I know a couple with a very common marital conflict: one of them likes to spend money to buy things, while the other spends money to do things. Even when they have enough money for both, it’s a powerful conflict because of their competing philosophies: he values tangible possessions while she values intangible experience.

There are pros and cons to each point of view, but I’d much rather talk to her at a party. It’s not just that she’s far more attractive, although she is. It’s that her stories are more interesting. He can tell you about the great deal he got on his latest gadget. She can tell you the comic tale about sitting in a café and watching three skinny, boisterous Italian men carry a giant flat-screen television into a Venetian apartment – from the tipsy boat to the steep, narrow, winding staircase to the angled door that would admit a television or a workman, but not both…

Her experience makes her a compelling storyteller, and as I’ve mentioned before, storytelling is a crucial entrepreneurial skill. And that’s just one reason I believe travel is an indispensible leadership habit. No matter where we go, traveling reminds us that all over the world and all over our own country, people live very differently and find unique solutions to common problems.

My recent travels to Africa and Spain will be the subject of future articles, but two first impressions were humbling and thought provoking.  First of all, I saw happy people everywhere I went. Regardless of conditions many in the United States would call poverty, it was clear to me that people in general, and children in particular, pursue happiness and often find it. You would not know this from watching television.

The second observation is undoubtedly connected to the first. Indigenous diets in many other countries are far healthier than the highly processed factory foods consumed in mass quantities in the USA. In much of the world, people eat locally grown foods in season as a matter of course; here in the US such a bold act inspires bestselling books and local activist organizations. Remember that in the United States; obesity is the number one health problem among the poor.

So my first impression was that all else being equal – free of tyranny and communicable disease –people around the world seemed happier and healthier than my neighbors in allegedly wealthy southern California. I’m a very proud American, but I’ll be thinking about this for a while.

They say that travel broadens the mind. Wandering with open eyes brings education, humility, and appreciation for the diversity and ingenuity of mankind. Such perspective makes one a more empathetic leader and a more resourceful problem solver. So, where are you going next?