What needed to be understood.
Industry composition and outliers made simple overall averages misleading. The analysis needed to compare multiple compensation measures while accounting for uneven CEO counts across sectors.
How the analysis was built.
- Built pivot tables and charts by industry and compensation measure.
- Compared average, minimum, maximum, and CEO counts.
- Reviewed the relationship between salary, bonus, and total compensation.
- Converted findings into an executive-style stakeholder deck.
What the evidence showed.
- Compensation structures differed substantially by industry.
- Bonuses exceeded base salaries in several sectors.
- Healthcare led the submitted bonus comparison, while telecom led base salary and showed high compensation despite a small CEO count.
- Zero or unusual total-compensation values suggested missing noncash or equity context.
What should happen next.
- Use industry-specific benchmarks rather than one cross-industry pay standard.
- Investigate outliers against company performance and equity-based compensation.
- Standardize reporting fields so salary, bonus, stock, and other compensation are consistently represented.
What this project does—and does not—prove.
The dataset represented 2008 and did not fully capture noncash compensation or company-performance context.