You may have heard that Yahoo! CEO Terry Semel is stepping down from his post at the helm of the publicly traded search engine/email provider. Yahoo! has made it clear that his decision is voluntary and that he won't be given a severance package because he is sticking around in a non-executive role as Chairman of the Board of the company. What is interesting to me is the classy way that which both Yahoo and Semel are handling communication of this situation. I think we can all learn something from it.

Understand that Terry Semel, as leader of Yahoo!, has presided over a 30% drop in stock price during the last 18 months. Stockholders are not happy with his performance and they want him out. And for his part I would imagine that Mr. Semel is not too happy with the fact that his performance is seen as less than stellar. You don't become CEO of a publicly traded company if you aren't used to being considered a star in your field - to be told otherwise is probably a blow to Mr. Semel's ego. But, with all of that as background, both the company and the ousted executive realize the value of his graceful exit from his position.

If you read my Ultimate Resumes blog with any frequency you may have read some of my commentary on the Julie Roehm vs Wal Mart situation and the public mudslinging that has ensued. I think that, at this point, between the lawsuits, countersuits, and salacious allegations, both Wal Mart and Ms. Roehm have damaged their reputations. Will another corporation hire Julie Roehm? It will certainly be interesting to find out. Will Wal Mart have a more difficult time hiring talented executives from around the U.S. and convincing them to move to remote Bentonville, Arkansas after they publicly skewered their former SVP of Marketing? I would bet that they will. In other words, by not maneuvering her graceful exit, Ms. Roehm and Wal Mart both suffer financially and reputationally.

Both Terry Semel and Julie Roehm worked hard and built track records of achievement that enabled them to land high profile roles in their respective fields of expertise. Yahoo! investors were unhappy with Mr. Semel's performance and wanted him to step down from his role while in Ms. Roehm's case Wal Mart's senior management team felt she should leave the company. Both situations were probably stressful and difficult for the two executives who were being told that their performance was lacking. It's hard to be a told that you are a star one day and an under performer the next.

The key to exiting the situation with your pride and future employment options intact is to forget about getting even or making a public statement or making sure that the public knows "who is right and who is wrong. Of course the same statement is true for employers...take the high road instead of maligning a former employee. No good will come from public negativity and it costs the company and its shareholders money.

Learn from Terry Semel...a graceful exit from a job is more profitable and less stressful for all concerned. And remember that thanks to the Internet any public statements, lawsuits, or stories in which you are quoted or mentioned will be around forever.