Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to focus on Confucius Institutes and assess the applicability of theories of leadership and knowledge sharing to multinational organizations and worldwide networks. Growth of multinational trade and decrease in international tension have facilitated the globalization of both profit-seeking and non-profit organizations. Changes in economic and political environment have also blurred the divide in management practices between these organizations. Design/methodology/approach: The research applies recent theoretical developments to analyze leadership and knowledge sharing of the highly successful Confucius Institutes. Operational similarities and differences between this global learning organization and multinational businesses are evaluated. Findings: Many similarities exist between the operations of the Confucius Institutes and multinational businesses. For both, strategic goals are achieved through the promotion of global expansion and the management practices of distributed leadership and knowledge sharing. The study makes clear the successful application of distributed leadership to a worldwide network. The Confucius Institutes reflect the cultural and social changes in China, combined with influences of global cultures. Findings suggest that distributed leadership is a suitable management style for coping with variant cultural and socio-political conditions globally. This leadership style, combined with a knowledge-sharing network, is also suitable for the situational variables encountered in making thousands of decisions across hundreds of global locations by both learning institutions and business organizations. Originality/value: The paper explores a relatively new area of the similarities and differences between global non-profit and business networks as learning organizations. The study is of value to both those managing and those studying such organizations.