An open letter to the new CEO of ICANN.
Congratulations, Rod. You’ll be the new CEO of ICANN.
You have your work cut out for you. Rightly or wrongly, ICANN is a punching bag for many grievances. As Michael Palage pointed out at the last ICANN meeting, ICANN will likely be subject to many lawsuits over the next couple years. Here are a few suggestions as you prepare to take over the reins.
1. Remember that domain owners ultimately fund your organization. Registries and registrars merely funnel domain owners’ money to ICANN.
2. Transparency requires understanding. Merely publishing information does not create transparency. Ironically, publishing too much disparate information can have a negative effect. People need to understand how ICANN works and how decisions are made. It’s ICANN’s job to educate people and operate in a simple manner.
3. Be visible with your ultimate constituents — domain owners. ICANN typically sends one representative to domain industry conferences. It’s great having him there, but I’d like to see more participation in the future.
4. Don’t be afraid to stop projects that don’t make sense. Prior investments are sunk costs. If it doesn’t make sense to proceed with an initiative, then cut it.
5. Registry competition means putting registry contracts out to open bidding.
6. Remember your core mission. Mission creep could spell ICANN’s doom.
7. Please respond to legitimate criticism, and not on the defensive. People want to know their voice is being heard.
Rod Beckstrom says
Thank you for your thoughtful, well intentioned comments.
Warmly,
Rod Beckstrom
M. Menius says
Nicely put Andrew. And thank you for expressing what so many think and feel.
RKB says
Hello Rod,
It feels so nice to see you participating on domain blogs.
It shows us that you are a wise humble man who cares and is aspiring to fulfill his duties well.
Thank you and good luck in your new mission.
Regards,
RKB
PS: As always, Great journalism Andrew.
Daniel Dryzek says
Great idea to write this open letter Andrew! And it’s very nice to see Rod here as well 🙂
Good luck Rod with your new position. Hope to see ICANN moving in the right direction in the future.
David J Castello says
Congratulations, Rod, on your appointment. I, too, am quite impressed that you are engaging in domainer blogs such as Domain Name Wire. It is a welcome change from those who have previously held your position and gives many of us in this industry confidence that ICANN is evolving.
Rod Beckstrom says
Thank you Daniel, RKB and David for the congrats. I’m going to need and will appreciate all of the help and support I can get!!!
Warmly,
Rod
Tim Davids says
Good luck in your new office Rod. Agree with the others…great to see you stopping in here.
Scott Roberts says
Congratulations Rod, and thank you for commenting.
Also, thanks for writing this Andrew.
Adam says
Is there a type of starfish that ignores/cuts off one of it’s arms in order to make it’s other arms grow bigger? 🙂
Johnny says
@ Adam …..speaking on behalf of all asexual organisms I want to see that we find that statement offensive. 🙂
Stuart says
Come on, we all know he was Googling himself and clicked on the news link.
Good luck, Rod.
Andrew Allemann says
@ Stuart, to be fair, Rod found this through Twitter. He’s definitely a “connected” guy. I have a feeling that he will be much more open than the outgoing CEO.
Christian says
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