There ought to be a law. That would be legislation which limits what public company CEOs get when they are fired. Maybe the limit should be $1 million. How much is failure really worth?

The departing head of American International Group (NYSE: AIG), Martin Sullivan, will pick up $47 million as he hits that door. According to the FT, "Mr Sullivan's departure was deemed a resignation for "good reason", according to AIG." His "good reason" was that the board would not allow him to stay in the building. What better excuse can a man get?

Sullivan can hardly be blamed for taking the money and retiring about his yacht to hit golf balls into the ocean. The AIG board shoulders that burden. The chairman of that board, Robert Willumstad, took Sullivan's job. Maybe it was easier to move up to CEO with Sullivan fat and happy.

But, there ought to be a law.

Douglas A. McIntyre is an editor at 247wallst.com.

Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. (NYSE: LEH) Chief Executive Richard Fuld continues to keep his job even though shares of the New York-bank have slumped more than 60% this year. Meanwhile, American International Group Inc. (NYSE: AIG), whose shares are down 42%, ousted CEO Martin Sullivan because of the continued poor performance of the world's largest insurer.

Why didn't Fuld follow Sullivan onto the unemployment line, albeit the cushy one for failed CEOs? It makes no sense.

Last week, Fuld shocked investors by pre-announcing that Lehman lost $2.8 billion, or $5.14 per share, results that were officially confirmed today. In the earnings release, Fuld proclaimed the results as "unacceptable" and vowed to "take the necessary steps to restore the credibility of our great franchise." Well, at least he says that's what he wants to do. He dismissed Lehman President Joseph Gregory and Chief Financial Officer Erin Callan last week. On the conference call, Fuld even took responsibility for the loss and investors cheered this act of contrition, sending shares of Lehman up.

The euphoria is not going to last. I am not sure why Wall Street believes that Fuld can extricate Lehman from the financial quagmire that occurred on his watch. They certainly did not give Merrill Lynch & Co.'s (NYSE: MER) Stan O'Neal and Bear Stearns & Co.'s (NYSE: BSC) James Cayne or Citigroup Inc.'s (NYSE: C) the benefit of the doubt.

MAJOR PAPERS:

• According to people familiar with American International Group Inc's (NYSE: AIG) board, some directors feel that another big loss in the current quarter could prompt them to re-evaluate their support for CEO Martin Sullivan. The sources said a decision on Sullivan's fate isn't likely to be made until the company sees results over the next several months, the Wall Street Journal reported.
• The Financial Times reported that Kohlberg Kravis Roberts, The Blackstone Group LP (NYSE: BX) and Apax Partners are among the private equity groups that have been blocked from bidding int he first round of the GBP7B auction of The Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc's (NYSE: RBS) insurance business.

OTHER PAPERS:

• The Boeing Company (NYSE: BA) closed a helicopter production line for several hours yesterday due to possible irregularities found in two military helicopters, the Seattle Times reported. The company did not disclose exactly why it shut down the production of the H-47 Chinooks.

WEB SITES:

• According to Mac Rumors, citing French LeMatin.ch, a source in Swisscom AG (OTC: SCMWY) said Switzerland will be getting the iPhone device from Apple Inc (NASDAQ: AAPL) this summer, and it will feature GPS, Video Conferencing and Mobile TV.

TheStreet.com's Jim Cramer says AIG's Sullivan joins the "formers" at Citi and Marsh & McLennan as Eliot Spitzer's appointee failures.

Three strikes, and Spitzer's guys should all be out.

That's my thoughts about this Martin Sullivan/AIG (NYSE: AIG) (Cramer's Take) scandal. Remember that Sullivan was basically appointed to run AIG by Eliot Spitzer after he kicked out Hank Greenberg for a laundry list of bad deeds. Just like Chuck Prince was appointed to run Citigroup (NYSE: C) (Cramer's Take) when Spitzer booted Sandy Weill, and Mike Cherkasky was appointed to run Marsh & McLennan (NYSE: MMC) (Cramer's Take) when Spitzer axed Jeffrey Greenberg.

All three men were brought in to clean up the mess. Both Prince and Cherkasky were lawyers who were way over their heads as operators.

Prince presided over the destruction of a great American bank -- although it was kind of a re-destruction in light of how bad it was in 1990 -- when he allowed billions in off-balance-sheet borrowings that he simply did not understand.

There are two kinds of CEOs: innovators -- who come up with growth ideas -- and janitors -- who cut costs and instill discipline. There are times when it's best to invest in an innovator, and others when a janitor generates superior shareholder returns. What does this mean for stocks? Potential buys include Boeing Co. (NYSE: BA), Google, Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG), and American International Group, Inc. (NYSE: AIG), and potential holds include Hewlett-Packard Co. (NASDAQ: HPQ), Microsoft Corp. (NASDAQ: MSFT), and Apple, Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL).

This thought came to mind after reading an excerpt from the Wall Street Journal's Alan Murray's new book -- Revolt in the Boardroom: The New Rules of Power in Corporate America. It's a measure of his clout that he got the front page [subscription required] -- albeit of the Saturday edition. Murray's argument is that "boring" CEOs are now on the rise "in the wake of ... Enron" (a hackneyed expression that should be banned from the journalistic lexicon).

Following journalistic convention, Murray extrapolates a trend from three cases. He argues that boards have appointed "boring" CEOs -- I call them janitors since they are the executive equivalent of a clean up crew that comes in after a rock concert -- to avoid their predecessors' scandals. He cites the "boring" examples of Jim McNerney at Boeing, Martin Sullivan at AIG, and Mark Hurd at HP. They can boost the stock price for a while by cutting excess cost and instilling process discipline.

But they often fall down when it comes to generating revenue growth ideas. This is where investors can benefit from an innovator CEO -- the archetype of which is Apple's Steve Jobs. For investors there are two problems with such innovators: