The Networked Learning Community (NLC) programme has been a major research and development activity of the National College of School Leadership (NCSL). One hundred and four voluntary, funded school networks were set up following a process of bidding and selection operated by a core NCSL team, the Networked Learning Group (NLG). A second tranche of unfunded networks went through a similar bidding process as the authors began to understand how networked learning operated for the programme's pioneer schools. How have individuals, schools and the wider system benefited from engagement with network leadership? What has been the programme's impact on distributed leadership and on what is increasingly being referred to as "system leadership"? This has been the subject of systemic enquiry and research by the programme's own research team. Researchers have used interviews, performance data and structured, programme-wide enquiry to create a better understanding of the diversity and complexity of network relationships in various key dimensions of activity. In this article, the authors present some of the findings on the experience of network leadership, illustrated by quotations from the network heads, deputies, and co-leaders who contributed to this research.