Companies strive for it; they spend incredible resources to achieve it, but in many cases, they fall short. Why is the relationship so important, why does it seem to be beyond the reach of so many organizations, and how can the relationship between pay and performance be improved? Those are the questions investigated in this paper. The method for exploring this question involves introduction of a new measure of performance and some preliminary evidence based on two different research studies. Although this work is at an early stage, the findings help contribute to important issues surrounding the pay-for-performance relationship.