[Pso-discuss] Re: What makes a good director?

[jean-francois abramatic <jfa@w3.org>]

Bonjour,

>At the most recent PSO teleconference, I was asked to send the three=20 of
>you a letter, soliciting your thoughts on what sort of person would make
>the best director (i.e. what qualities each of you believe are important
>in the selection of ICANN BOT members).

Three set of qualities :

1. ICANN directors need to be familiar with the Internet culture :

- Decentralization

The hype around Internet governance puts pressure on ICANN.
Directors need to have a solid vision to help focus ICANN on its core responsibilities.

- Interoperability

ICANN directors need to understand and contribute to develop the appropriate
partnerships with a large collection of very different organizations
(eg from IETF to Governments) on a wide variety of issues (eg from technical to legal).

- Evolvability

The deployment of the Internet is in its infancy (3 to 4% of the World population).
New problems and new opportunities will arise. ICANN is young and small enough that it can
develop a flexible structure that will be able to adapt and face the new challenges.
Directors should be capable of adaptability since they may not have to do
what they were expecting to do when becoming candidate.

2. ICANN directors are accountable to the Internet community and the Society at large

- Public accountability

ICANN directors need to be ready to develop substantial efforts to=20 share
the rationales that lead to ICANN decisions. Managing open discussions in an
environment where shared understanding is limited requires a significant amount
of patience and faith in open processes.

- Legacy regulations

As much as we all believe that the Internet will bring new ways of communication between
people, societies have developed (so far) their cultures and rules without the prospect of the Internet
in mind. More importantly, these rules and cultures were able to develop "independently"
of each other when the means of communication were limited in scope. Hence a wide
variety of situations where the impact of the Internet is very different from one country
to the other. Understanding the existing legacy environments is essential for ICANN.
Directors need to be conscious of those differences.

- Internationalization

While IETF may have the luxury to declare itself "a-national" (from Fred Baker during
a panel on Internet governance at CFP2000), ICANN cannot and will never be able to.
The first membership recruitment phase has shown discrepancies between countries
involvement that ICANN will have to face. ICANN board and staff need to take proactive
steps to enhance international coverage of ICANN efforts. For the years to come, this
will continue to be a priority for the organization.

3. ICANN is an organization like any other one

- Business model

ICANN needs to develop a stable business model and execute its business plan.
As a young organization, there is still a set of unknowns that need to be addressed
and may require appropriate actions if actual results do not match initial plans.
Directors need to be ready to take action to update the plans if necessary.

- ICANN team

Individuals have chosen to pursue their careers within ICANN. The youth of the
organization together with its visibility put a high pressure on ICANN staff.
Directors need to be aware of this situation and should be ready to adapt
expectations to the available human resources.

- Commitment

In the building phase where ICANN is now, Directors should be ready to face
unexpected situations and commit to address them whatever difficult or curious
these may be.

Concluding comments :

It should not be expected that every director has the experience, expertise and qualities
to address each of the issues described above.
However, every director should be able to share the understanding of all issues
and contribute to resolve some of them.

Hope this helps,
Cheers,
Jean-Fran=E7ois


A 15:37 01/06/00 -0400, Steve Coya a =E9crit :
>
>Greetings,
>
>As you are aware, Jean-Francois Abramatic's term as one of the=20 Protocol
>Standards Council's appointments to the ICANN Board of Directors ends
>later this year.
>
>At the most recent PSO teleconference, I was asked to send the three=20 of
>you a letter, soliciting your thoughts on what sort of person would make
>the best director (i.e. what qualities each of you believe are important
>in the selection of ICANN BOT members).
>
>As we once again begin the difficult task of selecting one individual, we
>are hoping that the past year has been enlightening and your thoughts will
>better enable us to select the best candidate for this task.
>
>Thanks in advance,
>
>
>Steve Coya
>PSO-PC Secretary du jours
>
>
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========================================================================= Date: Tue, 13 Jun 2000 14:12:03 -0400 (Eastern Daylight Time)