<p>IBM CEO Ginni Rometty did something unexpected earlier this week when announcing the company's fourth quarter earnings, which showed a 5 percent revenue decrease and marked the seventh quarterly drop in a row. "In view of the company's overall full year results," she said in the company's press release, "my senior team and I have recommended that we forgo our personal annual incentive payments for 2013."</p><p>Rometty's decision to decline her annual bonus is a reminder of what a hot-button issue executive pay has become. However much it may be designed to reward executives for their performance, it also sends a strong message to investors, employees and the public.</p><p>In the same week that Rometty made the announcement, for instance, news came that JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon would get a raise, despite billions of dollars in penalties that the bank owes following a trading scandal. JPMorgan's board of directors reportedly vigorously debated the raise, with some saying he should be rewarded for leading the bank through a tough period.</p><p>"The notoriety and level of attention that executive pay has received over the last five to six years has really grown," says Aaron Boyd, the director of governance research for Equilar, an executive compensation data firm. "It's become a larger decision about not just, 'Did you do a good job?' Now you have to consider what it looks like, what the shareholders think, [and] is it motivating or demotivating to employees."</p><p><a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/on-leadership/wp/2014/01/24/ibms-ginni-rometty-says-no-to-a-bonus/">Keep reading...</a></p>