We've discussed the need for credible succession plans on the part of corporate boards. The last thing you want is to be left with meager options in the wake of a transition.

The Carol Bartz incident makes clear that how you go about the transition is in some ways every bit as important as whom you have lined up as successor. A board always runs some risk of post-transition criticism, which is exactly what happened when the Yahoo! board fired then CEO Carol Bartz earlier this month.

Granted, Bartz is somewhat of a pistol. She promptly whipped off an email to the entire staff telling them she had been canned-by phone. She then called a Fortune reporter to tell all.

Some choice quotes: "These people f---ed me over." As Yahoo chairman Roy Bostock was trying to fire her over the phone, via a script, she said: "Why don't you have the balls to tell me yourself?"

When she got wind that Yahoo! lawyers were trying to track her down at the St. Regis in Manhattan, where she was speaking at a conference, she left and booked herself into another hotel. Bartz, according to Fortune, had a non-disparagement clause in her contract, so she may have opened herself up to some liability.

There's a healthy debate about whether Bartz has hurt or helped herself with her behavior. But the board clearly faces some problem of its own making. For one thing, they come across as quite amateurish, burnishing its brand as one of the worst sets of directors in Corporate America. Some are calling for Bostock's job. Clearly, this backfired.

So how to fire a top executive without blowback? I would say in the heat of battle, it will always be hard. One board expert has three pieces of advice for boards: Tell the truth, rely on the numbers in terms of missed goals and avoid limbo. The Yahoo board would argue they did exactly this. Perhaps the best advice is to show respect as you take this fateful step. That will cover a multitude of wrongs. When Brian Moynihan, CEO of Bank of America, fired Sallie Krawcheck, he at least did so in person. And maybe that helped.

For more:
- here's the Fortune article

Related article:
Krawcheck firing shows women executives still rare on Wall Street