Dominique Strauss-Kahn popped back into the headquarters of the International Monetary Fund Monday afternoon to say goodbye to staff. I am as supremely unqualified to comment on the events in New York which led to his resignation as were many of those who did chip in. But, with his successor making waves in Europe with a pointed speech on bank capital, here is a brief thought on his tenure.

The standard view (which I largely share) is that a smart political operator seized the opportunity of the global financial crisis to turn round an organisation bereft of purpose and beset by drift. But having adroitly manoeuvred the fund into involvement in the Greek bail-out, DSK also risked it being dragged along in a rescue programme driven – incompetently – by the eurozone.

Sometimes an early exit is good for your legacy. JFK might be less kindly remembered had he been around to deal with the Vietnam mess he started; the disasters that eventually followed Bismarck’s forced departure only made the Iron Chancellor’s achievements (and his departing prophecy) more impressive in retrospect.

So, DSK’s legacy? As Zhou Enlai never said about the French Revolution: too early to tell.