[council] Rod Beckstrom to leave ICANN at the end of his term

Fri Aug 19 21:57:15 CEST 2011

Hi all,

I do agree with agree and Milton that existence of NCSG is not depend on
who is the ICANN's CEO. However their roles, specially Rod's roles were
good enough to support NCSG as part of multistakeholder organisation. But
then, in the future NCSG should approve that NCSG should be exist because
community need it, not because the ICANN's CEO wanted it.

Regards,

Dwi

 Hi,
>
> One thing might be to convince the Board that their search committee
> should go beyond Board members and should include community stakeholders.
>
> a.
>
>
>
> On 19 Aug 2011, at 02:26, Nuno Garcia wrote:
>
>> It is best to be proactive and try to shape how the next mandate will
>> be.
>>
>> Warm regards,
>>
>> Nuno Garcia
>>
>> On 18 August 2011 22:05, Milton L Mueller <mueller at syr.edu> wrote:
>> Maria
>> I did not say that it didn't matter who the CEO is. Of course it does.
>> But its a fact that NCUC/NSCG had its worst forms of persecution by
>> ICANN staff before Rod was CEO, and that little changed for us when he
>> was hired.
>>
>> What I think we need to distance ourselves from are Kierens claims that
>> Rod took credit for things that others did and other kinds of
>> personality issues. Its just not relevant to us.
>>
>> Milton Mueller
>> Professor, Syracuse University School of Information Studies
>>
>>
>> -----Original message-----
>> From: Maria Farrell <maria.farrell at gmail.com>
>> To: Milton L Mueller <mueller at syr.edu>
>> Cc: "NCSG-DISCUSS at listserv.syr.edu" <NCSG-DISCUSS at listserv.syr.edu>
>> Sent: Thu, Aug 18, 2011 17:59:19 GMT+00:00
>> Subject: Re: Fwd: [council] Rod Beckstrom to leave ICANN at the end of
>> his term
>>
>> I have to disagree, Milton.
>>
>> For a start, Kieren resigned at his own behest. (I was fired though -
>> and I'm not in this for revenge but because I care about how the
>> organisation works.) He's not a vengeful guy and is demonstrably
>> pursuing the same arguments and issues he did before he ever worked for
>> ICANN.
>>
>> But to the main point - that it doesn't matter who's running the ship -
>> the 'plague on all your houses' approach. Of course it matters who's in
>> charge. NCUC has, rightly, complained strenuously for several years
>> about being pushed aside by staff in favour of the at large and other
>> gnso constituencies. That's staff-directed policy and can change
>> overnight, depending on who runs the show. Even if we care less about
>> the org as a whole, there's still a clear benefit for ncuc in some types
>> of ceo rather than others.
>>
>> Which is not to be completely naive about it. The CEO is not going to
>> change our lives, here in NCUC, but she or he will have an impact and we
>> can have one back.
>>
>> 2011/8/18 Milton L Mueller <mueller at syr.edu>
>> Kieren makes some worthwhile points here but you have to remember that
>> Kieren was fired by Beckstrom, so he has a revenge motive in writing
>> things like this. From NCSGs point of view, a lot of this kind of stuff
>> is a bunch of snarky disputes among insiders and doesnt affect our
>> status or the policies we care about much.
>>
>> --MM
>>
>>
>>
>> From: NCSG-Discuss [mailto:NCSG-DISCUSS at LISTSERV.SYR.EDU] On Behalf Of
>> Poomjit Sirawongprasert
>> Sent: Wednesday, August 17, 2011 2:16 PM
>> To: NCSG-DISCUSS at LISTSERV.SYR.EDU
>> Subject: Re: [NCSG-Discuss] Fwd: [council] Rod Beckstrom to leave ICANN
>> at the end of his term
>>
>>
>>
>> How about his?
>>
>> ICANN fires its CEO
>> http://news.dot-nxt.com/2011/08/16/icann-fires-ceo
>>
>> ICANN fires its CEO
>>
>> by Kieren McCarthy | 16 Aug 2011 |
>>
>> The CEO of ICANN Rod Beckstrom has announced he is leaving the
>> organization at the end of his contract.
>>
>> According to a tweet sent out by Beckstrom at 4.20pm PST: I have
>> decided to wrap up my service at ICANN July 2012, adding Press release
>> soon.
>>
>> The press release [pdf] followed 20 minutes later and comprised largely
>> of Beckstrom listing his achievements in the first and third person. I
>> can summarize my time here in four words: strong execution, great
>> team-building, he was quoted as saying.
>>
>> Board chair Steve Crocker, who took over the post only two months ago,
>> noted that: The Board of Directors fully supports Rod through the
>> completion of his July 2012 term.
>>
>> Behind the pronouncements lies a different storyBehind the
>> pronouncements lies a different story. It is well known in ICANN circles
>> that there has been significant concern over Beckstroms performance for
>> some time. And we understand that Beckstroms decision was made for
>> him at a secret Board meeting earlier this month.
>>
>> Unlike the three other CEOs that have presided over ICANN in its 11-year
>> history, Beckstrom lobbied hard to have his contract renewed, even
>> giving a public speech at ICANNs most recent meeting in Singapore in
>> June listing what he had achieved as CEO. Accompanying  todays press
>> release, somewhat bizarrely, is a separate PDF listing Beckstroms
>> notable accomplishments.
>>
>> Credit score
>>
>> Ironically, it is Beckstroms attempt to personally attach himself to
>> all the organizations successes that is a major reason for his failure
>> as an ICANN CEO: he is seen as too quick to claim credit for others
>> work and to put personal promotion ahead of effective management. In two
>> years in charge, almost the entire senior management team has left.
>> Community questions as to why were met with obtuse reference to industry
>> percentages.
>>
>> Having written a book lauding the power of leaderless structures over
>> traditional hierarchy  the first likened to a starfish, the second to a
>> spider  many were surprised when Beckstrom created an even stronger
>> hierarchy within ICANN, with him as the head. And the bottleneck.
>>
>> Beckstroms claim to have encouraged great team-building were famously
>> called into question at the organizations meeting in San
>> FranciscoBeckstroms claim to have encouraged great team-building were
>> famously called into question at the organizations meeting in San
>> Francisco in March this year when former staff member Maria Farrell took
>> the microphone during a public forum to announce her profound disquiet
>> about how the organization is operationally being managed and talked of
>> a "hollowing out of expertise and a climate of fear stalking the ICANN
>> staff. Her comments were met with prolonged applause.
>>
>> Parachute
>>
>> Likewise, Beckstroms most significant claim to have negotiated an
>> historic agreement with the US government that saw ICANN gain greater
>> autonomy is largely fanciful: he was in charge for less than three
>> months before the agreement was signed, whereas negotiations had been
>> going on for 18 months between ICAN
>>
>>
>