BulletProofBlog the blog on crisis communications

For someone who's been such a vehemently outspoken critic of the media since first landing in the national spotlight nearly a year ago, Governor Sarah Palin sure has made it easy to fill those column inches and cable news segments.

As she announced her resignation on Friday, she went a step further - providing a gift that keeps on giving in the form of countless opportunities to speculate about the reasons why she quit and where she plans to go from here. With every guess, we' ll again be reminded of the unanswered questions surrounding her decision and the reasons why no CEO making an early exit wants to repeat Palin' s performance.

Expanding on what I told Forbes.com yesterday, executives in both the public and private sectors need to frame an early exit as a victory. That' s done by focusing on what' s been accomplished during the CEO' s tenure; providing a clear vision of the future that stakeholders can embrace; ensuring that allies who can provide positive third-party commentary aren' t taken by surprise; and moving out of the spotlight as quickly as possible so new leadership establish its own brand.

There are even steps that CEOs can take from their first moment on the job. Building relationships with traditional journalists and bloggers from day one makes positive coverage of a premature departure more probable. Establishing a strong agenda and accessibility early on can cement the perception that a CEOs time at the helm was well spent - no matter how short the tenure might seem.

Governor Palin' s standoffish approach to media and her cryptic news conference have put these benchmarks out of reach for the time being. As a result, she' s now dealing with two realities that no departing CEO wants to experience. She' s ceded control of her story to the last people she wants telling it. And she' s ensured that it stays at the forefront of the national conversation for far longer than it has to.

Richard Levick is President and CEO of Levick Strategic Communications and a contributing author to Bulletproof Blog.