Why hasn Auerbach been able to turn ICANN around?
I’m not privy to what goes on in ICANN board meetings. But steering any organization from the board level, particularly if the board has divided opinions, is very hard. The only real power a board has is to fire the CEO. The rest of its power is exercised by advising the CEO (if he or she will listen). It’s a delicate relationship, and it’s very disruptive to the organization when it breaks. If the CEO is unresponsive to guidance from the board, and the board is divided and thus can’t fire the CEO, then the whole organization goes dysfunctional. I’ve also been on boards that were merely too big to make good decisions. By the time everyone has had their say on an issue, two hours have gone by and you still haven’t made a decision, yet you have a dozen issues to resolve in the meeting. To make any decisions possible in a big board, most board members have to sit back and not participate, except in issues where they have personal knowledge or serious interest. Such boards can’t resolve ha
