[ARIN-consult] Fwd: [arin-announce] Consultation on Increasing the Size of the ARIN Board of Trustees
Bartlett Morgan
bartlett.morgan at gmail.com
Wed Mar 2 17:28:18 EST 2022
Thank you for this.
+1
I am *almost* shocked that this is still a conversation.
On Wed, Mar 2, 2022 at 5:25 PM <bzs at theworld.com> wrote:
>
> I'm sort of amazed that after at least 40+ years of diversity
> discussion and practices (obviously not limited to the networking
> sphere) we go right back to year zero on the issue of whether or not
> including members of varying race, gender, etc introduce diversity and
> are a good thing or not.
>
> One thing is certain, the net/email/lists seem to make people believe
> they are gods and if they wish to advocate whether or not the earth is
> flat well, it's their keyboard to bang on, no need for external
> reference, studies, thoughts from experienced professionals, etc.
>
> Why not type "the value of diversity in governance" and read through
> some of the hits. Or read one or two from respected sources, including
> retrospective findings of studies on the topic such as:
>
>
> https://corpgov.law.harvard.edu/2020/07/14/maximizing-the-benefits-of-board-diversity-lessons-learned-from-activist-investing/
>
> or
>
>
> https://www.councilofnonprofits.org/tools-resources/diversity-nonprofit-boards
>
> etc.
>
> also maybe enter "diversity and governance" into Amazon's book search
> and consider some titles.
>
> > On Tue, Mar 1, 2022 at 7:11 PM Mike Burns <mike at iptrading.com> wrote:
> >
> > Hi Ted,
> >
> > I appreciate your general feelings about diversity, but diversity of
> > thought is really the significant factor.
> > I don't think diversity of race, gender, sexual orientation,
> ethnicity, or
> > any of that matters in decisions about the stewardship of numbers.
> > But diversity of thought is different and I don't think superficial
> > diversity is the desire here, although I concur it may have been in
> the
> > past.
> >
> > In addition to diversity of thought, one of the reasons offered for
> this
> > change was protection from board capture.
> > Although you may be right about difficulties reaching consensual
> decisions
> > with larger boards, and those difficulties making larger boards
> appear
> > conservative, I find that as organizations grow larger they
> actually grow
> > less conservative as a rule. We could argue that point.
> >
> > But the advantages gained by making board capture more difficult
> outweigh
> > the disadvantages associated with slower decision-making.
> > And advantages of true diversity of thought and relevant experience
> are
> > even more important.
> >
> > A board of only six members is very easy to capture and in the
> workings of
> > the last NomCom I detected a real danger of that happening at ARIN.
> >
> > I take it at face value that the current and prior boards were
> honestly
> > interested in reviewing ARIN governance and that this recommendation
> > resonates with more than just a hired consultant but with the board
> members
> > who commissioned the review.
> >
> > I am not a fan of ARIN expanding its number stewardship
> responsibilities
> > beyond what is minimally necessary. I am not a fan of the board
> making
> > charitable donations or spending lots of money on items tangential
> to
> > number stewardship but some of the issues mentioned below do
> intersect with
> > those responsibilities. Included among these are cybersecurity, risk
> > management, and legal issues associated with the registration of
> > increasingly valuable resources. These are issues the earliest
> boards may
> > not have had to deal with, but these have become important today,
> and
> > likely there will be other issues that arise in the future.
> >
> > It makes sense with proliferating duties to have a larger board, and
> > additionally the protection afforded against board capture lead me
> to
> > support this increase in board size.
> >
> > Regards,
> > Mike Burns
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > ---- On Tue, 01 Mar 2022 16:06:25 -0500 Ted Mittelstaedt <
> tedm at ipinc.net>
> > wrote ----
> >
> >
> > Yes, this sort of thing is all the rage today. It's a big fad.
> > Predictably the phrase "Increase diversity of thought on issues
> > impacting the community" was included as a poison pill.
> >
> > Anyone arguing against the idea is immediately labeled as being
> against
> > the magic "diversity" word and thus a bigot and racist and so
> has lost
> > the argument before they even make it.
> >
> > You might consider that a hired consultant who says "thank you
> for that
> > fat check you gave me, the reality is you are doing nothing
> wrong and
> > don't need any of my suggestions" is going to be viewed as a
> scammer
> > at worst, and a stupid waste of money at best. Management
> consultants
> > ALWAYS recommend changes. You could hire a consulting firm to
> study
> > the most successful and profitable company in the world and
> they would
> > find something wrong.
> >
> > Go ahead if you want. It just means that even less will get done
> > since in general the more members on any sort of governing
> committee or
> > team, the more conservative it is, and the harder it is to
> arrive at
> > a consensus.
> >
> > https://hbr.org/2009/05/why-teams-dont-work
> >
> > In another decade the next consultant will recommend shrinking
> the
> > board
> > so it really doesn't matter what you do now.
> >
> > Ted Mittelstaedt
> >
> > -------- Forwarded Message --------
> > Subject: [arin-announce] Consultation on Increasing the Size of
> the
> > ARIN
> > Board of Trustees
> > Date: Tue, 01 Mar 2022 13:54:35 -0500
> > From: ARIN <info at arin.net>
> > To: arin-announce at arin.net <arin-announce at arin.net>
> >
> > The Board of Trustees maintains authority over the scope,
> mission, and
> > along with the President and Chief Executive Officer
> establishes ARIN’s
> > strategic direction and fiscal oversight. The Board also has
> oversight
> > authority of the nomination, appointment, and election of
> individuals
> > to
> > Board committees and similar roles.
> > Over the past two years, as part of its fiduciary duties, the
> ARIN
> > Board
> > of Trustees (“Board”) has undertaken a review of ARIN’s
> governance
> > structures, including the size of the Board. As part of this
> effort, an
> > independent, outside consultant was engaged to review ARIN’s
> governance
> > structures and provide recommendations.
> > One recommendation from this governance review is to increase
> the size
> > of the Board to strengthen its capacity to provide strategic
> and fiscal
> > oversight of ARIN. Increasing the Board size will:
> > 1. Increase the range and depth of overlapping skills and
> governance
> > experience on the Board to augment its capability. Specific
> areas for
> > strengthening include cybersecurity, risk management, finance,
> legal,
> > technology and strategic oversight. This will require more than
> 6
> > elected seats at the board table to provide this experience.
> >
> > 2. Increase diversity of thought on issues impacting the
> community,
> > limit the possibility of board capture, and balance the time
> commitment
> > required of our community volunteers.
> >
> > 3. Ensure sufficient board capacity to engage in more focused,
> > efficient
> > governance activities, including participation in these
> additional
> > valuable committees (e.g. Governance, Risk & Cybersecurity, and
> > Strategy
> > & Foresight) to manage the work and oversight duties of the
> Board, and
> > to take on work that is requested by, and important to, the
> community
> > as
> > it evolves.
> >
> > The budgetary impact will not be material, as the only
> increased costs
> > would be for travel costs involved in attending in-person Board
> > meetings. The number of Board members travelling to any RIR
> meeting
> > would not change.
> >
> > Board Proposal
> >
> > ARIN will increase the number of elected voting seats of the
> Board from
> > six to nine. The currently available appointed voting seat
> would be
> > removed.
> >
> > The additional Board seats would be added in a staggered format
> with
> > one
> > additional seat for election in each of the upcoming election
> cycles
> > starting with the 2022 election period.
> > ARIN seeks community feedback on this proposed increase to the
> size of
> > the Board. This consultation will remain open for 15 days.
> >
> > Please provide comments to arin-consult at arin.net. You can
> subscribe to
> > this mailing list at: http://lists.arin.net/mailman/listinfo/
> > arin-consult.
> >
> > Discussion on arin-consult at arin.net will close on 15 March
> 2022.
> >
> > Regards,
> >
> > John Curran
> > President and CEO
> > American Registry for Internet Numbers (ARIN)
> >
> >
> > _______________________________________________
> > ARIN-Announce
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> >
> >
> >
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>
> --
> -Barry Shein
>
> Software Tool & Die | bzs at TheWorld.com |
> http://www.TheWorld.com
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--
--
Kind regards,
Bartlett D. Morgan
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