The bar-raising cities every CEO should visit
Most CEOs spend a lot of time thinking about how to get better. They read the books. They listen to the podcasts. They hire coaches and advisors. They attend conferences and leadership retreats.
But there’s another way to sharpen your thinking that doesn’t get talked about nearly enough: putting yourself in environments that challenge your assumptions about what’s normal.
I don’t mean going on a detox retreat or booking a holiday where you take work calls by the pool and post a few photos on social media. I'm talking about deliberately spending time in places that operate at a different level of ambition, speed, discipline or scale than what you’re used to. And the reason this matters is because your own standards might be what’s holding you back.
Most leaders don't realize how much their environment shapes what they consider possible. The culture and context in which you work sets the pace, ambition and expectations that you consider normal. Over time, that becomes your benchmark.
The problem is that benchmarks can quickly become ceilings. That's why I believe every entrepreneur and CEO should occasionally leave their own market and spend time in places that make them uncomfortable and expose them to a different standard of performance.
Australian businesses are being pushed to improve productivity, adopt new technologies and compete globally, which means this global exposure matters more than ever. So if you want to expand your horizons as a business owner or leader, here are the cities you need to visit.
New York: The city that teaches urgency
If there's one city that forces you to confront the value of time, it’s New York.
That’s why the phrase ‘a New York minute’ is so apt. The atmosphere is electric, and everything moves faster: the conversations, the decisions and the opportunities.
But after spending some time in the city, you quickly realize that urgency is not the same thing as panic. From a business perspective, New York is a city of decisiveness, not chaos. That's an important distinction.
Many leaders mistake caution for intelligence. They spend weeks discussing decisions that should take hours, overanalyze opportunities, or wait for perfect information that never arrives.
And while they’re carefully weighing up each decision, their competitors are making moves.
New York reminds you that speed itself is a competitive advantage. The city also teaches something equally important: nobody cares about your excuses.
Talent, capital, attention, the market – all these things are brutally competitive. And this environment creates a powerful question for any CEO: If your company had to compete here tomorrow, would your current standards be enough?
For many businesses, the honest answer is no, which is exactly why the lesson is so valuable.
Dubai: The city that changes what’s possible
Dubai has a unique effect on ambitious people in that it distorts the perception of reality. Not because it’s extravagant, but because it demonstrates what can happen when a society decides to think bigger.
Dubai's mindset is captured perfectly in its slogan: ‘We don’t wait for the future. We build it.’
That attitude is visible everywhere. Projects that would be dismissed elsewhere as unrealistic somehow become reality in Dubai. That’s why infrastructure appears at an extraordinary speed and bold. long-term visions are pursued with conviction rather than skepticism.
The leadership lesson here isn't that every CEO should pursue giant projects, but that too many leaders unconsciously limit themselves. They build plans around what feels realistic without asking themselves what is actually possible. That's a dangerous habit.
Most businesses don't fail because their ambitions were too large – they fail because their ambitions were too small. Dubai challenges leaders to examine whether they're operating from vision or limitation. Are you building the business you actually want, or merely the one that feels achievable?
Answer the question honestly, and you’ll find that they're not always the same thing.
Tokyo: The city that masters systems
Entrepreneurs love talking about growth, but often see systems as the business equivalent of the dorky younger brother you don’t want to be seen with. The problem with that thinking is that robust systems are the bedrock of immense and sustainable growth.
That lesson is clear everywhere you look in Tokyo. The city operates with a level of precision and organization that’s difficult to appreciate until you experience it firsthand. Things work seamlessly because processes are thought through, execution is disciplined and the details matter.
Many founders don’t operate like this. They become obsessed with innovation while neglecting operational excellence. And while they jump from opportunity to opportunity, inefficiencies compound inside the business.
The issue is that growth creates complexity, complexity creates friction and friction eventually slows growth – but Tokyo offers a different perspective. The city demonstrates what is possible when systems are treated as a strategic advantage rather than an administrative necessity.
Great businesses might start with a great idea, but that’s not why they scale. They scale because they have systems capable of supporting those ideas.
For CEOs trying to navigate AI disruption, productivity challenges and growing operational complexity, that's a lesson worth paying attention to.
Shanghai: The city that forces you to think bigger
If Tokyo teaches systems, Shanghai teaches scale. The first thing that strikes many visitors to this city is the sheer magnitude of everything. From the infrastructure to the market size to the development opportunities, it's a reminder that Australia, while an outstanding place to build businesses, remains a relatively small pond.
Too often, this means leaders unknowingly develop strategies optimized for local success rather than global competitiveness. Being in Shanghai, however, challenges that mindset.
After a couple of weeks in this city, you will begin thinking differently about customer acquisition, logistics, technology adoption, infrastructure and growth potential.
You will also start asking bigger questions: What would my business look like at ten times its current size? What would break first if we scaled to that size? What systems would need to change? What capabilities are missing?
Leaders often wait until growth arrives before preparing for it, but the best and most successful companies prepare in advance. Exposure to environments built around scale helps leaders think further ahead. And in business, perspective is often one of the most valuable competitive advantages you can develop.
The value of perspective
Let's be clear: getting on a plane won't magically make anyone a better CEO. The value of traveling comes from seeing different standards, challenging assumptions you've stopped questioning and realizing that what feels ambitious in one environment may be considered average somewhere else.
My advice to leaders is simple: do something epic, new and risky every year. New things not only keep life interesting, but they can also stop you from getting trapped inside existing patterns of thinking.
My advice to leaders is simple: do something epic, new and risky every year.
If you want better thinking, expose yourself to different inputs. If you want bigger outcomes, spend time around bigger ambitions. And if you want to build a world-class business, stop measuring yourself exclusively against the standards in your own backyard.
The CEOs who thrive over the next decade won't simply be the ones who read the most books or attend the most conferences. They'll be the ones willing to challenge their assumptions about what's possible.
Sometimes the fastest way to do that is to spend time somewhere that makes your current pace feel slow, your systems feel inadequate, or your ambitions feel small. By exposing yourself to new realities, you can bring home a higher standard.