Network Centred Leadership

Companies now face a more volatile, unpredictable and complex environment than ever before. Established businesses are breaking down and for many new growth models are not yet clear.

To deal with this new reality, many companies are rolling out new collaborative approaches and technologies that connect people in new and powerful ways. Many experienced leaders are confident they will be able to figure out how to use these new social approaches and platforms as they go along. They personally use Linked-in or Facebook and think it will be easy.

Unfortunately it is not. In most companies it is not clear how these new collaborative technologies will deliver better business outcomes. While nobody believes that it can happen to them, 70% of initiatives will fail. The result will simply be more confusion, frustration and cognitive overload.

The sad reality is that many leaders are still trying to apply management approaches that are decades old. They are at a significant disadvantage to the next generation of 'digital native' leaders who grew using social platforms and collaborative learning as their default position.

If you rely on email, 'top down' strategy development and situational leadership, then Network-Centred Leadership is written for you. It provides a practical leadership approach that can complement your existing approach and help protect your career.

Used well, it will help you to build effective teams, leverage new social platforms and lead successfully in today's increasingly complex and interconnected world.

Charles Carnegie has an honours degree in mechanical engineering from the University of Melbourne and an MBA from Harvard Business School. Over the past 25 years he has worked both as an executive and a consultant with firms such as Accenture, Procter & Gamble, Boral and Cincinnati Bell.

Dennis McDonald has a first class honours degree in chemical engineering from the University of New South Wales and an MBA from Stanford University. Dennis has assisted the boards of more than 120 companies worldwide in dealing with issues of CEO capability and succession. He is a co-author of Reprogramming the Board, a book that focuses on improving the work at the board-management interface.

Charles Carnegie and Dennis McDonald are the founders of the Waypoint Group, an Australian consulting firm that focuses on strategy execution and leadership capability development.