This thesis consists of three essays discussing current issues in the field of top executives. Essay 1 is based on principal-agent theory and investigates the existence of a pay-for-performance relation in the German corporate governance system. Essay 2 concentrates on top executives’ careers contributing to the understanding of top executives’ personalities and experiences. Essay 3 sheds light on interaction effects of compensation and top executive characteristics while analyzing managerial risk taking. Combining arguments from principal-agent theory and upper echelons theory, I examine how compensation design and top executives’ characteristics influence managerial risk taking.