Leadership Networks

What do we know about leadership networks that others may not have considered or that they have a tendency to forget? As part of the Leadership for a New Era collaborative learning initiative, we want to share this wisdom with leadership programs and community initiatives, many of which seek to build social capital and network capacity. Here is what I came up with.

• Successful networks are not sustained they are unleashed.

• Remember that people are nodes in multiple networks.

• Bridging across boundaries increases the probability of innovation.

• Those on the periphery of a network offer pathways to new allies.

What is your wisdom?

Hi Everyone !
I would like to suggest all my friends and juniors that if they want to improve their personlity and to act smartly then they shold regularly read Articles on Leadership and should go through motivational stories from other successful leaders.

I did the same and by the grace of AllMighty I am into a good job n being paid handsome salary.

Best of luck to everyone for their bright future

Mark Smith

Claire, I really like the point that "successful networks are not sustained, they are unleashed."

Sustaining vs. unleashing...

One way to promote unleashing comes from the open source software movement -- known as "copy-left" or "share-alike." By applying "share-alike" to something I have created, I give up my traditional sense of ownership of that something. In exchange, I oblige anyone who uses that something also to share it, not to own it, on exactly the same terms that I have set forth.

CreativeCommons.org provides all these ground rules in the form of free legal contracts. If you want to unleash something, CreativeCommons.org puts our existing legal system of property rights to work for you.

Thanks Mark for sharing this resource. Through the continued exchange of our knowledge and resources, we all learn more and have the opportunity to make connections that will serve us well in the future.

At LLC's Creating Space gathering several weeks ago, we held an open space session on leadership networks. I challenged those in the room to think about unleashing leadership networks rather than sustaining them. Ed O'Malley who directs the Kansas Leadership Center captured seven promising practices for unleashing networks from our conversation.

1. Let the purpose of the network emerge, don’t dictate it.
2. Base the network around shared values.
3. Let go of the control
4. Certain infrastructure needs to exist (i.e. Obama campaign and the internet)
5. Get members in network to have small wins on common work at beginning, then momentum builds
6. Have a long time horizon
7. Start with the people who are really active and passionate about the cause

Perhaps we could add: have clear ground rules that establish common values and expected practices. What other promising practices are there for unleashing leadership networks?