After 15 years at Intuit (and 11 as head honcho), CEO Brad Smith is packing his bags. Smith, 54, wanted to step down while he “still had gas in the tank.”
Unlike many CEOs that duck out amidst damaging scandals, Smith is leaving on a high note: Intuit’s stock value increased 588% over his tenure, and revenue this quarter is up 17%.
The right way to leave a company
Recently, CEOs have been ousted for misbehavior ranging from sexual harassment to fraud, while others have taken the “scorched earth” approach to stepping down.
Earlier this week, Zoox’s ex-CEO assailed his board on Twitter for “optimizing for a little money in hand at the expense of profound progress for the Universe” (AKA, firing him).
But Smith’s bow-out shows excellent exec exit etiquette.
Smith has left his business in great shape: In over a decade as chief, he doubled Intuit’s revenue and customer base by transforming the business from a product purveyor to a platform provider.
Leaving a good brand in good hands
Smith is handing over the reins to Sasan Goodarzi, Intuit’s current executive vice president, on Jan. 1 to make time for the transition.
Goodarzi, who has been with Intuit for 13 years, has turned the company’s largest unit into its fastest-growing unit. Smith insists that “Sasan is better prepared to be CEO than [he] was 11 years ago.”
But, that doesn’t mean everyone won’t miss Big Brad — including investors, who somberly sent the company’s stock down 4% yesterday in response to the news.
