Leading in a Connected World

Hosted by highly-acclaimed authors of The Hidden Power of Social Networks, Understanding How Work Really Gets Done in Organizations, http://www.robcross.org/book_jacket.htm Rob Cross and Andrew Parker for the first time have applied the power of what they call, "social network analysis" to management, based on their study of 60 employee networks in widely-recognized organizations world-wide. And they have organized this conference to share this exciting and effective new perspective. Their book has received rave reviews, including one in Time magazine.

Cross is an assistant professor at the University of Virginia's McIntire School of Commerce and Andrew Parker is a research consultant with IBM's Knowledge and Organizational Performance Forum. They argue that the majority of managers have little understanding of how their employees interact to get work done. According to them, these "hidden networks" are what truly drive an organization's performance.

Executives from over 100 diverse and highly-recognized organizations will participate in Leading in a Connected World, a two-day conference to be held at the University of Virginia's Darden Graduate School of Business Administration in Charlottesville, Nov. 3-5.http://www.darden.virginia.edu/batten/connected/index.htm

The conference is designed to enable leaders to promote organizational performance and innovation using a network perspective. Sponsored by the Darden School's Batten Institute and McIntire School of Commerce, University of Virginia, the conference will feature prominent experts who will cover ways that a network perspective can promote organizational excellence.

Is this the next new business trend?

Conference topics will include: * Strategy and Innovation: Managing external connectivity (e.g. alliances), designing networks that deliver specific value propositions, managing connectivity with customers, supporting a distributed workforce, and driving innovation and change processes through networks * Leadership and Organizational Development: Human resource practices promoting collaboration, communities of practice for development and strategy execution, leadership development, relational views of employee motivation/engagement, and career development.

Participants include executives from diverse and well-recognized organizations such as Xerox and IBM, Deloitte, Exxon-Mobil, Citigroup, Merck, NASA and the FAA, Halliburton and Intel. (see URL for full list) http://www.darden.virginia.edu/batten/connected/who.htm