Devoted to Managers and those that seek to improve their management skills

The latest victim of the mortgage problems is the CEO of American International Group Inc. (NYSE:AIG), Martin Sullivan, who was fired after the company has struggled financially, as well has being under investigation by the Securities and Exchange Commmission.

AIG has suffered billion in losses, while the stock is down by about 40 percent so far this year. This has engendered rumors that the financial problems at the company may be even worse than suspected.

Replacing Sullivan will be Chairman Robert Willumstad, a former major executive from Citigroup (NYSE:C).

Willumstand said in a written statment:

"The board and I recognize that results over the past two quarters have been unacceptable, but we are confident in AIG's future. We are determined to get the organization back on track as quickly as possible and ensure it is well positioned for future success."

Willumstand has been the chairman of AIG since November 2006. Formerly he was the COO and president of Citigroup.

It's difficult at this time to determine the role Sullivan played in the problems at AIG, as he inherited most of it from his predecessor, Maurice "Hank" Greenberg. Even so, many felt he wasn't handling the problems aggressively enough, which ultimately led to his downfall.

Others felt he handled some of the exposures poorly, which made the problems he inherited worse.

One thing business leaders and management can learn from this, is we must be careful to accurately determine the length and depths of problems we inherit when being offered a leadership position in a company.

I remember Warren Buffett saying one time saying that a great company can make a poor executive look like a genius, while a poor company can make a great executive look like he doesn't know what he's doing.

We shouldn't blindly accept a position out of ego alone, or go about it without strong due diligence. There are some things that could destroy our careers no matter how good we are at what we do.

There were probably very few people who could have went into the AIG situation Sullivan inherited and been successful. He has now learned that to his potential professional ruin.