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Individuals do have some control over the selection of Presidents and CEOs.
Those who do send in the ballot usually just rubber-stamp the names that are listed on it. They don't know anything about these folks and are therefore not able to make an informed decision about their qualifications. Maybe the next logical step is for shareholders to be able to directly decide who their CEOs should be. Just as some have argued that the electoral college is an antiquated and unnecessary step in the voting process, perhaps it's time for shareholders and CEOs to be more closely linked. Additional inertia comes from the CEOs themselves, who are happy with the current system, because it subjects them to less scrutiny from shareholders and lets them stay at the helm as long as they don't completely mess things up.