As a businessowner your pay is, and always has been, based on pay for performance (and risk taken).  But you need to be wary and informed about the new considerations coming out of the Obama Administration that will limit CEO pay.  Right now the limits would pertain to executives in the financial industry – even those who don’t receive bailout money.
     The problem with executive compensation is twofold:  1) Pay has been pegged to some sort of measurable outcome, but not always the right one, and 2) Pay for performance has been structured so that even if the performance doesn’t happen the executives get paid. 
     Look at your company; do people get paid even when they don’t perform?  I’ve consulted with many mid-sized companies where there are plenty of managers who don’t perform, but still get paid.  Often, the non-performance is blamed on the underlings – which means the managers really aren’t held accountable.  And sometimes the managers are allowed to get paid without performing because there's a belief that the company can’t run successfully without them.
     The executives must be held accountable for their results, just as all those under them should be held accountable for the results that they have control over.  As businessowners, we need to make sure compensation is pegged to the right measurable outcome, and that we don’t pay when there has been no performance.