turnover is at its highest since 2010, how boards weigh internal versus external candidates, and the underrated

Psychology of Rewards Sep 24, 2026 00:24:31 Do you know what your incentive programs are actually incentivizing once they enter the real world? Semler Brossy's Phil Pinnell and Claremont McKenna professor of economics Cameron Shelton dig into the psychology behind incentive design — status vs. money, why quantifiable targets can backfire, the pitfalls of "Goodhart's Law," and what a founder who redirected his own pay packa

The Past, Present, and Future of Executive Compensation Sep 10, 2026 00:26:03 Executive pay didn't get complicated by accident. Roger Brossy, co-founder of Semler Brossy, has advised boards on compensation since 1981 — and he traces today's executive compensation landscape back to some unexpected starting points. He walks the arc from leveraged buyouts to option expensing to say on pay, explains why the quantum in the proxy is almost never the number an executive takes home

Board Oversight of Human Capital Management Aug 27, 2026 00:35:34 Human capital used to be a once-a-year discussion for boards, if they formally covered the topic at all. Now HCM issues are standing items on the board agenda — and AI is accelerating the need for these discussions even more. Semler Brossy's Blair Jones and Bertha Masuda join us to unpack how the comp committee's mandate has expanded to cover talent, culture, and workforce strategy, what t

Designing Creative Incentives Aug 12, 2026 00:36:40 Austin Vanbastelaer, Managing Partner at Semler Brossy, joins the show to unpack how to design executive incentives when there's no template to follow — mid-transformation, pre-revenue, or in the middle of a high-stakes transaction. He shares real examples of creative award design, explains where proxy advisor frameworks fall short of good pay design in practice, and offers guidance for buildi

Leadership Matters: Semler Brossy on People, Pay, and Performance

Episodes

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