DownloadThe Portobello Bookshop Gift Guide 2024

Network Leadership

Navigating and Shaping Our Interconnected World

James Whitehead author Mike Peckham author

Format:Hardback

Publisher:Taylor & Francis Ltd

Published:28th Mar '22

Currently unavailable, and unfortunately no date known when it will be back

This hardback is available in another edition too:

Network Leadership cover

Across organisations and communities there are leaders who manage to get things done through their ability to understand how a network of individuals connect, who to talk to and how to bring people together in the right constellation of effort. These are "network leaders".

Network Leadership enables readers to identify and make the most of informal social and organisational networks in order to challenge the status quo effectively and facilitate greater engagement and productivity. Not only will the research in these chapters help you become a better leader and manager of your own team or department, it will also help make you a better network leader, effecting positive change across teams, and departmental and organisational boundaries. Leaders who facilitate action do so through four key practices: they understand the social systems in which they work; they have convening power, uncovering and connecting underlying movements and giving voice to something that is worth listening to; they lead beyond their formal authority; and they possess the power of restless persuasion and a capacity to thrive in complexity and crises.

This book is invaluable reading for those who have mastered the basics of leadership but wish to take the next steps. It is particularly relevant to organisations and managers dealing with the geographic separation of business units, change, innovation, matrix management, project or portfolio management and other cross-departmental projects.

"We only truly grow up when we know what it is to be fully human. In our hands we are being given technology tools that are transforming what we can do and how we grow. But just because we can do it, doesn’t make it good for us. The world needs leaders who thrive on living in this tension and use tools for growing transparency of truth. That’s good for all of us."

- Ruth Dearnley OBE, CEO STOP THE TRAFFIK

"Mike and James have produced a timely gem of a handbook for leaders at all levels. Leading amidst the profound shifts in how we live, work and relate to one another demands we evolve how we lead and Network Leadership shows us how."

- Neil Ventura, Executive Vice President, Strategy & Innovation (De Beers Group)

"In Network Leadership, James and Mike connect the dots beautifully in laying out what it means to be an agile and resilient leader in a rapidly changing world. I hope that you will find in Network Leadership, tangible ideas to help you elegantly navigate your networks and galvanise action towards the change you believe in."

-Demi Edosomwan, Managing Director, TotalEnergies Ventures


"In this important book the authors provide a new view of leadership that takes us beyond the traditional 'heroic' image of leaders and instead provides a new narrative that recognises the importance of context. As a leader I have always believed in the informal power of networks and convening to bring people together to achieve great things. This is the first book that provides an insight to my version of leadership."

Dame Jayne-Anne Gadhia, CBE

"We only truly grow up when we know what it is to be fully human. In our hands we are being given technology tools that are transforming what we can do and how we grow. But just because we can do it, doesn’t make it good for us. The world needs leaders who thrive on living in this tension and use tools for growing transparency of truth. That’s good for all of us."

Ruth Dearnley OBE, CEO STOP THE TRAFFIK

"Mike and James have produced a timely gem of a handbook for leaders at all levels. Leading amidst the profound shifts in how we live, work and relate to one another demands we evolve how we lead and Network Leadership shows us how."

Neil Ventura, Executive Vice President, Strategy & Innovation (De Beers Group)

"In Network Leadership, James and Mike connect the dots beautifully in laying out what it means to be an agile and resilient leader in a rapidly changing world. I hope that you will find in Network Leadership, tangible ideas to help you elegantly navigate your networks and galvanise action towards the change you believe in."

Demi Edosomwan, Managing Director, TotalEnergies Ventures

ISBN: 9780367544140

Dimensions: unknown

Weight: 453g

278 pages