Where Have You Gone, Bob Nardelli?

Where Have You Gone, Bob Nardelli?

A reflection on CEO pay, boardroom inertia, and the illusion of progress.

Recent headlines about skyrocketing CEO compensation and the cozy, unshakable dynamics of corporate boards have re-ignited an old question:
Do headline-making leadership scandals ever lead to real change?

The obvious answer might be yes. But the more accurate one?
Change adapts to protect itself. Especially when it comes to the power circles of corporate leadership.

Let’s rewind to the early 2000s—the Model T era of modern CEO recruitment.

A Fortune 500 company in growth mode hired a high-profile executive who had just been passed over for the top job at GE, America’s CEO factory at the time. That alone should have raised a red flag. But in those days, pedigree trumped performance. His name? Bob Nardelli.

He was hailed as a star—a disciple of Jack Welch, the leadership legend who helped elevate GE’s managerial mystique to near-mythical status. Another GE alum passed over at the same time, Jim McNerney, went on to lead 3M and later Boeing, where his legacy remains relevant. Nardelli, however, took a different path—one that would become a cautionary tale.

After turbulent tenures at Home Depot and Chrysler, Nardelli became the poster child for everything wrong with CEO pay: enormous compensation, controversial severance, and questionable results. His career didn’t just raise eyebrows—it became a permanent case study in the risks of overpaid, underperforming leadership.

Fast Forward: What’s Changed?

It’s now 10 to 15 years later. Have corporate boards become more discerning? Has executive pay become more performance-driven?

On the surface, maybe. Boards today are more aware of optics—they know better than to approve nine-figure severance packages without expecting a PR firestorm or pressure from activist investors.

But when you look deeper?
Very little has changed.

The same entrenched systems remain. Public outrage over “say on pay” votes and eyebrow-raising compensation packages still flare up, but they tend to fizzle before real reform takes hold. Studies are published, panels are held, and everyone nods sagely—then signs off on another multi-million dollar bonus.

Even search firms that advise on leadership hiring publish reports and compensation benchmarks that often reinforce the status quo—creating the illusion of change without disrupting the ecosystem that benefits them.

The Nardelli Legacy: A Missed Opportunity

Ironically, Bob Nardelli’s high-profile flameout was a gift to leadership consultants, brand strategists, and governance reformers. He was a real-world warning sign, a media-friendly symbol of what not to do.

But instead of triggering a broad shift in boardroom behavior, his story became just another archived cautionary tale—revisited only when history repeats itself.

And it has.

A 2012 Equilar report highlighted a 16% increase in CEO pay, with a 200% gap between executive compensation and that of the average employee. Even if we believe that marks a 200% “decrease” from 2004 levels, that’s cold comfort. The gap remains vast, and the power dynamics unchanged.

So where have you gone, Bob Nardelli?

Not far. Because even in your absence, the system you symbolized continues—polished, rebranded, and still paying out.

Until boards stop serving themselves and start serving the companies and communities they represent, the Nardelli effect will remain less a turning point—and more a template.