CEO of company known for sexy commercials to speak on panel at women in computing conference.
GoDaddy’s CEO is speaking on the “Male Allies” panel at next week’s Anita Borg Institute Grace Hopper Celebration of Women in Computing event.
Let that soak in for a moment.
Such a role for a GoDaddy CEO would not have been imaginable five years ago. The company, known for its objectifying TV commercials, has rankled women for the past decade.
But the man behind those commercials is no longer at the helm of GoDaddy*. Blake Irving is now running the show and wants to change the company’s image. That includes ending the controversial commercials (a move that was underway before he took the CEO gig).
Not everyone knows about this shift at the company, or at least is willing to forgive GoDaddy for its previous advertising.
Irving has responded to one such person who challenged him on Twitter with a blog post responding to 7 tweets she directed to him.
It’s a rather thoughtful post on change at the company and Irving’s own beliefs about women in technology and equality.
Irving can’t undue the past at GoDaddy and the impressions it has left on people that will only every know the company by its controversial commercials. He makes a strong plea, though:
There are some who don’t want me there because of my new(ish) role as GoDaddy’s chief exec. Those people tell me that the company’s past transgressions are unforgivable—even when the past leadership team has been replaced. Their position reminds me of a neighbor I once had who would never buy a Japanese car because he was still angry about WWII and nothing anyone said could ever change that. It didn’t matter to him that the rest of the world saw the post war change and reform in Japan and worked to build a new world together—he was not willing to “give up the enemy” for any cost.
That’s a pretty thick comparison, but I understand his point.
I also understand naysayers who point out that the only reason the company is where it is now is because of its controversial advertising. Those “past transgressions” were necessary to make GoDaddy what it is; if they were erased, then Irving probably wouldn’t be running a billion-dollar domain name registrar right now.
(*Although no longer involved in day-to-day operations, Bob Parsons is still the company’s largest single shareholder)
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