Impact Networks: Create Connection, Spark Collaboration, and Catalyze Systemic Change

This book is guiding our efforts to reinvent how we do health in this country. It gives great guidance! We did a three part book club with our membership and it was greatly appreciated.

It is incredibly hard to find any books that explain *how* to create systemic social change. I am aware of only two, and this is one of them (the other one is "Systems thinking for social change" by David Peter Stroh).This book has solidly entered my hall of fame - I have read it three times, made condensed notes on it and re-read the notes many times, and mailed 5-6 copies to my friends and colleagues.It is an absolute classic - it explains:- Why serious systemic social problems require a networked approach through the collaboration and trust-building among many organizations- What "network leadership" is, how it is different from traditional hierarchical leadership / leadership by authority (which is completely useless in a systemic context), and how to be a network leader- How to form and operate such a network, step by stepWe have followed the playbook of this book in my non-profit's work on the green talent pipeline and it has showed extremely promising results.

I know this review will sound like a book jacket blurb, but I'm so excited that you'll have to bear with me because there's so much in and about this book that I need to share.There are different types of networks for different purposes, and not all networks have the objective of making an impact in our society and in our world. But if you do intend to build and/or grow an impact network, this book is the perfect roadmap!As a co-founder of a new group dedicated to developing an impact network (actually a network of networks, and yes, that's a thing), my co-founders and I were so excited to find David Ehrlichman's insightful, detailed, and prescriptive book. Reading it made us feel like he was somehow listening to our conversations and feeding us exactly what we needed in real time. It turns out that we don't need to invent our own process and chart an unexplored path because this book provides real-world examples of how impact networks develop and grow and what's required to make methodical progress.This detailed guide, provided with context and clarity, will save us a great deal of time, false starts, backtracking, and avoidable pitfalls. If you're serious about building or growing an impact network, this isn't a one-time read. It's a reference book and map. As a bonus, you even get access to an open-source toolkit of templates, forms, and guides to help you each step of the way.Read this book and get ready to make an impact in the world!

I am the Baton Rouge Area Youth Network (BRAYN) coordinator, committed to equipping high-quality youth programs in the East Baton Rouge Parish for young people. We organized a book club among our members to read Impact Networks, and our members finished the book feeling inspired and motivated. This book answers our questions with clarity and passion and sparked new ideas and discussions that will continue to resonate within our community.The impact of this book is already evident in how our participants think about and approach their efforts within the Baton Rouge Area Youth Network. Its guidance is helping us shape a more robust, more connected network that will better serve the youth in our community.Thank you for your time, generosity, and commitment to fostering impactful networks. Your contributions have made a lasting impression on us all, and we are excited to continue building on the knowledge and inspiration you've provided.

I urge you to buy and read “Impact Networks,” by David Ehrlichman.This is the book I've already recommended to hundreds of people over the past few weeks because it offers such depth and breadth to those of us who are catalyzing and supporting the networks that support the change we want to see and be in the world. "Impact Networks" strongly parallels the concept of “catalytic communities” we’ve been working on at the nonprofit 10.10.10 and my for-profit company, X Genesis. (If I didn't know better, I'd say David somehow managed to get inside my head for the past six years and learn what I've been learning, read what I've been reading, speak to the people I've been meeting and even think my thoughts.) He's written the book I wanted to see and wish I had written!Focusing on the power of collaborative networks to address the wicked problems that arise within complex adaptive systems, Impact Networks lays out a set of perspectives and a framework that will be essential as humanity works to turn its wicked problems into opportunities.So, as I said at the outset, I'm urging you to buy this book and read it. It may change for the better your life and the lives of the many others with whom you are connected or will soon become connected.

Despite working from home the past 22 months, my network has grown exponentially and the connection has been deeper and more authentic. A vision around our shared connection started to emerge. What to do with these ideas and energy? We are experiencing a Covid-instigated appetite for change. What can we connected individuals do? When connected people seek to address social sector issues they are called impact networks. This book guides you to leverage relationships for change. Change that can improve conditions in your own backyard and/or globally. “This book is about how to cultivate impact networks that enable diverse groups of people to connect, coordinate, and collaborate within and across organizations to do more together than is possible alone.” Let’s do it in the new year!