Turnover, Once Again, at the Top

Like in Lewis Carroll’s literary classic Alice in Wonderland, things get “curiouser and curiouser” all the time when it comes to the National Kitchen & Bath Association.

In Carroll’s fictional “Wonderland,” curious developments that draw interest and often defy logic occur all-too regularly – just like they do in the real-life kitchen/bath-industry landscape occupied by the NKBA.

That, however, is where the similarities end.

In Carroll’s timeless masterpiece, the storyteller uses expressive language to communicate profound, inspiring philosophies.

Readers, along with Alice, are challenged to make sense of illogic but, in the end, gain immense wisdom from the absurdities they face.

In contrast, after a glimpse into the curious, perplexing world of the NKBA, one is left simply scratching one’s head.

How can most NKBA members not be scratching their heads in the wake of last month’s announcement that Michael P. Kelly is abruptly out as chief executive officer of the association, months shy of his three-year anniversary in that post (see NKBA Begins Search for New CEO After Departure of Mike Kelly)? How can members not be asking questions about what has become a sad and all-too-familiar pattern of constant turnover at the top of the industry’s most important trade association?

Questions, for example, like these:

What is it about working for the NKBA that results in such a high degree of executive turnover? Is association leadership simply prone to making ill-advised, poorly matched hiring decisions? Is there something inherent about working either at the NKBA’s Hackettstown, NJ headquarters or with constantly changing voluntary leadership that makes long-term employment for top executives a long shot at best? Is there something in the CEO’s job description that makes meeting the position’s requirements all but impossible? Are there other factors at play? The association’s structure? The political climate? Shifting and/or conflicting goals and priorities? Personality conflicts? Something else?

Surely, voluntary leadership should be asking these questions. Surely, answers are needed if NKBA members truly wish to reverse what’s long been a troubling and disruptive pattern of staff turnover – not just at the CEO level, but among top managers in marketing, education, membership and other key areas.

Regardless of the answers, though, what’s irrefutable is that the NKBA goes through CEOs at an alarming rate far in excess of most trade associations. The revolving door in Hackettstown seems almost endless. The turmoil resulting from the turnover hangs over the association like a dark cloud. Eyebrows continue to be raised. Questions continue to be asked.

And the situation gets curiouser and curiouser.

Announcement of Kelly’s departure, buried obscurely in the final paragraph of a routine NKBA press release, was curious enough in itself, clearly belying the significance of the development. It was almost as if news about the parting of the ways was structured in a way not to draw attention. Why?

Curious, too, were the details of Kelly’s departure. Although NKBA officials said the surprising development took place by “mutual agreement,” most observers believe that the decision about Kelly’s departure was anything but mutual, precipitated instead by a variety of issues that troubled – and deeply angered – the association’s Executive Committee over the past year. Kelly himself has not commented publicly.

In truth, though, that’s where the curiosities only begin.

Take, for instance, the matter of timing.

Kelly’s departure occurred literally on the eve of the NKBA’s most significant annual event, this month’s 2008 Kitchen/Bath Industry Show in Chicago – an event at which the former CEO was to play an active, highly visible role. One would think, at the very least, that the “mutual agreement” regarding Kelly’s departure could have been postponed 30 days and been made effective after the show, if only to temporarily avoid the inevitable distractions, public relations fallout and embarrassment resulting from such a pre-show development.