I started my fitness career in Seattle in 1996 at a small gym chain that was quickly acquired by 24 Hour Fitness. Watching a scrappy local brand get absorbed into a global company built for scale was eye-opening. It showed me how acquisitions test both systems and culture – and it gave me my first opportunity to rise quickly.

By 23, I was overseeing sales operations across multiple cities, leading managers who were often 10 to 20 years older than me. The only way to close that gap was through a focus on team culture. I learned early that if one will invest in systems, training, and leadership, and align people around a shared mission, that investment effectively disrupts the traditional hierarchies of age and background. A strong “us versus the world” mentality, much like the military has long relied on, can unite even the most competitive of teams.

That mindset carried me forward. I layered my own learnings about culture and leadership on top of the foundational systems created by Mark Mastrov, who had already scaled 24 Hour Fitness into one of the most dominant fitness chains in the world. Those systems, paired with a relentless focus on culture, became my playbook. It was that early success that put me on the radar when 24 Hour Fitness acquired California Fitness in Asia.

Asia: The Real Education

The California clubs in Asia were struggling. The founding team was moving out, revenues were falling, and the business was losing money. We were brought in to reset the systems and turn things around quickly.

My direct leader, Steve, was a seasoned 24 Hour Fitness executive, also just off the plane from the States. We were both first-time expats, learning how to navigate not only unfamiliar countries but also a company in transition. It was clear a new era had to begin.

My first move was to reset the sales management culture and reestablish the basics. I’ll never forget my first training session in Hong Kong: nearly 200 managers, membership consultants, and personal trainers packed into a hotel ballroom – 99% of them local, most of them skeptical. I knew they saw me as an outsider, likely an invader threatening their very livelihood. The only way through was a uniting vision, mission, and system of execution. I opened not with a mandate but by appealing to our shared ambition for security and growth – the fundamental needs every human shares.

Hong Kong turned. Then Taiwan. Then Singapore. Each culture and language was different, but the underlying pattern was the same: clarity of vision, alignment of universal human values, and disciplined systems could unify any team.

Steve focused on cutting costs; my focus was growing revenues. Together, with the help of a few remaining incumbents, we restructured income streams across memberships, personal training, and yoga. Within 18 months, profits returned. Soon, we were expanding again: acquiring a competitor in Taiwan, opening in Malaysia, Shanghai, and Beijing.

All the while, Mark Mastrov was guiding and mentoring from his many years of global gym operations and acquisitions. His strategic mind shaped my thinking about growth across borders. By the time the company sold to Forstmann Little for $1.6 billion, I had first-hand experience with acquisitions, multinational board dynamics, and the complexities of scaling across diverse markets.

The biggest leadership lesson I took away? Strip away language and culture, and all humans share the same six basic needs. If you can meet those needs consistently – security, growth, challenge, recognition, belonging, and contribution – you can win anyone over.

Vietnam: Building Again From the Ground Up

In 2007, I opened the first California Club in Saigon’s Chinatown – this time with two fitness legends as investment partners and the full weight of being a founder CEO on my shoulders. From the seed of that single location, we evolved into CMG.ASIA, the country’s leading 360-degree wellness ecosystem: 18 brands, 100+ business units, more than 3,000 employees, 150,000 clients, and a valuation of over $200 million.

I was no longer just scaling an existing brand; I was creating a new market category. And the formula held true: psychology, values, and systems – what I now call my High Performance Culture Formula – were the keys to aligning a multinational team around a shared mission, even under the intense pressure of pioneering a new business.

The High Performance Culture Formula

Looking back, the throughline across Seattle, Hong Kong, and Vietnam is clear. Building across borders requires more than operational skill. It requires a deliberate culture strategy. My formula rests on three pillars:

• Psychology: shaping belief – teaching teams to recognize the interplay between the confident “Sovereign Leader” and the protective “Inner Child,” and how this internal language dictates performance and decision-making under stress.

• Values: leaning into the six universal human needs that everyone shares, and building a leadership culture anchored in personal growth rather than technical skill alone.

• Systems: top-grading talent, putting the right operational processes in place, and giving A-players the repeatable structure they need to thrive together.

This formula allowed me to build high-performance teams in places as different as Seattle, Hong Kong, and Ho Chi Minh City.

Read more: Empowering High-Performance Culture: The Key to Business Success

Final Thought

Leading across borders taught me that success isn’t about replicating a business model. It’s about replicating culture.
When psychology, values, and systems align, you can build high-performance teams anywhere in the world. And when they don’t, even the strongest strategies will eventually collapse.

The real differentiator in cross-border leadership isn’t control – it’s culture. And culture, done right, scales further than any system ever could.

3 Rules for Building High-Performance Cultures Across Borders

1. Top grade for values, train for skills. Intelligence and technical ability get someone in the door; values determine if they’ll lead with integrity, adapt, and stay aligned with the mission.

2. Create cultural torch carriers in every region. Every market needs trusted local leaders who not only know the territory but also embody the company ethos. They bridge global vision with local execution.

3. Align around shared human needs. Strip away language and background, and people want the same things: security, challenge, growth, belonging, recognition, and contribution. Build systems that consistently deliver on these, and culture will scale with you.