I agree. I do appreciate the spirit of OP’s comment, that we are agents. I observe a lot of people who blame everything but themselves for their circumstances, and take responsibility for nothing.
However, sometimes you get the meteorite, and sometimes the meteorite gets you; we’re none of us 100% in control of our fates.
Another way to interpret it is, “leadership pay has absolutely no impact on the success of a product.”
Yet another way is, “if you’re struggling, put your money into almost anything else than raises for upper management.”