Oprah Winfrey. Michael Jordan. Richard Grasso. What do these three have in common? All have been paid astounding amounts of money, yet only one has been openly criticized and ridiculed because of it. Grasso, the former chairman of the New York Stock Exchange, is only the latest among numerous executives pilloried for their excessive compensation. Certainly many of the CEOs under fire – Kenneth Lay of Enron, Dennis Kozlowski of Tyco and Bernie Ebbers of WorldCom are just a few examples – led their companies in ways that were allegedly inimical to the interests of a wide spectrum of constituents, including shareholders, employees and customers. It is hardly surprising that they are in the hot seat. But Grasso, who only recently came under investigation for possible influence trading during his NYSE tenure, has been derided mainly for persuading his board of directors that he was worth all the money – $187.5 million in deferred compensation – they heaped on him.…