Once you begin to recognize the webs of relationships that make up our world, you will never go back. This is what we call the network mindset shift. To adopt a network mindset is to embrace the reality that everything is connected — that the actions of individuals, organizations, and…

Sometimes, the actions of what seems like an incredibly complex system can actually be explained by a few simple rules. Consider the incredible murmurations of starlings, in which a group of dozens or even hundreds of birds swirl, shift direction, and move swiftly across the sky. …

Today is a special day! After four years of research and writing, today our book becomes available to the world: Impact Networks: Create Connection, Spark Collaboration, and Catalyze Systemic Change, written by David Ehrlichman and published by Berrett-Koehler Publishers. …

“We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly.” — Martin Luther King Jr., Letter from a Birmingham Jail The following post is excerpted from the introduction of Impact Networks: Create Connection, Spark Collaboration, and Catalyze…

I met my sister Rebecca at the nearby beach about a week before the stay-at-home order was put in place here in Seattle. …

Updated March 31, 2021 Most impact networks will benefit from an assortment of simple and effective software tools for tasks such as written communication, audio and video conferencing, polling and group decision-making, ideating and whiteboarding, collaborative document and spreadsheet creation, file sharing, and scheduling, as well as asset mapping and…

Collaborations and networks rarely achieve their ambitious goals. Here’s what it takes to make them actually work. By David Ehrlichman, David Sawyer, and Matthew Spence Collaboration is appealing in concept but challenging in practice. While extensive resources — including ones from the Community Tool Box, The Intersector Project, and NewNetworkLeader.org…

David Ehrlichman & Matthew Spence, Converge (converge.net) The effectiveness of any collaborative effort — whether it’s a network or an organization — depends primarily on the strength of the connections that exist between the participants involved. Social network analysis (SNA), using mapping tools like Gephi or Kumu, is the most…

Incredible things can happen when the right group of people are focused on a shared purpose, when they trust each other, and when they seek out opportunities to support each other’s work. …