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Polycentric Leadership

Collaborative, communal leadership empowering multiple centers of influence

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Charismatic Trait

Joseph Handley / 16-March-2021

Charismatic Trait

Polycentric Leadership is charismatic.

Charisma includes a strong foundation and a strong set of core values. Charisma is more than just having charismatic personality. It involves strength of character, trustworthiness, and a faithful presence. Charisma is vital to effective polycentric leadership. Whether it be good character, spiritual inspiration, or casting and carrying out vision, charisma is vitally important to leading well.

Example

Dan Cathy, CEO of Chick-Fil-A, embodies this theme well. He is constantly inspiring those he leads and the public at large through his regular leadership talks and posts. But, core to this inspiration is the character molded into him through his faith and family,

“Selfless, servant leadership is about action, the bottom line is that what we say and what we believe will only be as effective as what we are also willing to do.”

How can I grow as a charismatic, polycentric leader?

White Paper: Charisma

Is your life well-calibrated spiritually, emotionally, physically? Can you up your game and recalibrate so as to inspire those around you? Does your character embody the values you wish your company to live out?

More Information
  • Read White Paper: Charisma as a Foundational Theme of PCL
  • Download White Paper on Charisma
  • Photo by Wout Vanacker on Unsplash

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Filed Under: Charismatic Tagged With: charismatic, christian leadership, leadership, Polycentric Leadership, traits

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Joseph Handley

Joseph W. Handley, Jr., Ph.D. (@jwhandley) is the president of A3. Previously, he was the founding director of Azusa Pacific University’s Office of World Mission and lead mission pastor at Rolling Hills Covenant Church. He also serves on the International Orality Network leadership team and on the advisory teams for the Nozomi Project, BiblicalTraining.org, and DualReach as well as the board for ReIgnite Hope.

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Collaborative Trait Communal Trait Entrepreneurial Trait

Case Studies

  • Polycentric Leadership Development: Brief Case Study of the Pan Asia Leaders Dev…
    The Pan Asia Leaders Development (PALD) program, initiated within the A3 network, serves as a present-day prototype of polycentric leadership development. Looking back through the lens of current polycentric leadership scholarship, PALD embodied the principles of shared leadership, distributed authority, and contextualized formation across Asia. Designed and implemented as an experimental leadership ecosystem, it demonstrated how multi-centered structures can form transformational leaders “within, across, and beyond Asia.” [more…]
  • Cambodian Bible College: Pilgrimage from Patronage to Partnership
    At Cambodian Bible College, mission began within a familiar pattern of provision and dependence. Over time, that pattern was challenged, giving rise to a gradual, uneven shift toward shared leadership and polycentric partnership. This case study tells the story not of arrival, but of a continuing pilgrimage from patronage to partnership. [more…]
  • Shifting the Leadership Paradigm: How Polycentric Leadership Transformed Our Tea…
    By JOSHUA NURCOMBE-PIKEGlobal Theological Educator based in the UK “So, any thoughts on this?”  My enthusiastic pitch for a new [more…]
  • YWAM and the Emergence of a Polycentric Leadership Model
    By JOSEPH W. HANDLEY, JR., PH.D. Circles, Circuits, Cycles Over the past two decades, Youth With A Mission (YWAM) has undergone one of the [more…]
  • Polycentric Leadership at All Nations United Methodist Church
    By HUNN CHOI Introduction Polycentric leadership has emerged as one of the most effective approaches to addressing the complexity of [more…]

White Papers

  • Diverse as a Foundational Theme of Polycentric Leadership
    Explore how diverse leadership strengthens polycentric systems by valuing varied perspectives, empowering contextual leadership, and integrating cultural differences to foster innovation, resilience, and mission-aligned collaboration across global networks. [more…]
  • Entrepreneurial as a Foundational Theme of Polycentric Leadership
    Explore how entrepreneurial leadership strengthens polycentric systems by empowering distributed initiative, adaptive experimentation, and mission‑aligned risk‑taking that drive innovation and responsiveness across decentralized contexts. [more…]
  • Relational as a Foundational Theme of Polycentric Leadership
    Relational leadership places trust, mutual accountability, and deep connection at the center of influence, making it essential for effective polycentric leadership. By prioritizing relationships over hierarchy, it strengthens collaboration across cultures and organizations, enabling decentralized networks to stay aligned, resilient, and missionally focused in complex global environments. [more…]
  • Communal as a Foundational Theme of Polycentric Leadership
    Explore the Communal theme of Polycentric Leadership, showing how shared identity, mutual responsibility, and collective discernment shape trust, resilience, and long-term sustainability in decentralized leadership systems. [more…]
  • Collaborative as a Foundational Theme of Polycentric Leadership
    Collaboration sits at the core of polycentric leadership, enabling authority, decision‑making, and accountability to be shared across interconnected centers. This paper explores how collaborative practices strengthen coherence, adaptability, and trust in complex, multi‑layered organizations. [more…]

Book Reviews

Book Review: Joseph W. Handley, Jr., Polycentric Mission Leadership: Toward a New Theoretical Model for Global Leadership

30-June-2026 By Polycentric Leadership

BOOK REVIEW BY TIANJI MA Published in Global Missiology, www.globalmissiology.org, April 2025 Joseph W. Handley Jr. (2022). Polycentric …

[Read More...] about Book Review: Joseph W. Handley, Jr., Polycentric Mission Leadership: Toward a New Theoretical Model for Global Leadership

Book Review: The Covenant Quarterly

22-May-2024 By Polycentric Leadership

Covenant Quarterly 81:2 - https://covquarterly.com/index.php/CQ/issue/view/25/7 Polycentric Mission Leadership - Book Review Joseph W. …

[Read More...] about Book Review: The Covenant Quarterly

Book Review: EMQ

14-December-2023 By Polycentric Leadership

EMQ » July–September 2023 » Volume 59 Issue 3 Polycentric Mission Leadership: Toward a New Theoretical Model for Global Leadership By …

[Read More...] about Book Review: EMQ

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Check out Polycentric Mission Leadership for an innovative look into the 21st-century mission vision. Available for purchase at Regnum Books, Amazon and Barnes & …

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Recent Posts

  • Polycentric Leadership Development: Brief Case Study of the Pan Asia Leaders Development (PALD) Program
  • Diverse as a Foundational Theme of Polycentric Leadership
  • Book Review: Joseph W. Handley, Jr., Polycentric Mission Leadership: Toward a New Theoretical Model for Global Leadership
  • Cambodian Bible College: Pilgrimage from Patronage to Partnership
  • Shifting the Leadership Paradigm: How Polycentric Leadership Transformed Our Team
  • Collaborative Missional Leadership: A Polycentric Vision for the Church in Mission
  • Entrepreneurial as a Foundational Theme of Polycentric Leadership
  • Relational as a Foundational Theme of Polycentric Leadership
  • Communal as a Foundational Theme of Polycentric Leadership
  • Leading Together: Collective, Collaborative, and Network Leadership in a Polycentric Age

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