Secret Service Director Julia Pierson announced her resignation in light of failed efforts to stop fence jumpers from entering the White House last month, and other lax security measures.

This appears to be the typical move of any chief whose organization experiences scandal or suffers through a series of mistakes, but is it really best for the organization?

Rosabeth Moss Kanter, from Harvard Business School, says yes.

“It’s a good time to resign when things happen on your watch that you either say you don't know about, try to cover up and aren’t doing anything to fix,” Kanter said.

Kanter has written about leaders who have stayed with companies through turmoil, like Cisco and Boeing. Those businesses are now thriving. But Kanter says there is a difference between those situations and what happened with Pierson.

“The difference is whether or not the leader has a credible plan that’s being executed for making a difference and also has credibility because of earlier successes,” Moss Kanter said. “But if you come in ... and you have nothing to show for it, [then] you can’t demonstrate progress.”