Post by Ben Walmsley

An observation I’ve made is that the industry is making the same bet over and over this year. Promote the operator from within. USG handed the top job to its COO, Christopher Macey. Pella Corporation named Emily Cavanagh Videtto CEO. Core Molding Technologies moved COO Eric L. Palomaki up. TopBuild promoted John Achille to president and COO. Builders FirstSource lined up Michael Hiller as its next operations chief. Five companies, same instinct. Back the person who already knows how the business runs, not an outsider. It’s a vote for continuity in a flat market. With sentiment still somewhat low, an outside hire is a real risk. It can pay off, but when it backfires the damage runs deep. But here's what nobody mentions. Every one of these promotions empties a seat lower down, exactly where the business is run day to day. That's the search that doesn't make the press release. It's also the one that decides whether the bet pays off.