Steve Ballmer gave his exit interview to The Wall Street Journal. In it, he reviews his reason for stepping down as CEO of Microsoft. He decided it was time to leave after getting an amount of nudging from his board members.

Ballmer laid out his plan to combat the rise of the iPhone and Android in January to his board members in a conference call. He was cut off by John Thompson, lead director.

"Hey, dude, let's get on with it... We're in suspended animation," Thompson said.

That started his decision to step down, and he realized that he couldn't move fast enough to make the board happy.

Thompson says the board "didn't push Steve to step down, but we were pushing him damn hard to go faster."

He was already trying very hard. He enacted a reorganization of the company and tried to make the company more collaborative, but his senior team was thrown off by the "New Steve," says the WSJ.

Ballmer started to doubt that he could change the company as quickly as the board wanted in May.

"No matter how fast I want to change, there will be some hesitation from all constituents—employees, directors, investors, partners, vendors, customers, you name it—to believe I'm serious about it, maybe even myself," said Ballmer.

From there, Ballmer decided to retire. Hoping that the next CEO would be able to shake things up faster than he can.

Ballmer teared up as he explained his decision, saying, "Maybe I'm an emblem of an old era, and I have to move on ... As much as I love everything about what I'm doing, the best way for Microsoft to enter a new era is a new leader who will accelerate change."

A gracious leader knows when to step down and pass on the baton. Read more over at the Journal.