This book comes along at a great time. I just finished reading it and it provides ideas for ways many leaders can work together in a decentralized organization that shares a common purpose. 

The Cabrini Connections tutor/mentor program i s a decentralized organization. We create a structure that brings youth and adults together, but each volunteer and youth determine their own activities, based on the needs of the youth and the skills and time availability of the volunteer.

The Tutor/Mentor Connection is a larger version of the Cabrini Connections program.  It provides a library of information, and encourages thousands of people to look at the information, form discussion circles, and learn ways to help youth in poverty be part of programs like Cabrini Connections.

Thus, I've been leading a decentralized organization for almost 30 years and your writing helped give definition to much of what I'm doing. It also gave me some more ideas of how to unlease the power of a network. At http://www.tutormentorexchange.net/Partner/CC/Presentations/Leaders/pictures_history.htm you can see a chart I created several years ago to illustrate the role of leaders/catalysts to draw members of their network toward an idea, and then to places throughout Chicago where that ideas needed to be implemented. You can even see the idea of "circles" in which people with common backgrounds meet to discuss the ideas and ways their network can have an impact.

I write about this in my http://tutormentor.blogspot.com blog and use the http://www.tutormentorconnection.org site as a library and intersection for people who want to end poverty and value volunteer involvement as a strategy for helping kids, and creating more leaders. I hope you'll visit these sites and introduce yourselves and that you'll introduce others in your own network to the T/MC and people in our network.

You can learn more about the book, and even communicate with the authors, at  http://www.starfishandspider.com/