Yes, John Chambers looks like a good candidate to be in the exclusive club of "worthy" CEOs. Bill Gates too.
For smaller companies, there are plenty of CEOs who are their company, and deserve all the credit (or the blame).
There just happens to be so many public companies that are run by MBA-type consultants, managing for wall street, with no product or industry vision. And they tend to make as much or more money than the other CEOs.
I'm sure you could easily find a lot of CEOs who are not worth their paychecks, but it probably isn't hard to find the opposite too if you look.