being stupid. Equally, a great CEO can add billions of dollars of value with a single decision.
As someone who values companies for a living I can tell you unequivocally that the CEO is in a position to massively swing the value of the business, and as such is worth enormous value. Even when the next best option is only slightly worse.
It is simply arithmetic. If you think Wall Street hasn't analyzed this stuff sideways, and put ungodly amounts of resources into it you're nuts.
CEO pay doesn't come out of the pockets of the rank and file workers. It comes out of the pockets of Wall Street investors, who make extremely rational decisions 99% of the time.