The theory is, and I"m not necessarily a believer in it, that if you take a CEO job, it's often the last job you ever take.

CEO's like sports coaches are hired to be fired. It's really rare for a CEO to leave on their own terms.

We like to think of CEO's going from one company to another, but in truth once you've been a CEO and fired you don't often get that chance again.

The large severance pay is supposed to reflect the "fact" that you probably won't get a job like this again.