3. is virtually guaranteed. Each year the laggards will play catchup, raising the average so that the next survey will trigger a new series of annual upward adjustments. Furthermore, we increase the separation between compensation levels and performance by relating compensation levels to revenues or sales volumes. It has been my experience that it is difficult to pay shareholders dividends in gross revenues but the practice of correlating compensation to sales is widespread. It is better to relate compensation to those measures that correspond more closely to rewards for the shareholders. If the Compensation Committee is not content with salary surveys or compensation studies compiled by the corporate staff, it can always hire a management consultant to provide added credibility to the material. There is very little risk in this. Most management consultants in the compensation field are whores at heart and have discovered long ago that their engagements would decline drastically if they went around providing data demonstrating that compensation levels in the client companies were too high. Though consultants are costly, the data will be beautifully presented, the arguments convincing, and access assured to the very latest and most faddish compensation schemes designed to jack up compensation levels. Use of management consultants increases the comfort level of the Compensation Committee and provides a ready- made and often convincing answer to any challenges raised by the rude at shareholder meetings. I have in my time served on eight Compensation Committees, currently serve on four, and chair two. I advocate Executive Compensation Committees with membership of outside directors only.