Pay. It’s the topic we love to avoid. We don’t discuss it with friends or family. It’s verboten at cocktail parties. Heck, we discuss cancer, religion, and abortion at dinner parties more easily than we talk about our paychecks. We don’t even like to discuss compensation with the person whose pay we’re messing with.

Well, you know me—I love to talk about the topics everyone avoids. Why? It opens a conversation we, as leaders, desperately need to have.

So in an era of wacky pay debacles (paging Dr. Lewis, Dr. Ken Lewis to the boardroom, please), how do you as a leader and executive navigate paying your people (or not paying them, which might be just as well deserved)? How do you personally handle getting paid what you’re worth without having angry mobs chase you with pitchforks and torches on their way to key your car?

Tough stuff, but let’s tackle it. First, let’s cover why we get into trouble about pay, then discuss how you pay your folks, and finally how you ensure you get paid what you deserve.

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