You want a CEO's interests to be aligned with the company's, which is why most CEOs are given share options that will be worth something in 3 - 5 years, large bonuses based on success, and so on.

Steve Jobs cashed out when Apple fired him, but when they hired him back they also gave him large numbers of stock options [1], worth billions after he'd resurrected the company.

1 - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steve_Jobs#Wealth