Book Endorsements

’Driving Results Through Social Networks’ shows executives how to leverage seemingly invisible networks for performance and innovation impact. Through compelling and detailed cases the authors demonstrate how top organizations are deriving measurable business impact by cultivating networks that support strategic objectives—not simply building collaborations indiscriminately. The ideas are highly impactful and ones we are using on several fronts at Monsanto.

Mark Showers
Chief Information Officer, Monsanto

Rob Cross and Bob Thomas continue to break new ground in the study—and most importantly in the practical application—of social network analysis to organizational results. Their framework for examining networks is both specific and actionable. The ideas in "Driving Results Through Social Networks" will continue to help our leaders maximize their own effectiveness and drive Hewlett-Packard forward.

Steffen Landauer
Chief Learning Officer, Hewlett-Packard

Many of us spend a significant amount of managerial time trying to constantly reorganize into global, matrixed organizations and wonder why it's so challenging to assimilate and engage talent while driving change and innovation. Cross and Thomas suggest a very novel idea we are increasingly employing at Citi——that we should be focused on analyzing, building and leveraging the social networks that drive how work REALLY gets done.

Greg Burns
Chief Learning Officer, Citi

ONA has helped Ketchum improve the functioning of one of our largest offices, as well as one of our largest clients. It gives a practical map of relationships that you can use to find clarity amidst the ambiguity——I heartily recommend this book!"

Ray Kotcher
CEO, Ketchum

The business world is experiencing tremendous pressures to be more flexible and able to harness the knowledge and power of people. Cross and Thomas provide important insights into how to address these issues by leveraging social networks. Managing social networks, as an evolving field of management practice, is going to make a big difference in business performance.

Steve Maritz
Chairman & CEO, Maritz Inc.

The title of Cross and Thomas' book could not be more appropriate: social network analysis REALLY does drive results in organizations. As a practitioner of leadership development, I can say with confidence that it is rare to come across a solid academic idea that translates into practical actions for a firm. The ideas in this book offer not only new ways to understand how organizations work but, most importantly, new ways to make organizations work better.

Lisa Vertucci
Managing Director and Head of Talent Management, Barclays Capital

Driving Results Through Social Networks delivers on its promise by showing how leaders can fuel performance and growth through better management of networks within and between organizations. Cross and Thomas use in-depth case examples to move beyond the hype of networks and demonstrate the strategic benefits that come from leveraging these traditionally hidden assets. Having used these ideas in my own organization I strongly recommend this book as a guide for leaders aspiring to obtain a multiplier effect on the skills and expertise of employees throughout a company.

John Cammack
Head of Third Party Distribution T. Rowe Price Associates

Informal networks are how work really gets done. While they are likely your most precious resource, most executives don’t know how to harness their power. Cross and Thomas describe how to use them to meet your strategic objectives.

Steve D’Amico
Director of Design Learning and Capability, The Procter & Gamble Company

People-centered managers have intuitively believed that improving connections at work result in significant quantifiable business impacts. Cross and Thomas now give us proof this intuition is true! At MWH, we've used ONA inside our company and with our clients over the past five years to successfully manage organizational design, improve leadership and mentoring, facilitate change, and improve knowledge retention——we're believers. If you want to be a believer, let this book give you new insights and starting points for using this important, new approach to business management.

Vic Gulas
Chief Knowledge Officer, Montgomery-Watson Harza

While individual know-how is critically important for our company, it is network-based knowledge and connections that drive our ability to act and operate globally, driving better business performance. Our best networks continuously analyze how they are actually functioning, enabling these networks to improve collaborative patterns and produce greater business value. This book breaks new ground in highlighting concrete connections between networks and business performance.

Dan Ranta
Director of Knowledge Sharing, ConocoPhillips

Better networks mean better performance. That’s never been clear before this book, but now it’s obvious. If you know your business objectives, Cross and Thomas will help you understand how social networks can help you achieve them.

Thomas H. Davenport
President’s Distinguished Professor of Management and Information Technology, Babson College

Organizational network analysis has become an indispensable way of thinking and framing knowledge sharing within the Defense Intelligence Agency and the Intelligence Community. We have used it to baseline the level of leadership collaboration, to implement a “smart mentoring” concept to pull up those at the periphery of frontline employees to be more influential with peers and leaders, and to show that the greater the diversity of ones network is directly correlated with higher performance. We have taken from Cross and Thomas more than they have given——a performance improvement capability that is changing the landscape of organizations.

Adrian (Zeke) Wolfberg
Director, Knowledge Laboratory, Defense Intelligence Agency