Exit doors rear and aft: Red Cross needs in-aisle path lighting.

Just when you think you've seen it all, you haven't come close. The fiasco better known as the CEO of the American Red Cross not being able to keep his pants on with a female subordinate adds another sorry page to the organization's shoddy national office management.

Mark Everson, the alleged straight-arrow boss at the Internal Revenue Service, was supposed to shake up the Red Cross's national operations. He did. He's gone.

The remarkable thing about Everson is how quickly he screwed up-less than six months. Apparently the affair had been going on for a couple of months, so it didn't take him long to break one of the cardinal rifles of management. Pick your euphemism regarding inkwells, the company store, etc.

Nobody is perfect. Roughly half of the marriages in this country end in divorce and affairs are not uncommon--for both male and female executives. And, we generally can't really choose for whom we fall. But when you are handed the keys to a nation's trust--security of the blood supply and response to disasters--there is an even greater standard of management accountability to which leadership should be held.

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Everson was the eighth chief executive or interim chief executive in 12 years. You have to wonder how many times this national safety net can be damaged and sewn back together. Spokesmen for the organization have said that the American Red Cross is bigger than any one person. How about eight people?

The search is on for a new leader. When scandal hits a high-profile organization, the nation's most visible names always pop up, such as former presidents and senators. Retired Sen. George Mitchell has made a career of putting out the fires of scandal since leaving elective office and his name will probably pop up. Given the problem he had while occupying the White House and the reason Everson was forced out, former President Bill Clinton probably won't be mentioned for the vacancy.

The organization ran exceptionally well under interim CEO Jack McGuire. Although the board passed over him for the permanent position, maybe it's time to rethink that decision. Steve Bullock, another former interim and pretty much a Red Cross lifer should also be considered, if interested in the apparently-jinxed chair.

The Red Cross's board is packed with big names--who then look for other big names. The past four big-name chief executives--Elizabeth Dole, Bernadine Healy, Marsha Evans and Everson--were from outside the Red Cross. All were unable to get the agency from beneath a federal Food and Drug Administration consent decree regarding blood safety and operations.

Shaking the tree doesn't always work. The Red Cross has a 12-year track record proving that point. The Red Cross has 750 chapters. There must be a competent executive in the group who understands the core of what it means to be part of the Red Cross system and who will respect it while making the meaningful operational changes needed.