Tread Cautiously on Exit

At InfoWorld, Bob Lewis posted an item about exit interviews that I thought was a bit skeptical, but still worth considering. He was asked by a reader how frank he could be in raising complaints about the company's internal communication. Part of his answer:

My best advice is to treat the exit interview as if it was an entirely legitimate activity, but without saying anything that would be unwise to say if you were planning to continue as an employee the next day. Bring up whatever points you think are essential, doing so as diplomatically as you can and without any sense of acrimony at all. If one of the subjects is a political hot potato, you stand much more to lose than you stand to gain.

What you stand to lose is that the business community in most cities is small, and you might find yourself wanting to work at this company again sometime in the not-all-that-distant future. What you stand to gain is nothing at all. Duck it.

How to handle an exit interview [InfoWorld]