Driving Results Through Social Networks: How Top Organizations Leverage Networks for Performance and Growth (J-B US non-Franchise Leadership) [Hardcover]

Robert L. Cross (Author), Robert J. Thomas (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Review

"...shows executive managers how to obtain substantial performance and innovation impact by better leveraging these traditionally invisible assets." (PublicNet.co.uk, January 22nd 2009)

From the Inside Flap

Driving Results Through Social Networks

Most leaders are desperately seeking ways to get greater results from their organizations. While they are quick to acknowledge the value and power of informal networks for getting work done, far too often leaders apply flawed approaches to generating business results from networks. What they need is a proven method for assessing and managing networks for strategic purposes.

Driving Results Through Social Networks shows executives and managers how to obtain substantial performance and innovation impact by better leveraging these traditionally invisible assets. For the past decade, Rob Cross and Robert J. Thomas have worked closely with executives from over a hundred top-level companies and government agencies. In this groundbreaking book, they describe in-depth how these leaders are using network thinking to increase revenues, lower costs, and accelerate innovation.

Throughout the book, the authors offer clear principles and practical tools to drive collaborations that deliver the greatest performance impact. By using the network analysis techniques outlined in this book, leaders will be able to address such questions as: Does information flow smoothly across formal structure and thus allow an organization to leverage scale and expertise in product or service offerings? Is innovation spurred at key points by effective networks bringing together functions, offerings, or technical capabilities? Is the organization overly focused on a few decision-makers, roles, or experts that are invisibly but dramatically slowing the work and efficiency of many others? Once social networks become visible, leaders can address these and other questions in ways that have an immediate impact on performance.

Driving Results Through Social Networks is filled with illustrative examples from such successful companies as Procter & Gamble, Microsoft, United Technologies, Novartis, and Mars that have used network analysis to yield actionable insights and measureable business impact.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 240 pages
• Publisher: Jossey-Bass; 1 edition (January 9, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0470392495
• ISBN-13: 978-0470392492
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.4 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #684,581 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Excellent book - about organizational networks, not social networks, July 19, 2009

By 

Dorian Gray (VA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Driving Results Through Social Networks: How Top Organizations Leverage Networks for Performance and Growth (J-B US non-Franchise Leadership) (Hardcover)

First, this book is *not* to be confused with social networking as used typically in the context of linkedin or facebook etc. I think a better title would have been 'Organizational Networks'

This is about the combination of explicit and implicit organizational networks and how organizations should consider evaluating, re-defining these organizational networks to maximize organizational performance.

It will help you understand how *your* organization is actually functioning, the drawbacks that hinder your personal performance because of organizational network bottlenecks, and suggests models for improved organizational performance.

Organizational performance is related to getting the level of collaboration just right. You may be surprised to learn that the problem might not be too little collaboration but too much of inefficient collaboration.

The book is very good. The only reason I am not giving it a 5-star is because I think the book takes considerable effort to read.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Great book: focused on the important parts - people and process, January 19, 2010

By 

Chris Treanor - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Driving Results Through Social Networks: How Top Organizations Leverage Networks for Performance and Growth (J-B US non-Franchise Leadership) (Kindle Edition)

Great read, the authors do an excellent job of staying out of the fray of the various tools and technologies that are available for social networks, and we all know many of them. Some of the reviewers for this book seem to be looking for a cookbook of how to leverage these technologies. However, that is not the challenge we face in organizations. This book focuses on how the people and the processes around social networking can be analyzed and understood, then an organization can leverage the appropriate technologies to effectively support these networks. Definitely worth a read, only if you are not looking for a cookbook of how to deploy social networking technology!

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent book about how to measure results of your network building work, April 1, 2009

By 

C. Gallagher - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Driving Results Through Social Networks: How Top Organizations Leverage Networks for Performance and Growth (J-B US non-Franchise Leadership) (Hardcover)

If you have ever been tasked to build a network as part of your work responsibility -- and I have -- this book will be very instructive as to how you can begin to go about doing this and importantly, how you measure and document, and visualize the network.

For people in law enforcement, the type of network analysis described in the book can also help you to understand and make sense of the gazillion gang member cards and e-documentation you may be gathering, put that informatin together in an easy-to-understand visual framework, and identify critical nodes in the criminal network that you wouldn't otherwise know were people critical to maintaining the criminal network. Arrest / remove those nodes and you'll be on your way to measurably deconstructing criminal networks - and being able to succinctly report the MEASURABLE results of your work to your Police Chief.